Hydrangea

The pink hydrangea that I bought for my mother almost twenty years ago hasn't bloomed since I brought it home in a pot from the grocery store. When I got home last night I saw that it had flowered. This may not seem like a big deal to most people but it is to me. I'm including a phone picture. What an unexpected and delightful surprise.

The heron and the crow

In several posts on this blog I've mentioned times when I had seen a heron down along the river. During the time that I was really sick, seeing a heron at the river has always seemed a good omen to me. I always seemed to spot one at times when I had been at a low point and things were beginning to look up. I'm not all that superstitious but seeing a heron really does seem to go hand in hand with good news for me.

Lately I've been having to deal with an assortment of challenges - mostly at work. They are reasonably important but have been made more difficult than they really need to be due to various surrounding circumstances. I'm not sure how to proceed with some of them and was thinking about that on my walk back from the river this morning. When I was near my house I heard a loud, raspy call and looked up to see a heron flying overhead. It was being followed and pestered by a crow. They sailed along over the trees squawking and cawing in turn. That image has been stuck in my head all day. I knew how the heron felt.

Some wildlife and a foggy morning

It's hard to believe that it's July 1. Half of this year has passed already. The summer seems to be flying by. On the drive home yesterday I noticed all the flowers on the roadside and in the highway median. They looked the way they often do much later in the season. Many had gone to seed already.

At home lately I've had an assortment of wildlife visitors. Last weekend I heard something tapping on one of the basement windows and looked out to see a turtle stuck in the window well. I think it was an eastern painted turtle. They're river turtles and this one must have taken quite a hike to get to my house - maybe on a trip to lay eggs. I have only ever seen box turtles in the yard before. This one was much more energetic and hissed at me when I went to pick it up. My friend Ellen was visiting that day and we took the turtle down to the river to let it go. It was satisfying to see it slip away into the water.


Yesterday a hummingbird came to my window box in the morning. It came back in the evening and I could hear it making little chirping sounds as it looked over the impatiens. I had never heard a hummingbird before. Later in the evening we had rain and when I was looking out the back door a big toad came hopping up. That was a surprise. I've also had the usual rabbits and deer in the yard. I see the rabbits all the time. I thought rabbits would be timid but these aren't. Maybe they're a new, gutsy species. They stroll about the yard and don't seem to care if I'm out there or not. Even the lawn mower doesn't scare them away. I don't see the deer but I see that lots of the taller plants in the yard have been nibbled down. It has to be deer that are doing that.

Because of the rain yesterday there was a low fog before dawn today. I did come upon a deer when out walking. Because of the fog we didn't see each other until we were fairly close. I think we were both surprised. It was a good morning to be outside.