Midsummer greetings!

We've been doing an inventory of the animals we've been seeing or hearing around the neighborhood lately. It's apparently the time of year for new babies:

• Every night for a couple of weeks now we hear two baby Barred Owls calling to their parents for food. It's a thin, high-pitched screech. We've seen the babies a few times, too. Power lines across the street from our house (close to a streetlight) are favored perching spots. 
• Yesterday I spotted two baby deer standing in a neighbor's back yard. The property is bounded on the back side by a small, wooded lot, so I'm guessing they stay in there during the day. They're beautiful little creatures! My neighbor, Heather, saw one of the fawns along with its mother in her yard one evening last week. 
• Bluebirds have another nest in our box right now, and from the frantic sounds of the babies inside, it won't be long before they fledge. There was an earlier brood nesting in there last month, but of course we have no idea if it's the same parent pair or not. There are lots of bluebirds around here.
• Thanks to all the rain we've had over the last week, the nearby creek is alive with a frog chorus at night. 

Marco on the porch during a rainstorm.

My garden is really coming along. It's awfully late this year, but I'm hoping my patience is about to be rewarded. We have loads of green tomatoes, small peppers, and cucumbers. Another couple of weeks and we should have more produce than we know what to do with. Here's hoping, anyway! :)  I'm planning to make pickles and salsas and hot sauce with any extras.

And I just love all the flowers!

Two bees share a single blossom of Bee Balm.

Another baby: a tiny grasshopper on a marigold.

The latest zinnia...

Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!

Bright spots

In a week filled with rainy days, work angst, and onerous household/personal obligations, there were a few bright spots for me this first week of July.

A newly fledged house sparrow flew in to our garage yesterday, and couldn't figure out how to get back out. He kept fluttering up against a window pane instead of just flying back out through the open door. I walked up to him very slowly, and gently cupped my hands around him, and carried him outside.  He didn't protest at all. Although I've rescued and released a lot of orphaned wild baby birds, there's still nothing like holding a tiny little scrap of trusting, warm fluff in your hands. This happened before I left for work yesterday, and brightened my morning.

Speaking of work, readers that I connect with that shop at my bookstore are rare. When they do show up, it's always wonderful to trade recommendations with them. The other day I met a woman about my age with excellent taste in books (well, my taste, anyway!). We had a great conversation, and she is British, so she had the most wonderful accent! When she was leaving, she pointed to the stack of books she was about to purchase and said, "This is brilliant! Thank you so much!"  Meeting her (and her "this is brilliant" line) made my day!

Third bright spot: homemade blueberry pies! I've discovered a great easy pie recipe to use the berries we're currently picking in our backyard. I've made two so far, and will post the recipe later in the week.

What sorts of things are brightening up your week, dear readers?

Nesting season

One of the things I love most about April is watching the family life of birds as a new nesting season unfolds. Our feeders have been busy with mated pairs of birds stuffing themselves with seed and suet. We've seen pairs of doves, bluebirds, chickadees, northern cardinals, goldfinches, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, house finches, house sparrows, and titmice. The addition of the suet feeders, and a birdbath that is kept clean and full, seem to have made the most difference in attracting a more diverse group this year. We've seen several of these birds gathering nesting material and even mating in the past few weeks, and so I'm sure that there are eggs and hatchlings all around by now. Soon little fledglings will be following their parents to the feeders which is always very entertaining! Nothing is cuter than a baby bird!



Mockingbird eggs. This photo
was taken several years ago.
 

Speaking of eggs, a friend of Gregg's gave us almost 5 dozen fresh eggs last week! It's an eccentric old plumber guy that keeps chickens as a serious hobby. Apparently the hens are laying lots of extra eggs right now, and they are wonderfully rich with golden-orange yolks. Fresh eggs are another great thing about nesting season!