umbrella leaves

Pattern
light
discovery
shadow
unexpected
beauty
waiting
to be seen
with an open heart

My precious zinnias
I planted your seeds so late in the season
I almost gave up hope that you would bloom
let alone survive Mr. Bunny's appetite
for flowering things
But today I saw that you were open and I held
a tiny bit of joy to my being
but was overwhelmed when a hummingbird
flit upon you and took a sip
and I put my hand over my heart
and gave thanks

Usually by now the elderberries would be picked clean. I wonder what the birds know that we don't know.
The bush hangs burdensome looking waiting for robins and cedar waxwings. I found a dead cedar waxwing this morning by the window,how sad. But nothing will... could be sadder than what I found in my garden today.
A severely wounded Canada goose,whose wing had all but been severed. Early this morning he was on our deck..wing hanging and bleeding. We tried to go after him,but he hobbled quickly away before we could get him. All I could do was call animal control to report what we had witnessed. I have thought and searched for him all day. He is doomed if they don't get him and take him to an animal rehab place.
Oh dear, the bad side of gardens..the terrible fate that befalls some animals that come to your refuge..your open bar of joy.....not too joyful today I confess. And like a poem I once wrote about grief..how when we grieve we visit every grief we ever had. This made me think of a possum that also found its way to our deck one summer. It was badly wounded by some attack and it was panting. I tried to get someone out to help this poor creature. But no one returned my calls....no one cared. I put out a box and some water. He crawled inside for awhile...then disappeared. I don't know what ever happened to him.
Or the one time a Cuckoo roosted in our pine tree...we were thrilled that he let us watch him. But he never left..he just dropped down to the next branch..until he dropped to the ground dead.
I hate this part of my garden...all the sadness for me.. watching helpless.
After this horrifying morning I was on a mission to find some joy. It took a while, but patience was rewarded. I was sitting in the garden just watching and listening and there at my feet jumped a toad... ugly beautiful little thing. Then some goldfinches flew into the tree with their merry tweeting...and then a hummingbird and a downy woodpecker.....and a huge dragonfly.
thank you Lord for sending me some joy
and please help your injured goose

Here's one of the strangest items I have tucked away in the garden
it's an old wooden child's crutch
I found it at a gargae sale many years ago
and thought it would be interesting for someone
to find in the garden
and it is...it's very small
sort of makes you think of Tiny Tim
and that's not bad...

This was the biggest blackest bee I have ever seen
and boy could he hum...buzzzzzzzzzz
I almost had him up my nose
bumping into him looking for a shot
He almost gave me a shot
whoa!

There are days I, too, just sit and stare
or is it meditate
sometimes they are the same
just sitting quietly among the plants
and bugs and birds and toads and
chattering squirrels
and just being
Emptying
just emptying
until
I am filled

Obedient plants are blooming and the bees and the hummingbirds are so happy.
I have tried numerous times to catch a photo of that hummer...
Lately there have been several hummers flitting around and I have had many happy moments just watching them
I especially love it when one sits on a branch close by and preens...such a delight
Not much new to bloom in the garden....every flower is trying its best to keep on blooming, though...
lillies,roses,beebalm,blackeyed susans
but it won't be long when even they have to pack it up

I love the shy rabbit that lives in my yard
she used to have a few little ones scampering around
but they are gone now...don't know where
...I hope to live lives of their own in someone else's yard
but inside my heart I know there are too many Mr. McGregors out there
and evil hawks
But you are welcome to stay little rabbit
and in the spring you can beginagain

Cooper's Hawk

click on picture to see him looking at me

The Cooper's Hawk
like a big bully
in my Open Bar of Joy
Bunny and squirrel
frozen like the kid's game
statues waiting for me
to intervene
and of course I did
shoo!
But he didn't go easily
I had to chase him to 3 trees
before he gave me a look
of I'll be back
then spread his wings
and flew away
his wings spread
like so much dread

Oh bee
gather
and be
happy

I found these two in the morning light
what should I do to them?

There are days when I'll take a loving message
no matter where it is written
or by whom
I love you too
Mother Nature

I was so busy writing my Magpie tale..if you want to see what that is check out my other blog

 http://suz-beginagain.blogspot.com/

that I hardly had time for any gardening this day. Besides,it's 92 degrees outside and

gardening isn't much fun in that heat. So I decided to post some pictures that I took yesterday in the late afternoon....capturing some of the late afternoon sun. I snuck a few other pictures in there too, so you can see a bit of my home.

Garden, my garden
my beloved friend
that thrives despite my misgivings
my failures at nurturing you
You listen to the Lord
and grow anyway
and for this I give thanks
for you are truly my Eden
where creation exits
where I feel I am made
 in the image of God
and He said it was good

Everytime I think the spiderwort is finished, it blooms again.
I like that kind of thinking.

The heat has been oppressive.
The steamy air thick in my nostrils,
bugs seem to be the only things
that are out and about.
Mosquitoes prosper in bits of rain water

left unturned from pots undiscovered.

At night the cicadas are deafening,
but comforting to me, as I stand
in darkness knowing the quietness of winter
will soon deafen me in another way.
But this morning as I walked around, I again was
moved by shadows ...this lonely sunflower
admiring its own, cast on the deck...
soon it will be plundered by Goldfinches
as will the marigolds and cone flowers.
Signs everywhere...foreshadowing
that summer is waning.

Soon summer will be a shadow
and then a memory
that I will hold on tight to
until the first thrilling
day of autumn seeps into
my lungs on a crisp day

You're lovely against the green
of the hydrangea flower
stepping from petal to petal
unaware I could flick you
and stomp you anytime I wish
but I don't
so walk on
walk on,black ant

Fallen leaf soup
some birch
a few serviceberry
mix in bits of bark
and flavor with sticks
let it stew in rain water
for a delicious treat
for bunny

ha ha I have to laugh..on closer examination
I see that mrs. thyme has thrown in her secret ingredient!

One little seed left
to drop
Starry Solomon's Seal
oh such wisdom
...to hold one back

too late...I've already eaten it.

this tomato cost us about.. $25
two plants
one tomato topsy turvy
soil and food

one tomato.........................but it was delish