So long, lavender sweater. See you next fall.
It was chilly, early last week, and I wore my lavender sweater one more time before washing it and putting it away. My favorite sweater, I’ve had it for years (and will have it for as many more years as it can take it). I’ve surrendered to the fact that spring is really here.
All empty, except for a couple of errant holly berries. No mockingbirds. At least not yet.
I looked deep inside the front yard holly bush at the leftover nest that mockingbirds made and used last year. Empty. Maybe it’s too early.
April, 2012
I’ve also kept on eye on the drain from a gutter at the back of the house where a pair of VERY ANGRY robins made a nest a few years ago. They’ve not come back, and I imagine it’s because it wasn’t a very good place for a nest. They raised their three babies successfully, but they kept being wildly irritated by my continued interference in their space, as I kept trying to water backyard plants. One day, and I am absolutely not inventing this, I had to get an umbrella to hold over my head to be able to get to some new transplants that really needed to be watered regularly. Woman wandering around with a hose? Not. All. Right. Large white circular thing, with colorful dots on it, bobbing around the yard. Oh, yeah. That was fine! (Lest you think I did that just for fun, the daddy robin was, and again, I’m not inventing or exaggerating, dive-bombing me, talons down, whenever I poked my head out the back door!)
There was this giant pile of big black feathers, and smaller, softer gray feathers. But not one bone, piece of muscle, foot, beak, or anything else beyond feathers. It must have been a mighty fight.
Possibly, local birds are avoiding our yard, now. We don’t have cats, but there are some who live nearby. And they appear to be on the prowl, thinking to maybe wipe out the entire avian population (or at least the grackles).
Things haven’t been working out so well for the birds in my backyard, but the bees have been as busy as shoppers the day after Thanksgiving. Gotta get the nectar! Gotta get the nectar! Gotta get the nectar!
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- There are tons more flowers on the holly bushes at the front and the back of the house than there have been in the past few years.
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- The flowers smell wonderful
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- and the bees are captivated, too.
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- I think there’s going to be some great local honey in a few weeks.
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- On the front bush, the flowers are almost all gone and the berries are forming.
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- Sad old tired berries, about ready to drop off, next to the newly formed berries. God’s plan for plants, in action.
As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
Genesis 8:22 (Good News Translation)
The weather has been pretty warm the past few days, but the weekend is supposed to be cooler. Soon it will be time to take the quilt off the bed and store it away, too.
One reason I hate to see warmer weather is that I sleep better under covers. The weight of a quilt over me is just right for a good night’s sleep. It’s comforting. It feels safe. It makes going to sleep easier. Of course, being so snug and warm can make getting up out of bed more difficult…