He's Baaaaack!

"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,

if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you,

if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,

rejoice, for your soul is alive."

Eleonora Duse

I was looking out the window this morning at my upside down, Topsy Turvy tomato plant. It's got lots of leaves on it but only a couple yellow flowers, which is about as many fruits as I ever get from my gardening efforts.

I watched as jays and a woodpecker shared seed at the bird feeder. The woodpecker perched gently on the feeder, picking through the seed with his long pointy beak. Most of the seed flew over his shoulder and landed in the chair where 2 jays sat waiting for the goods to fall right at their feet!

Then I noticed the Brown Thrasher at the bird bath. Every year what looks to be the same bird comes to our back yard to bathe - usually once a day. I haven't seen him lately and I have had choice words for the neighbor's menagerie of cats. They skulk around and snooze lazily wherever they feel like it, whether invited or not. That is the way of cats. It is also the way of cats to eat birds. Therefore I don't like to see the little felines in the backyard where our feeders provide meals for the woodpecker, a pair of cardinals, some jays, some doves, a few other kinds of birds and, of course, squirrels too many to count. I've worried about the fate of the thrasher.

But there he was today, sitting on the edge of the birdbath, dipping his toe in the water as if to check the temperature. I stood at the door and watched with delight as the spotted bird splashed in the water as if it was a medicinal spa. Once thoroughly soaked, he hopped up on the barbecue grill and shook himself dry and flew away.

What a way to start the day.

Wishing you a summer day kissed by the sun,

Merry ME