Annual Holiday Brunch & State of the Phoebes Meeting 2024
Sunday December 8, 2024 • Home of Kirsten Hines • Report by Kirsten Hines
Greek salad. A festive cheeseboard. Blueberry French toast casserole. Matcha cake…
In typical Phoebes fashion, tables quickly overflowed with homemade bounty while glasses brimmed with glittery punch and bubbly mimosas at the 2024 Annual Meeting and Holiday Brunch. Laughter danced across the garden as 30+ women, some regulars and some new to the group, mingled as if friends of old. Human chatter eventually paused, replaced by that of hummingbirds zipping through the sky, as we assembled for the meeting portion of our gathering.
As usual, we began by celebrating the group’s successes over 2024 including 10 field trips and events and at least 2 Phoebes doing Big Years. We brainstormed places we’d like to visit and things we’d like to do in 2025. Then I shared the publication of my Birds of Florida photographic field guide, a 2024 success enabled by the Phoebes. Not only did the publisher, Bloomsbury, find me through the Phoebes website, but members helped in various ways throughout the project.
The Phoebes have provided a fun and encouraging environment in which I’ve learned so much about birds, birding, and friendship. Judging by all the animated conversations that lingered in the garden well beyond the end of the meeting, I think it’s safe to say that I’m not the only Phoebe that feels this way.
Happy 2024 to all you Phoebes; I look forward to reconnecting with you in nature in 2025!