Birmingham

Hi Jacqueline here again,

Last weekend we visited Birmingham, capital of AL. (Later edit - NOT the capital, but the biggest city, actually I just discovered that Montgomery is actually the capital - not that you could tell, it feels like a small sleepy town). One of the various things we did was to visit the botanical gardens and the zoo. Here is a picture of Boris with his new friend. This particular bird took a real fancy to Boris and licked his face and nibbled on his ear - Boris was delighted..

This is Boris and I hunting for scuppernong berries to eat at the botanic garden. They are like a big grape with a very tough skin. On the way home I found a place that sold them and got a small bucket to make jam. It's great jam, nice and tart, but it doesn't look that good - a sort of dull green colour but it doesn't seem to make much difference to the rate it is disappearing (especially nice on buttered toast).

Birmingham is trying to revive its historic heart - there are lots of great buildings in the old centre but is pretty dead after hours - everyone has migrated to the suburbs and hang out in the malls. B'ham is lucky that the building have survived as it has a real chance to revitilize itself. This was going well until the recent recession hit, but I think there is enough momentum to continue - it is full of character and interest (unlike the suburbs).

One thing that really struck me one the drive (about 2.5 hrs) was the landscape - it is completly wooded the whole way, forest as far as the eye could see in all directions. Some is planted pine forest and other is natural woodlands. It seems strange to me coming from such a pastoral landscape - there are no fields anywhere.

Boris at the Ecological park with skulls of bobcat and a deer (we think). The bobcat is the one with the fangs...

This weekend was football weekend, which was a bit of an eye opener - Rod has some pictures on his iphone so we'll load those up soon and tell you about it. We spent Saturday walking around somewhat gobsmacked at the tailgating, but Sunday we went to the ecological park (a couple of miles out of town) and then on to our own lake down the road. We always enjoy going as it is so peaceful. Boris loves it too, of course, and had some luck with his fishing stick (stick with nylon and a hook). Can't say they were whoppers, but he was proud (and yes, he threw them back).

Boris with his fish (that small blob on the end of the line, in case you were wondering) and Rod with his iphone application which identifies birds and gives their call (lots of fun that)

This last picture is of Lake Chewacla - about 8 minutes drive, door to door, from our place. It looks murky but it is good for swimming - getting a bit cold for me now but Boris is hardy and still goes in. It is in a State Park and is very beautiful (and well used).