Saturday.

 Oh, What a beautiful morning.  Oh, What a beautiful day.  I've got a wonderful feeling.  Everything's going my way. You get the whole verse today.  Maybe not everything is going... but I'm not complaining.  A little short on sleep but not complaining.  Now my sister...that's another story.  She still is a late sleeper and I still never am.  We were poor bedroom mates.

                        Ornamental Strawberries filling in spaces in the walk outside the back door.  

The morning started with the sun and hoe in hand.  I tackled another flowerbed.  I think they all have been touched now.  That says a lot.  And the beat will continue all summer.  I planted two new garden plants.  Took out hundreds of baby violets just germinating. Grrrr.  Hate them.  Fluffed a whole lot of dirt softened by yesterday's rain and planted zinnia and basil seeds. There was a lot of hand-washing dirt from under my nails.  I love feeling the ground when it's damp and easy to break apart.  No garden gloves for me! Takes me back to gardening with my mother.  I use LOTS of lotion.

This little woodland Forget-me-not would take over the world if allowed.  Every few years I do a purge. But the blue is so intense it almost looks electric in the shady places it loves to grow. 

All that outdoor stuff turned me into a sleepy gardener in the afternoon.  Nap time was the solution.  

There was a whole lot of entertainment from a mother Wren feeling the need to build a nest inside a miss-shaped gourd I hung a few weeks ago in the usual place that Wrens find a house each year.  Watching her try to get long sticks into a quarter size hole and often dropping them showed perseverance.  Some sticks were picked up three and four times. before they finally made their way inside.  

The Pileated stopped by. The Hairy Woodpecker along with a whole lot of other visitors were seen all morning..  Today there were not so many sparrows. I removed the mealworms, their favorite. 

I spent some time discovering colors that the sun's light seemed to set a glow.  The red smoke tree that we planted nearly 45 years ago, crippled with age but still beautiful in color lends interest to the backyard.  It is too early for smoke but the leaf color now is stunning.     

The afternoon saw a little rain with a little thunder bringing a spring shower perfect for all the seeds that now need to germinate.  The zinnias will be moved to the butterfly garden when they are big enough.  They are now in a protected area where the lawn treatment man can't harm them.  The red beets were thinned.  And speaking of butterflies, more common milkweed is popping out of the ground. 

Today was a good day.  Busy with what I like to do but quiet and productive.  Thanks be to God. 

Tomorrow CHURCH and a chance to say hello to my friends again who fill a void.  I need them.