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| Parent of the Jeff Borland memorial lilac |
And front door...etc.....
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| Which is slowly coming into its own, and reminding me of Jeff whenever I pass |
A male Yellow Warbler tugging strands of wool out of the wool ball hung for the birds...nest lining I suppose. And then another day, another yellow, this time a female. A lot of birds must come when I'm not as the ball is getting pulled to bits this year, after hanging there for the past three, more or less ignored.
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| Inside this cluster of ordinary cottonwood leaves there is a swinging cradle for some mighty fine orange birds |
The answer to the puzzle of the female Baltimore Oriole spending so much time inspecting a single spot on a certain branch in the cottonwood across the driveway. Once I saw how she knitted the still growing leaves of the tree into a shield, hiding the nest from view I was able to spot another just like it up in the cottonwood by the spring up on the back hill.
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| Another up in the fields, similarly disguised but visible from below. |
Hummingbird wars, talk about a cat fight! Nothing benign or gentle about a hummer. We have more than usual this year and they are oh, so violent.
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| House Wren, lookin' out her back door |
House Wrens, bold as brass, hopping right up to my feet to loudly request that I get my fanny indoors so they can get back to tending the nest they built in the ornamental birdhouse.
Robins, more polite, but more annoying, also wanting me to get gone for the same reason, only their nest is on top of one of the porch pillars.
And woven through it all, like magic thread, the scent of the lilacs blooming on the west side of the house, fragrant as fresh laundry and a whole lot prettier.
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| Back door of the machine shed after being untracked by the storm.... |
So many wonders surround us. For those who have eyes to see. I love that you share so many of them with us.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear your nest ball took a few years to get used up. This is only the second year for mine and although I occasionally see someone pulling at it, I was worried it wasn't to their liking. I'll be more patient!
ReplyDeleteI can't think of lovelier memorial plant than a lilac.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes Jonna :) "Patience" is the beginning of wisdom.
(Probably explains why I lack the aforementioned quality :P
Jacqueline, this time of year is better than ten Christmases for me. Every day, every hour, every second even, more and more wonderful things to see, smell, and hear. It is a very happy thing to be able to be outdoors!
ReplyDeleteJonna, ours, which is just an onion bag full of wool from the sheep down in the barn, has had just enough action over the past couple of years to seem...kinda, sorta...worth the bother of hanging it. This year, other than the YEWAs, I don't know what is working on it, but something sure is! Wool fluffing out all over it. If you ever need some real wool....I know where there is a lot. Right from the sheep's back so to speak. Liz just sheared one yesterday.
Cathy, Jeff was a special Internet friend who passed away suddenly. As we knew none of his real life connections, planting a little tree was the best we could do by way of memorial. I am so glad that it has grown well. I bought the parent tree, which is true pink, way back when we lived in town. It is the only one we bothered to move up here and it blooms amazingly most years.
Oh Marianne . . . So much there . . . . makes me a little teary. God bless you.
ReplyDeleteCathy, thanks, it is all good. I made a great friend, one of my favorite people in the world, through Jeff, and we keep good memories of him.
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