A catalog.
Blooming: Privet with that warm heavy fragrance; golden cosmos, cilantro, horehound, chicory, scabious, columbine. The plain and Japanese honeysuckle should be blooming soon; if they are now, there isn't any close enough for me to catch the fragrance.
Fruiting: mulberry, besieged by birds who can sneak in behind the mockingbird's back, and the more courageous squirrels. Once in a while I pull a couple for myself.
Feeding: bees on the privet, which is bee-safe because I use no chemicals on my yard, butterflies on chicory, birds on bugs and mulberries. Also their chicks, of which there are no doubt several.
Singing: mockingbird, catbird, robin, Carolina wren, boreal chickadee, woodpecker, the occasional titmouse, swallows on the wing high over the houses at sunset. And a scream or two from the blue jay just to remind us he's still there.
Taking wicked revenge. Starlings like nice solid boxes to nest in. There's always one who tries to nest in my tool closet, because the door sometimes pops open by itself or in a strong wind. He's having no luck this year, so he's taken to bombing my white porch, and you know with what. From the color, I can tell that this starling is also eating mulberries.
Buying: the Farmer's Market is open. I went down there and scored strawberries I had to eat by Monday night, they were so ripe. Throw me into that briar patch. Also beets and turnips the perfect size for pickling, kale and collards for freezing, and spinach for crunching. I didn't plant this year; I'm letting the clover take over and put nitrogen in the soil, and composting weeds to smother the old weeds. The Market is just a short walk down the hill and a short walk up the hill, and I wore a new tee I knit over the winter from that Perly Perle yarn. Fits like a glove. Also my jeans fit even though I've been a slug finishing up projects.
All in all Sunday was the most satisfying day I've had in a long time.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved
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