It's not all garden work this month! (Although it is true that not a day passes where I don't reach down and pull out a few weeds.) Sometimes it's good just to take a prolonged break -- say on the porch, over breakfast, listening to the birds. Sparrows, Blue Jays, Catbirds, Robins, Goldfinch, Starling, Thrush, Orioles, Warblers and birds with the unfortunate name of Killdeer (so named for their piercing cry). They are all out, claiming their airspace this morning.
Ed is on a long morning call again and so I eat alone, listening, reading. And looking! I'd done my morning walk to the barn, took in the lilacs and the fields around the courtyard and along the path.
(I planted a stem from the big lilac by the Writer's Shed... and it grew!)
(The big one by the house is having its best year since I've moved here; one more closeup!)
(And one more look at the daffodils: triplets in yellow...)
(Triplets in white.)
The porch has a splendid view to all but the roadside bed. Here I could stay, for a long time.
But I do return outside -- the real outside. I have a couple of edging pinks to put in and I do some spot watering of new plants. This kind of watering that I like, quite a bit. I stand with the hose and hum to myself and my mind clears. Because I am so still, twice today I had a humming bird (one with a beautiful red neck) come over to the plant I was watering, to taste the liquid that had fallen on the leaves. Each time, the bird came to within a foot of me. I could hear his wings -- like a wind up toy going at full speed. I had my phone in my pocket, but I know these birds -- the minute you move unpredictably, they take off. It's not the time to take a photo. Instead, I look at it with great admiration, feeling a little like a birder who has scored a big one.
In the afternoon, the kids are here. The day warms up substantially: from just warm to steamy warm. Might there be rain?
No such luck. We speculate if it will be a dry or wet summer. It seems it's either one or the other. I'm not sure which, from a gardener's perspective, does the least damage to a flower field. Maybe we'll get lucky and get a nice balance! Sunshine and light rain. One can hope.
with love...
