Ring around the rosies...

...a pocket full of posies. I have always loved that poem, and the little dance that we did, as we sang it. Last week a friend gave me a very special gift, a real pocket full of posies. She purchased the "pocketbook" which is covered with moss, and added the posies. The sweet little bluish purple pansies couldn't be prettier.
The gardens are becoming very lush. The rains and now warmer weather has everything growing, almost before my eyes. Fortunately this year I have been able to keep up with the weeding. I even started a compost bin. In the past I didn't bother doing one for fear the bears and other critters would just disturb it, but so far they haven't. In addition to clippings, weeds and pruned items I have also added fruit peels, coffee grounds, and veggies leftovers. However, it will probably be several years before good compost is available.
Happy gardening...

If you don't like the weather...

...just wait a few hours. Last night the temperatures hovered around 20 degrees. Yes, we got a frost. Knowing that this was a probable, I covered the four zone 7, ornamental grasses that I dared to plant early. They are really annuals for this area, as we are in zone 4. In the fall I plan to remove them from the garden and winter them over in the house. They are worth the trouble, as they are really lovely. Two are Cymbopogon citratus, Lemon Grass and two are Pennisetum setaceum 'Fireworks'. They are not very special to look at now, the Lemon Grass is just a wide blade yellow green grass, but in the late summer and early autumn it will obtain greater height and hues of red, orange and gold. Fireworks true to her name will blast into reds, deep greens and golds. Photos will be more impressive later in the season. And true to form the weather changed and it was in the 70's today. We had an early evening visitor last night. I remove the suet, seed feeders and peanuts every night because I don't want to attract nocturnal visitors. Bears, raccoon, skunks etc. will seek out free meals that I would rather save for the birds, especially since the latter don't eat like birds.

Yesterday was a most...

...unusual day. It rained off and on all day. I truly wanted to accomplish some gardening tasks, but each time the rain stopped and I assembled my gardening tools...the rain returned. Finally I decided to just stop trying and do sometime else. Then the sun came out. So, instead of gardening I grabbed my camera and went in search of photo opportunities. It didn't take long to find a few fun and funny things to photograph.

This little Chickadee seemed to be having a really Bad Hair Day. Actually it had been bathing in a shallow stream of water and was trying to groom itself when I found this photo op.
I continued photographing for about an hour and then returned home. On the balcony I observed a gray squirrel on the "Squirrel Proof Feeder". When I approached him he climbed down and gave me a look that seemed to say...

...Why are you looking at me? I didn't do anything, it wasn't me on the Bird Feeder, it must have been someone that resembled me. You can't prove a thing, I"m innocent, you believe me don't you?