Daffodil House

On the way to work this morning, I noticed that my favorite house for daffodils is in full swing just now. What a lot of work it must've been to plant all of those, but certainly worth the investment.

Not much to say about the work day, really...but I can tell you I'm very relaxed this evening, since My Other Half has more or less completed his work on restoring the aging hot tub that came with this new rental (okay, don't everyone bust down the door at once, but soon, we'll be inviting...).

It's still a work in progress, as I'm sure the neighbors will agree, as an insulating cover for the various pumps and motors will go a long way toward making it a more soothing experience.

But hey, it certainly was a sweet way to wrap our Friday.

Birding the Parking Lot

In between afternoon appointments and tonight's concert, I managed a little break to get outside. Although the morning carried on the last two days theme of dull and dreary, the afternoon was starting to perk up.

Over at the "daffodil house", I found the blooming still a bit patchy, so resisted a long shot as yet. But this new variety, with its thinner, pointier petals and more nodding demeanor, this to me is a narcissus. In mythology, Narcissus was the boy so beautiful he couldn't look away from his own reflection. Eventually he died, and the flowers sprung up where he'd been.

(Actually, there's three or four different, great versions of Narcissus' tale, as a few mouse clicks have shown me. You can check 'em out here. I think the one with Echo is my favorite.)

I can totally picture these guys planted along the bank of a stream, where they could gaze down into their rippled reflection in the passing waters.

When I got back to the parking lot at work, I found the robins were having their run of the grassy hill below the powerlines.

They are so much fun to watch, the way they duck and dash, then stand tall, listening for worms. They can hear the worms. Amazing.

And you know, for such ubiquitous birds as these, the American robin is quite striking, appearance-wise. Of course, I say that about all the birds.



As I headed inside, I heard a rustling in the bed of Jeff's truck, and this white periscope head popped up as I drew closer, and then this Great Black-Backed Gull was flying up. I'm always impressed with how big these guys are...and I never fail to hear the voice of Ivan (was that his name? I have to find time to read that again!), from Watership Down in my head: I come from Peeg Vater...

Anyway, this guy hopped up onto Jen's truck so we could better regard one another and I managed to get off a few shots with my camera. Obviously his white front caused a little over-exposure from the angle of the sun, but it was still a cool moment.

We studied one another a bit, as I moved a little closer to him. Maybe he was surprised that I wasn't shooing him away. But first, I figure live and let live. Second, do you see how big he is? Until I grow a beak like that, he can do pretty much whatever he wants to.

Here's a look at the back...my "secret"...garden this morning. As you can see, the rain (and some recent raking) are helping to green things up. There's plenty to do here, and none of that got accomplished on this short visit before work, but still, it's great to walk around and see things poking up here and there. Not only plenty of bulbs, but lots of different perennials and wild things...and of course, plenty of oregano.

I'll be interested to see what sort of pollinators the garden brings this year, after hearing so much about the Troubles of Bees this past winter. This has been the first place I'd seen then at all in a while, so I hope that this colony collapse disorder will not destroy the species in total.

I have trouble believing that we are not hearing all that much about this in the news, since so much of our food supply depends on these little buzzers.

Here's a shot of the "daffodil house", as I think of it, on Rock Harbor Road in Orleans. Every year I'm thrilled by the display, and spare a thought for the effort that went into planting them all (oh, somebody's back hurt when that was all said and done, you can be sure!).


Today was one of those overcast days, where the sun made a valiant effort to shine a few times, without much success. There's more showers in the forecast for overnight.

I did get a bit more of the raking accomplished this afternoon, and constructed another of those shelters of old trees, branches and sticks, piled on with plenty of leaves and pine needles.

Eventually, before quitting the yard entirely, I wandered into the back for another look around...and was rewarded by the sight of this magnificent Casa Blanca lily stalk burst up from the ground amongst an array of wild strawberry foliage and old oak leaves.



These tulips continue to bring me some pleasure. Simple things are always the best. You can see (below) that there are others budding out, ready to take the stage as these earlier ones begin to fade.

And of course, there's a veritable army of blue grape hyacinths coming into bloom everywhere in the yard...which is, after all, as it should be.

Happy Saturday, everyone. Hope it's treating you well!

Daffodil House

Well, here is the Morman Tabernacle Choir of daffodil plantings. It makes my head spin to imagine how many bulbs they have planted here at this house on Rock Harbor Road. It's a joy to drive by each day!

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