May Days

Today has been one of those lovely spring days that make you hate to stay inside. The sky was cloudless, with that blue clarity that comes with this time of year. Birds chirped and sang while they went about the business of feeding and declaring territorial interests. A flock of song sparrows arrived and spent the day hopping about under the apple trees, digging under last fall's dry leaves for bugs. They make a constant rustling that sounds like some creature is about to emerge from the dappled shade, the noise out of proportion to their size. There are white throated sparrows among them, and their three note song is distinct, repeated all through the day. The bright yellow eye markings make them easier to identify than some sparrows.

A few days ago I spotted a small hawk perched on the wires, across the road from the bird feeder. After checking the bird book I think it was a female merlin, and have seen it fly by a few times since. So far no sign that it has the feeder in its sights, and I hope it stays that way. Today I was walking around outside when the I heard the whooshing sound of wings behind me, turned expecting to see one of the crows and instead there was an adult bald eagle cruising low over the yard. I watched it with the binoculars as it went off to circle high up across the road, and noticed some smaller bird harassing it for a while. Couldn't see clearly, but it may have been the merlin. They will go at much larger birds, especially if they're nesting nearby.

A male hairy woodpecker has been making his presence known, hammering on the old poplar tree so loudly that I mistook him for a much larger pileated woodpecker.

I haven't done much in the garden yet, just pulled the grass weeds from one of my raised beds and raked up the soil a bit. Two tarragon plants, bee balm, lavender, tansy, chives and oregano are all coming back from last year. The bee balm is becoming a bit of a monster, dominated the herb bed last year. I have a yen for zinnias this year, had a lot of them in my community garden plot in the city and loved them. They make great bouquets and I love the bright colours. Have to start planting seeds soon. For now, the bluets are blooming down by the driveway, near my lower raised bed. They cluster in tiny patches, pretty little things.

In answer to a comment on the sketch in my last post, it was by Tom Kelley, an artist for the U.S. Fish and Game Wildlife Service. They have some nice public domain sketches on their website. I like the line drawings and charcoal sketches, they remind me of some of my old storybooks.

I'm on my own for a while this weekend (which makes computer access a lot easier!! Do all teens live on Facebook?) My son is off with his church youth group doing the World Vision 30-Hour Famine fundraiser. I hope it takes his mind off the advent of Grand Theft Auto 4 for a little while. He's a PS3 fanatic and can't wait to get the new game. I dislike violent games, but he and his friends do enjoy them and don't seem the worse for it. I think playing as a group is probably less of a bad influence than playing alone. I'd worry more if he didn't also get outdoor and do a lot of reading as well. Right now he's rereading The Lord of the Rings and enjoying it a lot.

My recommendation for a light, fun to read mystery series would have to be the Southern Sisters mysteries by Anne George. They are fun, laugh out loud funny at times. I'm also enjoying a book on disk version of The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. It's about Josephine Bonaparte and gets you involved from the first few sentences.

Here's hoping for sunny days and just enough rain to make things grow. Good gardening, all.