Coming Home to Roost

I just had to share this with you................. think you'll agree it was quite astonishing.

A week after the four baby wrens toddled off into the far reaches of the garden, they came back to spend a night on the front porch where they started out!

Thursday evening, we spent a few hours at a local Irish pub with a friend - the guys downed Guinness while I stuck with a nice red wine - we devoured authentic 'fish 'n chips' - and the really nice Irish owner sent us Grand Marniers to finish off the fun night. On arriving home, we entered the house somewhat noisily, slamming car doors, storm door, porch lights blazing - all the things we didn't do while the wrens were still in the nest by the front door. I immediately went to the dining room window to close the blinds and almost fell over when I saw this sight up in the corner of the porch ceiling...............................the four baby wrens snuggled up together, obviously sleeping very soundly. This is the same corner the mother wren slept in from last September until she built the nest in March - she was there almost every night. I'm surmising that she brought the babies here on Thursday for some reason, somehow getting them all to fly up there and hunker down for the night in her familiar corner.

This amazing sight required resetting the alarm clock for 6:00 AM in hopes I could see what happened at daybreak. So with my coffee and camera I sat by the window waiting. At 6:20 AM I heard a parent calling, the little birds started stirring and stretching. By then I was waking dh and we stood there watching as number 1, 2 and 3, gingerly doddered along the ledge, then flew out towards where mom was calling. Number 4 was less brave, it wasn't sure where or how to leave. It hopped and slipped along the ledge to the far end, returned to the corner, then flew off in the opposite direction..................we were hoping it would find its family in time for breakfast.

(The photos are a little blurry as they were taken through the window before the sun was up).

I must add that I was thrilled 'my babies' made a return visit and, once again, marvelled at the wonders of Nature.

Today I saw the entire family together in the back garden and it was obvious that flying lessons were the order of the day. The parents would fly a short distance to a shrub, a metal obelisk or the back fence, the four (yes still all four thank goodness) babies would follow all chirping noisily. Below is either mom or dad giving orders.

If you look closely you can see one baby on the lower bar of the obelisk.

A closer look below and another baby is perched on the wooden trellis below the moon.

Later in the afternoon they were closer to the house on my back deck - didn't have time to grab the camera though. It's just so wonderful knowing they are staying in our garden and are doing so well.

Yesterday...........

It was a perfect afternoon and, on arriving home from a dental appointment................
.............I grabbed a pair of old shorts and a ball cap (faded hair color days are here!). I sat on my front steps, stretched out my pale legs and thought I should start using some lotion like this as I no longer sunbathe! Breathing in fresh green air, admiring the clematis blooms, and listening to the music of the water dancing in the fountain, with the sun warm and kind on the perfect Spring day.

Nothing brings more joy than being surrounded by Nature's beauty.

Edited: I have some surprising/amazing news about the baby wrens - will post on this later!!

Dessert Carnival Day

Make sure you visit Cielo at The House in the Roses to take part in her fabulous dessert party scheduled for May 30. You can find the details on her blog. Hurry on over to visit this fabulous, romantic gal who always writes something very special to touch one's heart....and shares beautiful photos of all things lovely.

National Day of England

Happy St. George's Day to all my family and friends in England........and those of you who have crossed oceans but continue to celebrate your 'Englishness' elsewhere.

It was good to hear that Prime Minister Gordon Brown marked today by flying St. George's flag over No. 10 Downing Street - a symbol that was lacking in recent years.

For England, St. George's Day marks its National Day. Traditional customs include wearing a red rose in one's lapel, singing the beautiful hymn "Jerusalem" in a cathedral, church or chapel......................and then heading on over to the local pub for a quick pint which, as you probably know, is the Englishman's cure for everything!!

Below are the powerful words of William Blake's poem which, set to amazing music by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, was a hymn/song every English child learned at an early age. We always loved to sing it and I must admit it still brings tears to my eyes and pride to my heart.

Jerusalem

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England's mountains green

And was the holy lamb of God

On England's pleasant pastures seen

And did the countenance divine

Shine forth upon our clouded hills

And was Jerusalem builded here

Among those dark Satanic mills

Bring me my bow of burning gold

Bring me my arrows of desire

Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold

Bring me my chariot of fire

I will not cease from mental fight

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

'Til we have built Jerusalem

In England's green and pleasant land

The Dance of Life

Last week a call from my cousin across the pond informed me of the death of his mother, my only remaining aunt and my Godmother. She had lived a long life, ninety four years. In this much treasured photograph c. 1914, she is the twin on the right held by my grandmother, my mother is standing next to her. I spent a lot of time at my aunt's home as a child and she was very kind to me.

Looking at this photograph, I am always amazed and proud of this family. Grandma with her five children, born within four years as there were two sets of twins! My heart pounds trying to comprehend the fact that everyone has gone. We are now just four cousins, offspring of those five children. Scattered about the globe, two still in Devon, England, one in France and one in the USA..................the dance of life goes on.

If suddenly you do not exist,

if suddenly you no longer live,

I shall live on.

............Pablo Neruda............

Lifestyles

Have you noticed how everything old is new again.........................wasn't there a song with those words? This morning, while awaiting arrival of the carpet cleaner, I discovered while moving smaller pieces of furniture and decorative items in the downstairs rooms, the things that I love are definitely old passed down family treasures, or items found at antiques and vintage shops that once graced another person's home. Reproductions are now available everywhere, some quite attractive I have to admit, but they haven't absorbed any history............they just don't have authentic chips and scratches, they hide no secrets, they are just something pretty to fill a space.

Perhaps this modern new glass bowl above has yet to gather and hold a family's memories, but it's being helped by adding beautiful branches of old coral and sea urchins, maybe collected during a trip to an island..................and wrapped gently with miniature linen doilies and snippets of antique lace. How lovely to take the new back a bit in time by adding something from your family. How difficult it is to get rid of things that belonged to your family.

Remember my SIMPLIFY sign and the best laid plans to clean out, give away, unstore, declutter, downsize? That was last year and I've just realized I still have a way to go. So I'm off to work on it again - wish me luck.

Evening on the edge of the English Channel ~ October 2007

Why can't life always be this clean, uncluttered and simple?

Green and Gorgeous

Yesterday, on my way to the garden center of a 'big box' store to hunt down Boston ferns for the front porch, I stopped to buy a card at a chain drug store in my neighborhood.

At the entrance were these beautiful ferns...........FOR SALE!

I was jumping for joy at such perfection ~ even dh agreed they were gorgeous.

The store manager told me they arrived Thursday and were selling like wild fire. I'm not surprised because they are huge, healthy, and grown right here at a local nursery which of course is a good thing. They were $15 ea., which is $5 more than the BB store, however there's no comparison..............when I checked there later I found them smaller, droopy, many fronds broken, with a pale greyish green look as if crying out for fertilizer.........and a good long, slow drink!

Now I'm anxious to clean up the front porch. With the wrens gone, and hopefully the purple finches staying out of these lovely ferns (they are such messy birds), as soon as the pollen has eased up I can get to work. We had so much oak pollen falling yesterday it was hard to breathe outside. Hopefully showers during the night have dampened it down and cleared the air somewhat.

Have to show you my trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) which burst into bloom a couple of days ago on the arbor leading to the back garden. The orange flowers are profuse this year and will surely attract the hummingbirds............and bees, but that's good because we need more bees for pollination.

In the Southeastern U.S., trumpet vine is sometimes considered a weed and is quite invasive if not pruned. Mine was pruned back to the ground a few years ago when the house was painted and this is the best year for blooms since.

The plant to the left of the gate is a climbing rose, John Cabot, a hardy Canadian. Also pruned back and mulched over the Winter, it's now growing rapidly with our warm temperatures this week, and starting to bloom. I keep white mini lights up year round on the fence and arbor as they look pretty and bring a little romance to the night garden. (Click photo to enlarge).

Another view of the front entry and porch. Our little fountain decided to quit bubbling and we have purchased a replacement which we plan to assemble this week ~ hope it's easier this time around ~ I remember it took hours to get all the internal parts together, especially with instructions in a vague interpretation of English!

We enjoy sitting on the porch and listening to the water splashing. The current fountain will be moved somewhere in the garden and used as a birdbath, which is what it's become anyway..........even catch squirrels stopping by for a drink now and then.

This warm, sunny weather is causing everything in the garden to start bursting forth. Each morning as the dawn chorus breaks into song, still in my robe, coffee mug in hand, I tiptoe around the dewy garden to view the beauty of the new day. Those of you who garden know the feeling when you see all those little miracles pushing up through the earth. Perhaps my love affair with Autumn is waning a little ~ have to admit Spring just gets better every year.

Off to grab clogs and tiptoe through the wet grass right now. Hope to have new garden treasures to share with you later.