A gardener's Diary

Monday

I cleaned and weeded that section of our backyard which separates garden from woods... that part which during the winter months it turns into a little creek of sorts, all swelled up with winter rain, and where water wildflowers grow during this time of year.   I like to keep this space looking clean and free of weeds and such, so that there can really be a distinction between where the gardens ends and the wild begins. 

In some parts of that same edge, today I planted all those sunflower seeds I got last fall.  I'm already envisioning this space filled with huge yellow sunflowers on a happy summer day.

I also wanted to clean and free the house of some clutter, so I brought out all the house plants and flowerpots I've been winterizing inside.  And what a tremendous difference that alone made to make the space look larger.  I love house plants, but I also crave uncluttered spaces sometimes, particularly after all those long winter months.   

Tuesday...

Witches.... over a dozen of them—large, silent in their shadowy-black attire were observed spying down on us from high above the trees surrounding our little white cottage.  

They came with the last drops of rain and one by one took over the woods without a sound.  As I watched, my heart leaped at the sight of those large birds roosting in such an amazingly large group, standing so eerily-quiet on naked branches, facing towards our little white cottage.  Perhaps eagles or ospreys?  Witches!  Witches devoid of light making only a few vocalizations from time to time that were grunts and low hisses in my ears... 

Most likely, they were Turkey Vulture. These birds ride thermals in the sky and use their keen sense of smell to find fresh carcasses. They are a consummate scavenger, cleaning up the countryside one bite of their sharply hooked bill at a time, and never mussing a feather on their bald heads...

It was an aerie and awesome spectacle.  I watched in amazement as these creatures of the air opened up their large black wings and stood in that posture for a very long time, I guess trying to get dried from the rain?  It was such an amazing thing to see, and I am very fortunate to have been able to witness this...  

 

When evening came and the sun started to disappear behind the horizon, these birds were still there, watching over us.  They decided to use the trees in our forest as a hotel for the night, and so they spent the night.  In the morning, the first thing I did was run to the back and see if they were still there... And indeed! Half of them were still where I left them the evening before.  Until finally as the sun got stronger and the day advanced, one after one spreaded large black wings, and left... 

Wednesday

I went out for my first walk of the year.  The sun is warming up the land in a most marvelous of sunshine, life is bursting from each tree and each branch and the air feels light and filled with new promises.  

I was hoping to see Winter the cat sunbathing on top of the roof of his owner's car, but I didn't.  

Today, I also planted more elephant ear bulbs.  Some in pots, some in emptied spaced that I didn't know with what to fill.  Then later, I spread out the hyacinth seeds I collected last fall at the feet of every wall and post I could find. And I also cleaned the flowerbed in the front yard where the White Crepe Myrtle stands and where I have lilies growing there too.  The Vinca vine I planted in that flowerbed last year had started to take over everything, as it is it customary ways.  So I removed them without even thinking, and only left two small bushes that I must keep under control to stop them from spreading.  

There must be some kind of a magical "Rabbit Hole" of sorts somewhere in the universe of my garage.  Oh yes, I'm sure of that!  You see, I have seen small creatures come in into our garage when its doors are up, and disappear right in front of my eyes into thin air...  on a certain occasion, a bird got trapped in and was unable to find his way back into the open.  Tired of looking for a way out, even when the doors where opened wide, he found a temporary refuge behind some of the boxes and things storage against the walls, under tables and furniture and things.  I let him calm down for a while, but onto seeing that the poor little thing was not coming out, I went on a hunt for him... I looked behind every single box and container therein to see where he might have been hiding, but for more that I tried I was never able to find him.  Then one day early last autumn the same... this time, it was one of the larger wood frogs, dwellers of the pond... I saw her dazedly hopping about kind of disoriented and tried to redirected her back into the open.  But the creature kept hopping away from me until finally disappearing somewhere into that mysterious, unfathomable magical hole I'm telling you about.    

I want to embark in a Trip Down this magical Rabbit Hole in my garage, if only I could find it and see what's out there... in that other world wherever it is...  But it seems that only the creatures of the woods are entitled to this secret.  Creatures know how to find that hole I'm sure, and I am glad I have never seen the same happened from the other end of the magical hole thought... I mean, creatures from that magical world coming through and appearing in my garage?

I should start running again.  Days are nice, and warm, but once you get used to live in your woolly warm pjs all day long, it is hard to start again...

I've been going to the garden a lot, spending hours doing what I can, or sitting down in the red chair listening to birds.  Sometimes, the commotion is so great and so diverse, that you feel being transported to a magical place, in some jungle somewhere where the sounds of monkeys and parrots come together under a magical cacophony of jungle sounds.

The woods are full of fairies!

The trees are alive:

The river overflows with them.

See how they dip and dive!

What funny little fellows!

What dainty little dears!

They dance and leap, and prance and peep,

And utter fairy cheers!

~Author unknown