unHappy Ending

I was all set to write a Happy Ending post.  Friday I made timtimo in the crock pot for my daughter's welcome back from camp meal.  We had fish & grits for Saturday breakfast.  Then I made a cobbler last night before dashing off to dinner with my husband's colleagues.

Although the cobber is a bit sweet (I was distracted and put 1/4 too much sugar in), it has a nice flavor.  The cobbler is a bit of a patchwork - I used the peaches I picked up from Whole Foods and 2 pears from Wegman's.  And the top crust fell apart so I had to glue it together with beaten egg. 

This morning I finally decided to run the self-cleaning oven.  A patina was starting to form.  The issue is the bird - the fumes produced by the burning off of debris are toxic to birds.  I couldn't really wait much longer, as I was beginning to think the build up was impairing the oven's efficiency.  We put the bird in the spare cage in the backyard and started the over.  Then we cut the cut the cobbler and sat down and ate it. 

As I was making the fit-fit to eat with the remaining timtimo, the kids noticed that the bird cage was empty and went scurrying around to find her.  My son said "I hear her outside" so they opened the door and for some reason opened the cage to take her out.  Of course she flew away.  Then there were tears.