Sunrise, Sunset

Last Friday I couldn’t sleep past 5am so I got up and had a leisurely start to the day. About six I thought about taking a short snooze but then looked out the patio blinds and … It was the start of an absolutely glorious dawn.

Just on the edge, the crickets were still chirping and the first bird flew past. Then I heard rustling, and a chirp. Then the cardinal tested out his morning singing. Absolutely wonderful. I had to grab a sweatshirt, a cup of hot cider, and my phone.

The first squirrel came by.

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Mama cardinal came for some breakfast. Two hummingbirds flitted around and around for over half an hour, sipping at the feeder a bit, and stopping by the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ blooms. An hour and a half later I reluctantly reminded myself that no, an impromptu vacation day was not an option this time. But it was a fabulous start of the day.

The sunset that night was cloudless. A beautiful, gorgeous fall day. No clouds meant a clear sunset.

The next morning the sunrise had just the faintest line of clouds.

Another gorgeous day. The squirrels and birds arrived. The hummingbirds chirped. Our guest in the garden arrived and we enjoyed his company.

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And so it goes. Tulips to lilies to hostas to sedum to an abundance of leaves on the ground to snow drifts. Ground with frost to days with air conditioning and back to days with sweatshirts on. I have worn out another pair of my oldest sandals, dubbed this year’s “garden sandals” and am considering which pair will have the job next year.

There are big moments and tiny moments, moments that sneak up on you, moments you plan for, moments you anxiously await. I had a crazy busy week at work, overbooked myself socially, and fell into bed last night early. My husband had a routine week. After months of planning and outfitting and practicing, our oldest son and his girlfriend will start their first season of bow hunting today. We are waiting patiently to hear our youngest son has completed his Pacific Crest Trail through hike. The sun comes up, the day proceeds, the sun goes down.

Today, in this moment, the sun is rising in a completely different place than last week. It is shining through different pine trees. While I sit here, at the same moment, a few geese went honking by and the humingbirds approached the feeder. The hummingbirds are still, in this moment, dancing and chirping. The first squirrel of the day has arrived. The robins are gone (that we can tell). The geese have been flocking up, and it will be quite a few months until the dark-eyed junkos arrive. We probably won’t be sitting out on the patio for very long periods of time then.

Sunrise, Sunset

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Gleaning

A few days ago we watched a variety of young birds, including one of the young cardinals, feed off the seed the squirrels dropped on the ground. The squirrels are going through so much seed lately we were not surprised at how long the young birds were able to hop around, picking up seed. What came to mind was Ruth gleaning in the fields of Boaz. It was such a visual reminder that God always provides. It might not be what we anticipate but he is faithful and he will make a way.

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Our bird bath

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Many years ago I found the most adorable little concrete bird bath at, of all places, Walmart. Yah, I spend way too much money there, but I digress. It was time for a new bird bath after our old one tipped over, got a split in the molded plastic, and was leaking more than could be reasonably fixed. I bought the little version because it was just so cute, and because my neighbor was delighted with hers.

All these years later, it still makes me smile, but … bird baths get gross. Like slimy green gross. So to fix that issue, one day my wandering mind came upon an idea. What if I could find a bowl that could fit in the bird bath, and be replaced, say every week? Well, at first I used those waxy paper bowls. They used to last about 5 days before disintegrating, and I didn’t feel environmentally unconscientious because they literally decomposed in as many days. That worked for quite a few years, and were even pretty, but the last batch I bought, even though the same brand, was much flimsier. So, sadly I have gone to styrofoam. They stay clean for about a week. I have noticed that with the cleaner water I am getting a lot more “sippers” than ever before.

Shamrocks

Quite a few years ago I bought a couple of those little shamrock plants they have in the grocery store around St. Patrick’s day. They grew and grew. The larger of a plant pot I gave them, the larger they got. We stopped at this size because we have to bring them in during the winter. About 6 years ago I put gladiolas in when I gave it a new pot. The tall leaves are the remnants that come back every year. The green shamrock in the background was the other one I bought. I have shared both many times, and still they fill up the pots every year.

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About a month ago we found a new baby bird in there. Apparently the shamrock was a soft landing place. It eventually jumped out and we watched it learn to fly. That was kind of neat too.

There’s gotta be a little rain sometime

Today was an off and on rainy day. I got about 3 minutes in the garden tonight before it started pouring rain.

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I was also a little bummed it was a rainy evening because today the last two ‘South Seas’ daylily buds bloomed. They go way too fast, but their huge gorgeous blooms are such a treat, and when there are multiple blooms together it is delightful. Here’s what it looked like a few days ago.

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After the rain, we had quite a few visitors to the garden so that was fun. We tried to capture from inside the house. It’s a bit grainy, but you get the idea … 20180801_180525-1

Easy eating

A while ago we got a huge bag of sunflower seed hearts. We started putting them in one of the feeders. The birds (and squirrels) went nuts. Easy eating! They are nice because there are no shells left behind to clean up, no black oiled sunflower seed shell chemical to kill plants, and no sunflowers growing in the grass under the tree.

The hearts are, understandably, more expensive, but there is at least twice the actual food.

We picked up a second bag on our garden store shopping trip Saturday.

Despite the easy eating, some seeds must still make it to the ground. The neighborhood bunny starts making the rounds about 8:00 each night. He usually gets here around 10 pm. Tonight we got an early visit. I had to zoom and be stealthy to get this pic.

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