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.  :)

Thank you, Le Hummingbird nectar and hit recipe

- Thank you for all the basil suggestions!  I made more Caprese salad with the Sweet Basil, and I added the leaves (not the flowers) of the African Blue Basil (pictured on the right) to a spinach salad.  So good!  I am intrigued by the other suggestions and will definitely be trying some of those suggestions out!  You know I'll post about it when I do. 

- I've been making hummingbird nectar for the feeder using this little Corningware teapot my grandmother gave me when I was first starting out in my own home.  Does anyone remember green stamps?  They were a reward program (I think from supermarkets and such) - you could get stamps and paste in a book and when you got enough, there were prizes!  So she let me choose something from the green stamp reward book and I chose this.  I always think of my little grandmother when I make nectar (that's it cooling on the counter in the photo.)

- I made this dish, Chicken and Artichoke Penne for my sister and niece when they visited.  My sis snapped this photo to show her husband not only the food, but the awesome braiser (my new favorite) I used to cook it in.  I thought I'd share the recipe - you can find it by clicking the red link above.  It was a hit and so easy (I used rotisserie chicken that was already shredded and in the freezer.)

Thank you so much for coming by!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Back porch, hummingbirds (finally) and not playing basketball

- Friend Janice brought me some Kona coffee from her visit to Hawaii last week and I enjoyed it on the back porch on Sunday morning.  Kona coffee always makes me think of my dad, who discovered it when he passed through Hawaii on his journey home at the end of World War II.  I used to put a pound of Kona in his Christmas stocking sometimes.  And the device there on the table with it is a Thermcell - it keeps mosquitoes at bay.  They are at it already and it really does work.

- I had almost given up on any hummingbirds ever visiting my feeder, but heeded the advice of the woman who works at the nearby garden center, "Put it out with nectar in the spring and they'll start coming by in early June."  And right on schedule - a hummingbird flew up, saw that I was sitting nearby and flew away with a squeak!  I can also see it from my sofa and was happy to see it came back again and again over the weekend.

- You'd have to click to enlarge to really see the basketball goals in the clearing at the end of this sidewalk that is at the side property of the elementary school up the street from my home.  My sister spotted this when she was walking with me here a few weeks ago when she visited and said (tongue in cheek), "We'll have to come back up here and play basketball!"  Ha!  I have a chuckle about that every time I pass this way on a neighborhood walk (because walking is about as athletic as the two of us have ever gotten.)  :)