Waiting for visitors, new digs and signs of spring

- A definite sign of spring:  the hummingbird feeder is filled and waiting for visitors.  The nice lady at my local bird feeder store, The Garden Enthusiast, told me another customer reported seeing scouts about already.

- I went there on Saturday to buy yet more Nyjer seed - the finches are going through it like mad, but half of it ends up on the back porch floor.  So I bought this new feeder with smaller holes.  They were hesitant at first, but took to it eventually.  Love that guy waiting his turn at the top.  Click to enlarge.

- And nothing says spring to me like Vidalia onion bulbs.  My late father used to plant these in his backyard garden.  I love putting them in salads and that's where these have gone this week.

There was a lovely spring rain last night.  I ran the plants from the back porch out front, so they could feel the rain and the pollen on their leaves could wash away.  Everybody's happy this morning, including me.  :)

A fine, warm day, a great find and beautiful visitor

Three photos that have been hanging out on my desktop - three good things that gave me pleasure:

- From my trip to Milledgeville, Georgia on April 11, with cousin Susan - this photo was taken from inside the tour trolley.  I wish those colorful irises showed up better (click to enlarge.)  The corner of Hancock and Clark was humming with activity - lots of college students walking about on a fine, warm day.  Milledgeville was the antebellum capitol of Georgia and the Governor's mansion can be seen across the street there. 

- Susan and I did a u-turn in order to visit this shop "The French Market & Tavern" in Locust Grove, Georgia, as we were about to part at the end of the day.  A great find!  Located in an old hardware store, the owners have made this old building their own by incorporating New Orleans style cuisine, with wonderful things to browse in the adjoining shop.  We spotted some people dining Al fresco in the courtyard, as we were leaving.  Love that flowering vine - I think it is Carolina Jessamine.

- And back home this week - I couldn't believe my eyes!  A true yellow Goldfinch visited my feeder.  Sorry the photo is so fuzzy - I didn't want my motion from the inside to startle it away by sneaking up to be closer to it.  My book group read The Goldfinch earlier this year, so I sent this photo out to the group by email - sparking lots of back and forth discussion of birds in their gardens. 

I hope you have a beautiful weekend, full of good things!

Wren party, in flight and coming home

- It's been a regular wren party on my back porch the last several days.  I took about 20 photos on Sunday, trying to get a good one, but they are constantly in motion.  I like this one of them in silhouette.

- You would need to click to enlarge to see the bird in flight here.  My dad gave me this feeder years ago to foil squirrels getting to the bird seed.  I don't really have the right kind of seed in this - it's Niger seed, but they love it.  They probably need it, too - it's unseasonably cold here this week.

- It was great entertainment since I have been a bit under the weather with a nasty cold and stayed in a lot last weekend.  If you click to enlarge, you can see one fellow perched on top waiting for a spot.  :)  I think these are wrens (or perhaps goldfinches) and wonder if they are from the families who build nests in the birdhouse there in the spring.  I like to think so.

Sunday morning, bird haven, legacy and perfect afternoon

- The neighbor to the left of my sister's house on the Hiwassee river in North Carolina has this beautiful rock right in front of her back porch.  I see her grandchildren sunning themselves on it sometimes or playing gladiator.  It was so beautiful on Sunday morning - cool with a light breeze blowing.  No grandchildren around, and the neighbor was at church, so I took this glorious photo.

- This bird haven (as I think of it), is halfway between my sister's house and this neighbor.  If you click to enlarge, you'll see signs that there is a nest in it.  I often see birds flying in and out - usually blue birds.  No action this weekend though - there must be fledglings about.

- Not to be outdone in the beauty department, my sister's Daylilies, madly blooming, on the other side of her house (taken on Saturday afternoon).  Her late mother-in-law, Grace, planted them long ago.  I love how they keep coming back year after year.

- I looked up from my book one afternoon and thought how peaceful that back porch looks from my cushy vantage point inside the house.  A perfect afternoon.

In the neighborhood, wishing and hoping and symphonic

- The mainly residential road I first encounter on my morning commute is off a highway with exits.  I frequently hear the morning traffic people on the news telling listeners to take that exit to avoid traffic clogs ahead.  Sigh.  So traffic is just more backed up for the regulars on this route.  But in the crawl toward the intersection I need to cross, I noticed something I've never noticed before:  this family cemetery.  (Click to enlarge photo.)  It has steps leading up to it and looks maintained, with a sign that has the family cemetery name carved into it.  Pretty remarkable for an area surrounded by houses and equally remarkable that I have never noticed it in all these years until now.  It's within walking distance of my home, so I might walk up there this weekend and have a look.  I love old cemeteries and there is even a map to it posted up there.

- When my sister and brother-in-law were here last week, I enlisted him to put some hooks up for me.  My friend Stephen gave me this hummingbird feeder at least 20 years ago, so I finally hung it up on one of the new hooks on the back porch.  No visitors to it yet, but I am excited by the thought. 

- The other hook was for a hanging pot out front.  I potted some things over the weekend and this is part of the result.  This morning when I was watering the outside plants in the early morning darkness, I was treated to a songbird symphony.  Funny how vocal they are in the 5am hour and after the sun comes up, not as much.  It was lovely and felt as if it was just for me.

Mr. Bluebird, eastern variety and beckoning

- Sometimes in my harrowing commute to northwest Atlanta in the morning (I arrive there around 7:30am), I am not in the happiest of moods because of traffic.  But look who was there to greet me when I pulled up yesterday!  This bluebird, sitting on the back of Mike's car, surveying the world.  I've never seen a bluebird around there - maybe it's the lure of the solar tree (that one coworker thinks looks as if it is in communication with extraterrestrials.)

- A look at Wikipedia tells me that this bluebird is of the eastern variety.  I hope he sticks around for the rest of spring.  There is a bluebird house on my back porch at home, with wrens or chickadees nesting it sometimes.  I took the old nest out of it last weekend, because I've seen some scouting activity already.  (I think it would make sense for them to reuse the nest already in there, but they won't.) 

- A rainy morning commute this morning, but it's OK since it is Friday and the weekend beckons.

Hope yours is wonderful!

One month later, band concert and Sunday gathering

- Saturday morning.  Same spot as below, exactly one month later.  It looks much more golden now and I loved watching the leaves fall into the river and float away.

- The gazebo in the town square.  When I rolled into town Friday night after dark, a band was playing in the gazebo while a number of people sitting in camp chairs on the lawn listened.  The mournful sound of a saxophone faded away as I made my way to the river.

- The mallard duck family (click to enlarge.)  Father duck spent most of the day on Saturday, around those rocks, alone.  The mom kept flying in to encourage him to come with her.  A bit of squabbling ensued - so funny to watch.  She would take off in irritation.  And then on Sunday, she brought the family with her.  Peace was at hand.

X is for Xenodochial, Xyloglyphy and Xilinous

- It was my pleasure to be xenodochial (hospitable to strangers) in hosting a family of chickadees in my back porch bird house.  I loved watching mom and dad chickadee coming and going with pine straw and other leafy bits to make a nest.  It was easy to tell when the eggs hatched, because mom and dad set about bringing food in to hungry little beaks.  I last saw them on Wednesday morning.  Then on Wednesday evening, with a pang of sadness, I realized they were gone.  But I expect they'll visit my back porch again and hopefully remember the kind woman who left them alone back there except to quietly water plants.

- Back when I had two cats (both gone now), people often thought it was a good idea to give me cat related paraphernalia as presents.  Not that I was ungrateful, but it was mostly cutesy stuff I wouldn't put out in my house.  I still have a couple of those items packed away and might post about them sometime.  But the item above, a lovely example of xyloglyphy (wood-carving), is one of my favorite gifts ever.  I love how the artist captured the lines of a cat's haunches as she lay sleeping.  (Gift from beloved friends.)

- This is how your cotton clothing begins, in snowy cotton fields like these seen on a drive through south Georgia.  It's lovely to see a xilinous (of, like or pertaining to cotton) industry like this thriving again in Georgia.

Note:  These "X" words are brought to you by this website: http://phrontistery.info/x.html.  Hopefully I've used them correctly in these sentences.  I was seriously stumped on X words having anything to do with good things and so was happy to find this site.  And I managed to find three positive words beginning with X - most of the others had to do with dryness, disease and ill-tempered women.  :)

Day 24 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, featuring the letter "X".  Three things that give me pleasure.  

Happy Friday and see you tomorrow, I hope. 

Garden walk, colcannon and perseverance

- A sparkling sunny morning.  The trees out back look refreshed from their long winter's nap.  Later in the day, I walked through the paths of friend Alice's garden and told her of the calla lily that someone gave mom the week she passed away.  The bulb (or rhizome) needs planting and I feel responsible for it, but don't have a good spot for calla lilies.  She tells me to bring it to her and she'll find a spot.

- This recipe came from Simply Recipes - a wonderful blog of family recipes they share so you can make them your own.  It started with making Colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale) on Saturday - delicious with a couple of sausages and then these Colcannon Cakes on Sunday morning.  A couple of them with a poached egg were wonderful.  You can click on the recipe here.

- Checking in on the robin I wrote about on Friday, it seems as if she has found a way to have her nest in that spot.  It looks a bit precarious to me, but I admire that kind of perseverance. 

Through the glass door, good try and no Rick

- This normally would have been a thrown out shot - I was trying to photograph the robin perched on top of the bird house (now full of wrens' nest) on the back porch.  Can you see her?  (If not, see below.)  She stood there for a couple of minutes, so I grabbed my camera.  Alas - the flash caught the bookcase reflected by the flash in the back door, but then I liked the kind of double exposure effect.

- She stayed there long enough for a blurry, flash off, zoom shot.  The robins have been attempting to build a nest on my upstairs neighbor's back porch, between the curve of the gutter pipe and the porch ceiling.  They never give up in spite of their efforts at building a nest with pine straw in that curved space making it fall out every time.  I guess she decided to take a bit of a break and ponder that decision.

- When I get off the elevator at Georgia Public Broadcasting there are signs pointing to "Rick Steves event."  I ask the guard at the desk while I am signing in what the event is.  Rick Steves is giving a lecture this evening.  I tell him that I am just enough of a geek to think that is exciting.  :)  (He chuckles.)  I love those travel shows.  But alas (again) he is not there yet by the time I am ready to leave and I make my way into the night with no travel show celebrity sighting...

At least I get to sight plenty of birds, huh?  I hope you get to see many wonderful good things this weekend, my friends.

Looking for food, finding food and wee neighbor

- This guy and a friend were looking for something to eat at 7:30am in the small patch of grass in front of the printing company. Odd that they picked this spot. It must have been a big migrating day, because some geese flew overhead later in the afternoon, honking away, during my walk at Stone Mountain park.

- Needing Monday comfort food, I had those sliders for lunch at Hankook Taqueria around the corner from my office. Cholesterol on a plate, but so good!!! My favorite part was the cucumber kimchee, which added a cool crunch in the middle.

- This is the little bird who has made a nest in the fern hanging by my front door. She flew out as I approached after work. The zoom feature of my camera caught her looking bigger than she is (and more red than I knew before.)

Burst of pink, the cardinals and quiet morning

- The Crape Myrtle trees seem to be bursting out all over. I like this one that I walk by on the way to my front door. It has been adopted by a Cardinal couple who often have a nest in it.

- The cardinals were having a nap above my door sill (apparently) when I opened the back door yesterday morning and startled them. They flew with furious flapping to a nearby tree to collect themselves. I called out "Sorry!" after them as if they would understand.

- Breakfast on the back porch on an otherwise quiet morning. Poached eggs, crisp buttered toast and redbush tea. That and a book - lovely.

Crepe Myrtles, Marion and Mama Bird

- The Crepe Myrtle trees seem particularly beautiful right now.

- Neighbor Marion walks out on his porch and says, "hey - why don't you take my picture." And then was quite flattered when I did. He is a very genteel retired man and his favorite thing to say when I call out his name: "oh - is that Lynn? I thought it was an angel!"

- The fern hanging next to my front door (recently home to a pesky spider) now has a bird's nest in it. Mama Bird and I keep startling each other. She flaps her way out of the fern and flys away to squawk at me from nearby trees.