What a Time of Year!

     My cameras are working overtime at this time of year. Every day brings forth new joys and gifts of unexpected bird sightings, a wonderful downtown festival, volunteering and gardening. Last night we joined folks at Mountain Vale for an American Idol watch party that did not end the way we had hoped for as Braden was not one of the top three. That said, it was probably for the best because ABC insisted on the town having a parade and concert should he be in the top three which sounded pretty neat until you checked the weather forecast. 95% chance of rain would have been pretty miserable should it actually happen! Early last week heavy rain was predicted for Saturday and the day turned out to be picture perfect, so there you go.   

     I just came in from a garden survey and much to my surprise, the celery was completely gone. While it didn't seem to be growing as much as I would have liked it to, I never expected it to vanish. Perhaps this fellow is responsible?

.         Of course there is more than enough clover, the little white flowers, to eat but maybe the celery looked tastier? If you like me had always heard the word clover but never really knew what it looked like, now you do! Having just looked it up there is a crimson version as well. 

     The intensity of color that is our Japanese maple tree right now is really something.  Some of the inside leaves are beginning to put on their summer green color but seemingly, there is a long way to go before it is all green again.

     This will be our third Spring here in Murphy and I still cannot get over how dramatic the changes are during the seasons. What once was so barren looking is now so lush it is hard to imagine, even though I am seeing it with my own two eyes. The brilliant yellow flowers are beginning to diminish somewha,t but continue to amaze in whatever stage they are. The scene below has changed so dramatically I hardly recognize it.

          Should you walk the other way it is lush with green foliage.

     The above is where the river runs through the park where the American Idol concert was to be held should he have made the top five. I was thinking last week that people love visiting in the fall when all this begins to change from intense green to a multi-colored landscape and while that is super great, this is darn good as well. Plus the birds right now are abundant, and as I mentioned in the first paragraph present themselves as little gifts to me when I spot one like this Yellow-Rumped Warbler.

     Isn't it so cute??? I also came across some Brown Thrashers that I am pretty confident are a parent and baby.

          While we are still in the park here is a mama bluebird with a goodie for her brood.

           A tree swallow guarding her box.

     Look at this little Carolina Chickadee! So cute. 

     Perhaps you are wondering why, if I have already photographed a species of bird many times, why I continue to do so and my answer is because each one is unique even though I may not recognize any difference; not to mention who doesn't love a gift which I consider each bird sighting? There were several years when my gifts consisted of seeing owl and their owlets, as well as eagles and their eaglets, and believe you me, my long-time readers probably grew weary of my obsession, but they seemed to have stuck with me. This past week Cliff Swallows, a new bird to me, are having a hey-day under the pedestrian bridge beside the playground and pickleball courts. It is quite the spectacle seeing dozens of birds flying around like little missiles, seemingly never stopping in their quest to catch flying insects for their young who they are raising in nests made of mud. It is hard for me to stay away even though I've already taken countless pictures in my quest to get a good one!

     Picture this: a dozen or so fly every which way, round and round, finally one drops down to the riverbank to gather mud and others swoop down joining in their quest to build their nests. Should you be interested, here's a link with more details. For me their behavior is nothing short of amazing, however, lots of folks walk over the bridge and never even seem to notice them zipping around overhead. While studying them from my perch on the bridge, first off I am so grateful to have a zoom lens, and secondly with said zoom lens I see things that are sometimes hard to notice.

     My phone tells me this is a Solitary Sandpiper and most of the time, the phone is correct. But not every time, so don't quote me on this one. 

     This is the entry closest to our home. Everything basically was brown a month ago.

     We are so fortunate to have this free resource in our town and I am so grateful for the folks who continue to maintain it. I was walking along the other day and the word that came to mind to describe the experience is "wild". Yes, there is a boardwalk or paths, but aside from that, it's nothing like we were accustomed to and that's a good thing! Before too much longer, they will open the dam and the level of the river will rise, meaning no longer will there be little rapids or the sight of big rocks on the river bed. I like it better low, but for those folks who love kayaking, the high level is ideal. I love seeing all the wild plants at this time of year including maidenhair ferns.

     Raindrops on a cedar tree branch that was bare sticks but a month ago. The fresh green is so lush. 

          One day as I was standing on the bridge I noticed pink blossoms floating in the water. Here's why....

     Let's turn our attention to the home front where exciting outdoor things are happening. It was so funny one day last week, well at least to me, but anyway, I opened the front door and saw a bird on the feeder that was a first time visitor, a female Rose Breasted Grosbeak, a bird we once had at the cottage feeders but I've never seen since. Naturally I was freaking out and called out to Bruce to bring me my camera PLEASE! Looking everywhere he brought me two cameras, neither of which have good zoom capabilities so I had to bite the bullet and instead of a nice close up, see if you see said bird in the photo below. 

    Yup, I figured as much. No can do. Once our lady friend flew away I went in search of the bigger camera and I'd left it downstairs on the garden potting bench! Yeesh! When you see a bird, one must act with expediency. She has not returned. :(

     A closer look at the beautiful double petunia. Having the right camera lens makes a big difference.

     One afternoon Bruce tied up the abundance of peonie blooms and buds that were weighing the plant down; so far none have opened yet but any day now. There are fifty, yes you read that correctly, fifty! (actually I started this post yesterday and my garden tour just now showed several opening up)

      Very close to this amazing plant, I kept hearing a bird call from the giant plants, over and over like a youngster. Sure enough, here's a young Song Sparrow. Cheep, cheep, cheep and the beat goes on.

     Gosh, just so much to show you...I hope you are interested!

     One day we drove to Young Harris, a small nearby town, for Bruce's regular medical check up. Remember I told you how green the mountains were? Well, here's the evidence.

     We spent some time last week preparing for my role in providing refreshments for the dedication service at the grand re-opening of the Harshaw Chapel. Built in 1869 as the first church for the early Methodists in this region it was in dis-repair but after the new roof went on and other improvements because Pastor Wil is leaving soon, the weekend had three separate events to commemorate the occasion. A highlight was when Demi and her brother Hoyt sand, "I Wander as I Wander", a beloved  song composed here in Murphy. 

     It was so precious. 

     

     Lori and I at the refreshment table graced with our neighbor Sandy's gorgeous peonies. And yes, I saw this dress in my closet and said, "this will do."

     Friends, I have a feeling you've had enough so I will leave you with a few items perhaps I can cover in my next post.

      

* Someone is arriving soon from Asheville to determine once and for all the viability of the fireplace working again.

*The Spring Fling was a great success this year. Perfect weather and good crowds.

*We finally bought a painting to replace the one over the fireplace that came with the house!

*Bruce is in his shop making a frame.

*I am entering two photographs in the Silver Arts again. Due on Thrusday this week, we shall see.

*Jonathan flew to Japan for the month for work and he arrived safe and sound.

*Mr. Christian, aka our grandson is now wearing little shoes that are so cute.

I do so hope you've enjoyed this week in our little slice of heaven here. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

your friend,

Gail

     

     

Give Us the Greens of Summer

While walking Baxter around the lake at the Orlando Urban Wetlands Park this morning, the lyrics for the great song, "Kodachrome" popped into my head. Lyrics have a way of doing that don't they? Or, at least it is that way with me. Despite my horrific memory, lyrics come back to me in a flash!

In the last few weeks, a researcher on nostalgia is making the rounds explaining it to all who read, or listen to the major news outlets. Not only does Dr. Sedekides mention the power of music as nostalgia, in my favorite part of the article (only a slight exaggeration), he is sometimes nostalgic for fried okra. Who isn't nostalgic for fried okra? It's a fascinating read if you have the time to click on the link. A nostalgic playlist, submitted by readers is included for your listening pleasure. For me, every now and again, when I hear the song "Happy Together", I am swept back to the ninth grade when me, and you know who, made it our song. :)

My, I've gotten off topic! Green, and more green!

Mr. Baxter was a very good walker indeed.

I spoke with two folks fishing along the bank who claimed they were catching nothing which didn't surprise me much as there were no shore birds to speak of. I'm pretty confidant their absence means no fish in the water. On the other hand, there was that funky algae which we've discovered in the past is a good thing.

The cypress trees are dense with leaves.

It's hard to imagine that this lovely scene is mere yards from one of the busiest highways in our area, as seen in the upper right. Then again, it is called an urban park. Duh! Rain and then some, has greened up all of the grass that sits in the unshaded areas.

Sunlight and shadows.....

My trip to Leu Gardens last week was filled with every shade of green you can imagine:

From super pale, to deep emerald.

Yellowish green,

as well as green leaning toward blue,

Do you suppose when Crayola was coming up with the box of 64 crayons, one of the greatest inventions ever, they visited gardens to come up with those colors? Have you thought about that at all? Perhaps it is time you should. Talk about nostalgia, now there's a product most everyone has used at one time in their life! Or maybe it's just an American thing?

Naturally I could go on and on with photos, but you get my drift. There are fans of the brown shades found in the deserts, and than there are fans of green. From my Florida background you're probably assuming I'm in the later group and if so, then you would be correct.

Finally, I took this last week, and aside from how cool the spider looks, the web is possibly even more so. Oddly enough, the Sunday newspaper had a two pack giveaway of a cream containing retinol, with the accompanying illustration looking so very much like this unusual web.

 The package claims it is from nature--maybe they meant it!

Here's hoping the rain holds off until I get my clothes off the line!

The Eyes Have It

They say that the first thing most humans notice about another human is their eyes. While I can't say that is true for me, I usually notice hair, I can certainly see the value in such observation.

Yesterday afternoon, while watering the Pentas in their hanging basket, I discovered some eyes staring back at me!

It was so weird seeing those eyes as I held the sprayer over the basket! Now, here's where a macro lens works very nicely as long as you use the manual focus. Most cameras need a fair amount of contrast in the subject to focus properly, and as you can see, aside from the tiny red flower and the eyes, there's not a lot of contrast! I had noticed my once lovely plant was looking a little pekid, and now I know why--a hungry caterpillar!! You've all read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle haven't you? Here's a refresher for you....

After taking the photo, I thought to myself, "Self, now what?" Why I'll just cut the branch off, that's what I'll do. And so I did, hanging said branch by a clip on the yucca leaves so we could get a closer look at my "very hungry caterpillar."

I've tried to identify what kind of caterpillar this is with little success. Anyone out there know anything about caterpillars? What I did learn is that those markings along the side are called, "simple eyes." This morning I checked only to find no trace of our green visitor.

Moving on.....

The older I've gotten the more skeptical I've become. Whereas once I was naive, (some would still call me so), however these days I question our culture a lot. One of the things I've been questioning is the food truck fad. Around here, you'd think it was a brand new phenomenon what with all the publicity and the "food truck roundups." Now, if you want to stand around eating "gourmet" food, after waiting in line in our Florida heat, far be it from me to question it, but food trucks have been around a long time. I am married to a construction worker after all and "back in the day", as in more than 40 years ago, "Dots on the Dot" was the food truck of choice. Arriving at a site before 7 in the morning, they served coffee and donuts for breakfast, hanging around until after the lunch crowd had their fill. They didn't serve, Korean tacos, whatever that is, but for those guys who hadn't packed their lunch, they were there. While not technically a truck, this food purveyor has been around long before food trucks were cool.

By the way, this is not operated by our very own, Matty. That's a joke! When Matthew was small, we used to call him Matty, and at least one of his friends still calls him that, however, our Matty is a vegan, so this definitely wouldn't work for him!

Of all places, when I went to buy the new bird feeder at Ace Hardware, I found a garden bench for the bargain price of $49.99. Although it was marked $69.99, it rang up at the lower price, and I did not complain!

So, I'm really happy with the style, the black, not so much. I've purchased both blue and green spray paint because I can't decide which would look better. Stay tuned! Here's a little close up of the finish:

In my garden, which you may find hard to believe, it blends in with everything else. Angela, when I was over there, said the same thing before I even mentioned it. So, we shall see--the blue is similar to the bird bath color, the green is a close match to our door color. Decisions, decisions!

Moving on......

I second the information in this article from the Times, Tests, tests, and more tests! Good grief, when I was hospitalized because I had back pain and a seizure, I ended up having more tests than was good for me, and we all know what that lead to. Fortunately, despite having a pancreatic tumor marker, five times normal, I am here today to write about how wrong that test was. Thank God! When they start throwing around the metastatic cancer words, you sit up and take notice. The worst part of the ordeal--despite all the tests, I never received a diagnosis, and was sick for more than a year. The other day I remembered that my weight, after leaving the hospital, was 103 pounds. I'd forgotten how thin I was!

Finally, there is this fun article about treasure hunting at flea markets and the like. My favorite part of the article was this:

"Instead we have lots of landscapes with or without animals, bodies of water or rustic architecture; a few still lifes; and several examples of what seems to be a popular still-life subcategory: unanchored, free-floating flowers."

And here, all this time, I thought I had an original idea with my free-floating flowers in the swimming pool.

Surely I should have know better, after all, we all know there's nothing new under the sun.

Come to think of it, why didn't I put my caterpillar in a jar with food and air holes? Duh...