Bringing in May

Another week of lockdown has come and gone. The time really flies when you're stuck at home, doesn't it? Our state is slowly opening back up while our positive cases continue to climb and climb. Florence county is leading the way with big daily increases, as well as number of deaths relative to the rest of South Carolina. It's already May so who knows how much longer social isolation will need to be maintained? I'm tired of it all (who isn't?) but since our local numbers keep going up this is no time to throw caution to the wind. I miss normal life so much, though.

Speaking of which, two of my book club friends and I found a creative way to spend time together on Saturday morning! We went through the drive-thru at Krispy Kreme in our individual cars for doughnuts and coffee, and then found an empty parking lot where we parked our cars in a triangle formation and rolled down the windows to talk. It was so good to see their faces!

The back porch and the bird feeder continue to be a daily source of happiness. On Thursday evening, May Eve, we saw two rabbits run the length of our back yard along the property line just before sunset! They appeared to be headed towards the creek. That was the first time we've ever seen rabbits at this house, and it seemed to be an auspicious date for it. Rabbit sightings have always been a sort of personal good luck omen to my husband and me. We started spotting them over and over in the weeks leading up to our wedding (14 years ago now) and during our honeymoon. The Painted Buntings are still visiting our feeder, much to my delight. The male is like a little flying jewel, with all his gorgeous colors, and the female is the most beautiful shade of yellowish green. They're exceedingly rare in this area and I'm shocked that they've stayed around for a full week already. The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were only here for two days, sadly, but I expected that because they're known for migrating through our state but not sticking around. I feel lucky that we got to see them at all.

We're not the only ones enjoying the back porch these days.

Marco, Ginger, and George all enjoy spending time out there, too. Not at the same time though!Marco can scream so loud that both of the dogs avoid him as much as possible. They dread those ear-piercing shrieks (so do we). When we bring Marco out, both dogs make a beeline back inside the house. Which is for the best, considering that they don't like him much to begin with and if he flew down into their faces something bad could happen. We try to be really careful when he's out of his cage around them.

Today is yet another beautiful day for going outdoors. It's still nice and cool, the sun is bright, and the sky is as blue as can be. I'll be out on the porch watering plants, filling the feeder, and afterwards maybe reading a book. How do you plan to spend your Sunday, friends? Whatever you're up to, I hope you're all well and having a good day!