finn fest and furry creatures

We're working on convincing Tia that it is okay to be left home with the old folks.
It isn't like she has moved into the old folks' home ... yet.
We just bring along a friend or two when we run places.

Today it was to the FinnFest in Tucson.

 

Being the true Finns that we really are, I didn't want to pay for a day pass that would have granted us admission into some events.

I was there for the free stuff. I just thought there would be more free stuff than there was.

I really didn't need a pulla baking demonstration (I do have THE best pulla receipe on the planet) and would have certainly yawned my way through a geneology presentation. Some instruction in how to play my kantele would have been handy. I was really hoping to pick up a few Christmas gifts but that didn't really work out. Apparently when FinnFest is held in Michigan, they fill the dome and vendors are plentiful. Not so in Tucson. We spent a few hours there, picked up some delicious chocolate, and headed out.

 

 

Guess where we had lunch? If you guess right, I just might send you one square of Fazer. Maybe not.

 

 

Then a stop at the Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever? They scared all of us nearly to death. We hand fed the donkeys, the deer, the goats and the ducks. Not these guys. None of us dared. Looks like they could reach out and hug you a bit too tight. Right around the neck.

We've been absent for a few years from this neck of the woods, so the Lorikeets were new to us. We went in with our little Wendy's style ketchup looking cups of nectar and laughed until we nearly cried.

 It's a miracle a bird didn't send some flying poop into that wide open mouth of mine!

 

Jari is ready to build an aviary and house a bunch of these beauties. They are just precious!
I seriously need a new lens on this camera of mine. This one is a bit of overkill for most situations even though I love it to pieces. Maybe sometime next year. Or at least before the aviary becomes reality.

This evening we spent at the beginning of Bible Camp and are heading there tomorrow afternoon as well. Will see what kind of trouble I can get myself into tomorrow morning!