Joyful Reflections (with Birds)

I’ve had a lot of fun over recent months combining the weekly photo challenges from Where’s My Backpack? and the Daily Post. I’ve even occasionally managed to squeeze in A Word In Your Ear’s theme, for good measure. This week, their respective words are Birds, Joy and Reflect.

My initial reaction was that I’d have trouble combing any two of these themes, let alone all three. Then I remembered an occasion full of Joy that’s happening next week, which in turn made me Reflect on a related (and equally Joyful) event back in 2003, and I suddenly knew I’d be able to pull it off, after all!

New Years Eve, 2013, will be the 10^th Wedding Anniversary for my friends Rich and Sue. They got officially engaged in Venice in September, 2003. The following photos were all taken in St Mark’s Square during that week. And as you’ll see, boy, were there Birds involved!

Day 1

Sue’s first introduction to the pigeons of St Mark’s Square

Rich gets in on the act

Day 2

Awww! (BTW. You can just about see me – averting my eyes – in the centre at the very bottom)

Day 3

The pigeons are suddenly spooked

The flock swirls around the square like something from an Alfred Hitchcock movie…

…And then disappears, just before a torrential thunderstorm drenches the city

The rain pours down, and the birds have sought shelter, but Rich and Sue don’t seem to notice

The Happy Couple!

Seven Years Later…

This one’s a bit of a cheat: it was taken in 2010, there are no birds, and it’s just around the corner from St Mark’s Square – but Rich takes a lot of joy from this shot, so I thought I’d include it anyway