Today's bird feeder visitors ...

(the blur in the upper left hand corner is a chickadee flying thru the frame !!)

From the living room window ...

Working for peanuts ...

Where there's a will there's always a way !!!

This guy is DETERMINED to get the peanuts in the bird feeder !!!

He has to jump up almost a metre on to the deck, then up another metre to the railing, and finally up in excess of a metre to reach the feeder ... and his final acrobatic stunt is dangling upside down while his back claws grip the feeder top ...

He's earned his peanuts !!!!

Scenes from My Backyard and Garden ...

My Backyard ...

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My garden is coming along nicely,

the radishes are growing rapidly,

and sprouts have been sighted in the rows of:

peas, carrots, beets, lettuce and spinach !!!

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Though they are now fading,

the white hawthorn blossoms were both

beautiful and fragrant

while I was planting my garden.
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The lilac hedge that borders the north side of my yard

is almost ready to BLOOM!!!

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And drooping over the fence on the south is an ancient

apple tree that is absolutely COVERED

in white blossoms !!

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I love dandelions ...

Dandelions are simply a plant found out of place ... they are beautiful - anyone who has had a wee small person bring a fist full of dandelions to them with the words "I picked these for you ..." will agree.

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But more than that, dandelions are a plant that is incredibly useful ... you can eat their leaves in salad, add them to stir fries, use their flowers for wine, dry the leaves and stems for tea, dry the roots for a coffee substitute, and that's not even mentioning the dozens of herbal and medicinial remedies that this humble little plant offers - AND - yesterday on CBC radio they had a conversation with researchers from Ohio who are exploring the commercial potential of dandelions as a source of natural latex rubber !!!

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All in all, for a tiny ubiquitious plant it's a pretty impressive cv ... and yet we persist in calling it a weed ... it's just an under appreciated plant ... and a metaphor for ALL of us ...

... it also offers us some beautiful pictures

if we take the time to enjoy it, instead of using

noxious and toxic chemicals to eradicate it !!

On a drive with Ms H ...

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Just some pictures from a drive out into the country

that Ms H. and I took today ... the harvest is fast approaching,

a beautiful late summer afternoon,

my one wish:

that these pictures do justice to scenes we experienced !!

!

A bug's life ...

Some bees working industriously

in a field of sunflowers ...

... I wonder if they were thinking:

"SO many flowers, SO little time!!"

Images of the trail ...

Some of the critters I met along the way ...

(and it was close enough that I didn't need to use the zoom !!)

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(these two used a very slight zoom)

A Morning Visitor ...

This morning as I was sitting in the dining room working on my computer I heard a gawd-awful "thwack" on the back porch followed by a scrambling sound ... I went out to investigate and found a beautiful blue jay lying stunned beside the dog's food dishes ... his wings were splayed and he was laying with his (or her) beak open, head tilted and his eyes glazed ...

I carefully picked him up and carried him into the kitchen, cradling him in my hand ... I talked gently to him and stroked him on the back and front ... we sat quietly at the kitchen table with him sitting in my lap (no cats around - or revenge would have been swift and bloody - the scoldings our cats have taken my neighbourhood jays are no doubt remembered!!!) ...

Eventually he began to look around ... spread his wings ... flip his tail ...



Mere words can't describe how beautiful the iridecsent colours on his wings and body are ... and when he opened his tail it was simply breath-taking ... I've always loved Blue Jays (even the ball team!!) BUT I've never been able to look at one this closerly before !!

After 10 or fifteen minutes I carried him outside and he promptly hopped from my hand to the top of the barbeque ... then fluttered his wings and flew up into the trees on the south side of our property:

As I write this, he is higher up in the trees and has been calling quietly to his friends who are scolding him for his careless mis-adventure ... I'm left with a sense of awe at how beautiful this bird is up in the sky where he belongs, but how INCREDIBLY gorgeous he is close up ... and I'm glad he stopped by ... I think I'll wander up to the Hardware store and pick up some peanuts in case he decided to come by ... it's the least can do !!!