Quietly Busy

It's been a quiet day...not much going on

outside this window...except for...

~

a Downy woodpecker that keeps drinking at

the hummingbird feeder.

~

-click photos to enlarge-
~

and this Dove quietly sitting out back...
trying to figure out just
what happened to his fountain with the rocks...




that he and his friend use to sit on.



Besides changing the water fountain

which isn't quite finished...

I've just been picking some basil..

and deadheading the flowers when I can...

...between the alternating days of rain

and sunshine...some days I find the

coneflowers very wet.....

and some days dry...like this one with it's

straight level petals...

this one with it's droopy swirl of petals...

or this one with it's in between petals.

This morning as I went out for my walk...

I headed toward the field...

where my grandson Grant had camped out

the night before...Knowing he wasn't up yet

...I quietly took a photo and moved on...

A few days ago I found the field again to be...

quietly swarming with bees of all kinds.

There are over 10 bees in this photo alone.

Some made me think "Beeware"

while others were just beautiful and "Beebusy"

Today I found the field to be very wet

with a heavy early morning dew...

that even the blackberries could not escape.

At the other end of the field...down by the barn...

the hibiscus was wet and blooming...

with many buds yet to open...

I walked on to check a very old pear tree in

the woods at the beginning of the drive...

it's branches were loaded down with fruit.

Then I noticed a young robin

quietly sitting in the wet grass...just

sitting there...waiting...

not wanting to fly just yet.

Then ending my walk and heading back home...

guess who I saw...the two friendly fawns...

playing in my flower garden again...

but I also noticed someone

quietly watching over them...
The Mom...

so I cautiously turned into the field...

~

I've learned that these two friendly fawns are

actually 2 of 3 fawns I see sometimes...

the third fawn stays closer to the mom than

these two that roam on their own sometimes.

Anyway, since I was in the field...

I picked a handful of blackberries...

~

before going home back across the field...

but I did stop to take a photo of

this Balloon flower...

this soon to open Blackberry Lily and...

a video of...

Mom and her three fawns...

and I then...went quietly inside.

So Day By Day

No! It does not look like this yet...just wish it did.

The weather goes back and forth...warm to cold.

I want to sit outside everyday and not have to be busy

to stay warm...I want to sit in the swing and read!

.

I'm being a little impatient...but I want to see the

orange of the poppies and the purple of the iris.

.

Although I admit...Saturday's sunrise was beautiful

with it's own shades of orange and purple.

At least there are the golden daffodils...but they look lonely!

Even the green of the Naked Ladies behind them will fade

before actually blooming...they flower later in the season!

All of the lillies have a lot of growing to do before they bloom...

Below are some that were a gift from my Mother.

They need to be sprayed with this 'vile concoction'

to keep from being eaten by deer.

.

That's what I have been doing very carefully...

you don't want to get any on you...not a drop!

I finally managed to pot the gift of pansy flowers also.

This is the wicked plant spray...it isn't harmful...
has garlic and eggs listed as the ingredients...smells like
rotten potatoes are in there too...no lasting odor
to the area...but deer must pick up the smell.



Before we used this vile spray...the deer would even eat
the very tough and sharp Yucca plants. The fibrous
leaves were left very ugly after their snack!




Around noon I picked up Alivia for a small visit.
Alivia is son Rick's youngest daughter.
She was going to help me cook lunch.



She has this thing for olives...just wanted a few first...



So she ate green olives...while I added black olives to
the bulgar wheat.



Then she did some taste testing before we plated the food.



She also sampled the frozen peas before they were cooked.

Lunch is the main meal of the day for us!

On Sunday...when I went outside...I noticed the sky

was already busy with heavy traffic...

and in the field...and later the front yard

was our son Steve...with his metal detector.

Within the hour...

Grant and Andrew came over to ride their dirt bikes.

Grant is daughter Annette's youngest son...

and Andrew is son Steve's oldest son.

Grant on left...Andrew on right.

We feed the birds sunflower seeds...year round.

I had 6 feeders to fill...

The Red-Bellied and the Downey Woodpeckers take

their seeds to a nearby tree to eat.

while the Chickadees and Cardinals stay put...

until the upside down Nut-hatch and Goldfinch take over.

So while the birds ate their sunflower seeds...

we ate a lunch of cheesy tuna macaroni.

So day by day...
...I check on the flowers...feed the birds ...and spray

twice a week with that vile concoction that seems to work.

The flowers are just growing too slow for me...

...but they are growing!

Forgot to mention I finally saw the movie "Twilight"

Annette gave me one to watch!

Back Down The Drive

This morning's 7:05 sunrise was tinted lavender...like a hint of Spring.
Plus, warmer temperatures are predicted for a few days.....
which means more comfortable walks for me and our grandchildren.

.

All 9 of our grandchildren live within walking distance;

some just take a little hike and cross a creek to get here.....

while others can come down this easier path to our home.
.

Yes, that's a cemetery adjacent to our driveway.....

that they have to pass by.....on their way here.

It's an early 1800's cemetery.

Sometimes they don't even make it here.....

.....but end up in the field chasing butterflies like Amanda!
.

This is granddaughter Katie and great niece Alicia

helping granddaughter Alivia, their cousin, down the drive.
.

They gather here in the summer and sometimes play a game of corn hole .

That's Nick, Katie, Nathan, and Tori (not a grandchild...but Katie's cousin).
.

Katie and Nick
.

Most are all teenagers now,

except for Andrew and Dylan...

but when younger they all

had fun in this small pool.....

and often ended up on the back porch

......eating s'mores.....like Dylan here with

Jacob (another cousin, but not a grandchild).....

and sometimes they could be convinced that reviewing

some school work, with Grant's help.....could be fun!

I enjoy all of them coming to gramma's for

warm summer time fun, being all together .....
.

or for cold winter time snowball fights.....
.

or like Katie and Tori.....

to play monopoly... with Alivia looking on.....
.



They can come and camp out in my living room anytime,
.



or just for quick little visits...like Dustin.....

before they go.....back down the drive.
.



Deer.....not grandchidren.....

going back down the drive!!!