Summer Part I: Oklahoma and Mandolins

Summer is off to a busy start. GBT returned to Oklahoma City a couple weeks ago for the Flamingo Fling. We all had a terrific time. I actually had the opportunity to assist with a bird banding session while I was out there. It was my first time actually handling wild birds; totally awesome experience and so much fun! Here I am checking out a Carolina Wren...We had a nice variety of birds in the nets: Cardinals, Orioles, Buntings, etc. The most exciting one for me was this Yellow-breasted Chat, a life bird and a long-time nemesis...I know, I can't actually count a bird taken from a net but I went out later in the morning and had them singing in the bushes and doing their ridiculous "floppy" flight thing. What a great morning! Okay, so moving along now... Noah and I were recently in NYC and while we were there we met up with our friend Margaret and went mandolin shopping at the legendary Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island. Here we are playing some tunes...Ohhh, I loved that guitar. Here are some more pics...He eventually settled on a very nice Collings MT A-model. Woohoo! So that mostly brings you up to date I think. I'm off to Ashokan Western & Swing Week in a couple days. Be good to each other everyone :-)