What a glorious morning. Sunshine, windchimes tinkling, birds singing, white butterflies flitting in the gardens, and it's Friday. Even though we are no longer tied to an 8-5 routine, five days a week, we still have a feeling of anticipation on Fridays. Time to tip a few beers, grill some brats, and hang out with friends. Time to de-stress.
There's a goldfinch at our feeder as I type this, right outside the screened patio. The little bugger is a flashy yellow and, of course, he's wearing his black vest. A real fancy dan he is. I see that the feeder needs to be re-filled and it's almost as though the finch is smugly hinting the need for more food! We buy bird seed in bulk and the big jars of grape jelly for the orioles. Grape jelly is a popular item on our menu. We've seen catbirds, house finches, and even hummingbirds sink their beaks into the sweet stuff. Next thing they'll be wanting toast on the side!!!!
At first we hung the grape jelly from a tree, but that came to a screeching halt when the man of the house saw a squirrel helping himself. That's when we switched to a shepherd's hook and once again the squirrels were outsmarted.
My hubby makes the cutest jelly feeders by spiraling copper tubing and attaching a sherbet dish for the jelly. One thing he cannot understand is how a teeny-weeny ant can crawl up a 6' iron shepherd's pole and shimmy down a 2' spiral of copper tubing to feast on the grape delights right along with the birds. He would like to know how an ant is motivated to find that food source when there's no track to it.
Speaking of ants, those little beasts have a race track in my kitchen. It's Terro time!
Our lawn needs mowing. That's another thing a person likes to get done on Fridays so it looks nice and groomed for the weekend when people are out and about. I'm spoiled because I don't have to do yard work. I'm not sure if it's because I'm being pampered or if the spouse doesn't want me screwing something up.
Today we will go through our veggie garden and pick whatever goodies the Earth has ready for us. I see some long green peppers, peas, and green beans. We've had lettuce, onions, and radishes already. We also have a cherry tomato plant, and I see a clump of about a dozen nice and ripe. Nothing like the taste of juicy home-grown tomatoes--the big ones. Can't wait so we can have California Cheeseburgers with sliced raw onion, lettuce, and thick slice of tomato with a titch of salt and pepper. Omigod!
So it is that we are wrapped in the arms of Midwest Summertime. A place where the soil is black, rich, and generous. A place where we share our days with the animal kingdom, the bird kingdom, the plant kingdom, and the insect kingdom. Sometimes we humans forget that it's their world, too!