Looking Forward

The area above is not quite this shaded yet, but I'm looking forward to this little corner of my yard and the pleasure that it brings me. It's my private corner where I am hidden from the prying eyes of neighbors and shielded from the sun by the tall Sycamore Tree with its very large canopy of leaves that even keep the rain at bay. This picture must have been taken in the Spring of 2006, because in summer you can't see the sun filtering thru the leaves, like you can in this picture.

I have hanging from the branches of this Sycamore Tree a bird feeder filled with Finch food to attract small colorful birds. I'll sit in the chair and read, with my trusty camera in my hand waiting for that unsuspecting bird to land on the feeder. I've seen many different birds stopping by these last few days, but without a proper zoom or telephoto lens I am not able to capture their images. Jimmy told me to go ahead and get the camera that I need, but I priced them and I decided that it would be much more fun just to see how close I can get to the birds. Eventually they will just consider me as part of the normal landscape and go about their normal business of feeding don't you think? I think it's worth a try. I just hope that I can be patient enough to sit still and concentrate on reading a book, or maybe just do a little weeding while I am there, waiting for them to arrive.

So far, of the birds that I can name, I've seen Cardinals, a yellow finch, a bluebird, a great BIG hawk being chased by a half dozen smaller birds, a crane, doves, a red-headed woodpecker and an assortment of unusual birds that I can't name, plus the normal run of the mill birds, like Robins, Bluejays & sparrows. I really need a bird book so that I can identify the many birds that visit our yard and fly overhead.

On the other side of the yard, near my hammock, I have another larger bird feeder filled with seed and also a hummingbird feeder. Today while the cat & I were laying in the hammock a hummingbird buzzed near us once and then a few moments later he stopped for a drink. Since I had to raise up to get his picture, I just layed there and watched the little green ruby throated hummer as he drank not but a few feet away. As he hummed past it reminded me of two days ago when Jybow our orange cat was in the tree...Jybow was in the branch above the hummingbird feeder and was buzzed by a little hummer. It scared the cat so that she jumped from the tree and ran off thinking, I suppose that it was a bumble bee.

The day before yesterday I found this little flower growing where I did not plant it. I don't know how these flowers move, perhaps by seed or maybe with under-ground runners...but it's a very pretty little thing and I'm going to leave it where it is. It chose a very nice spot to grow in by the watergarden, so that's where it will remain among the rocks. I like plants that grow on rocks and so far I have two of them and it is very easy to keep the weeds out. I have one more succulent that I scraped off of my sil's concrete patio that I think will do nicely here too. Right now it is fighting with the grass that wants to take it over, so I must move it soon.

One word of advice that I didn't heed and should have...My sil told me not to plant mint close to any other plants that I liked, but I thought, what could three little sprigs interfere with anyway. How wrong I was! Mint spreads like wildfire and I have been fighting it for several years now and I think I am finally winning the war...at least I think I am...for the moment. Mint needs to be in a spot all by itself away from your favorite flowers. I love the smell of mint leaves and have some growing in another patch with my tall hybiscus bushes. Jimmy keeps it under control with his weedeater and it doesn't seem to bother the bushes at all...but keep it out of small flower beds unless you want nothing but mint.