Bird Watching

Ah, the refreshing power of a chocolate chip cookie.

I very nearly missed the cookies. I'd grabbed a book (one of the ones I'd bought in London) and come up to the Lounge for a read. Our Exploration Leader invited us out on deck to see a rare bird on an upcoming island. Now, the Lounge has windows, so you can get a decent look at any wildlife from the comfort of the indoors, but I'd thought some bracing fresh air might do my some good in terms of, y'know, waking the heck up, so I grabbed some binoculars (they're everywhere on the ship) and headed out to the bow.

We approached the island in question and trained our binoculars to look at the rare red birds in the trees on the North side of the island. At first, I was distracted from this search by the sight of a lovely bald eagle perched majestically at the very top of a tree -- but as the eagle went out of sight I could hear the other passengers spotting the red birds, so I followed their gaze and aimed my binoculars ....

.... just as Exploration Leader Jen was identifying the rare birds as the species "Pinkus Flamingus Plasticus." I dropped the binocs and gave her a glare; she nodded, smiling, and waited for the rest of the passengers to get the joke.

I stayed out in the air for a little while longer -- as long as we were out there, Jen started talking about all the different trees we were looking it. It was only after a few minutes that I realized, "Oh no! It's 3:10!" and made a beeline for the Lounge and the small tray of chocolate chip cookies. Thank goodness there were a few cookies not yet taken. If I'd missed out on cookie time for a plastic pink flamingo, I would have been really ticked.