Helmetheads

I had been waiting for school to end to haul us all in to town to see Tina at her salon, "At Your Fingertips." Poor Liam; I’d been hacking away at his superfine white mop with a dull scissors whenever it got too far into his eyes. His look was institutional, to be kind. I’d been working on Phoebe to let me just trim the ends of her growing mane. Nothing doing. I can hardly blame her, though I can do that. She wanted a professional to handle it.
If I had hair like that, I'd be fussy, too.
As for me, my hair had become a winged helmet worthy of a Valkyrie. I get these wings and they must be cut off, lest I start looking like something from The Brady Bunch.Exhibit A. Seventies wings.

Tina gets a kick out of us. She’s a huge Swinging Orangutangs fan, having become intrigued when I walked into her salon with an overgrown head, sat down in the chair and sang, “Rescue Me” in full Aretha belt-mode. That’s an attention-getter.

Liam went first. I never tire of watching him get his hair cut; he’s so expressive and ticklish that he amuses me no end.

Phoebe has such gorgeous hair, but it gets a bit lanky when it’s too long. I was so relieved when she finally agreed to a “trim.”
No progress pictures of me, thanks.

The final result: A Neopolitan Hair Surprise, Choc Van Straw. The chipping sparrows will love it. We have a little nest we put in our Christmas tree every year that's woven of Phoebe's hair.
And now for the Afters. Liam looks ten years older!Phoebe was very pleased to have her load lightened.And I like drying my hair with a towel and not having to think about it.It makes Hat Head less of an issue when leading birding trips. I wrote this post on Hog Island, Maine, where we'd spent the morning in the company of harbor seals, harbor porpoises, black guillemots, common loons in breeding plumage, and bald eagles on the nest! It was misty but not too cold, and the kids were digging it!

And now we're enjoying our third full day at the American Birding Association convention in Snowbird, Utah, having spent the whole day doodling around the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Terrific birding, with clouds of Wilson's phalaropes and brine flies, heavy smelly air, bison, pronghorns and bighorns. The kids were with us and birding with the experts. Phoebe on the bus, adding birds to the triplist. BOTB is writing an acceptance speechlet for an award he's getting this evening. We are grateful and life is good.