Relaxing Weekend

Our weekends are usually packed with things to do.  But this weekend, we stayed home, and did almost nothing.  That is, no real work.  We spent a good deal of it sitting out on the back patio, reading, and visiting.  We also spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, floating on rafts in the pool.  Just me and Geeps.  It was heavenly.  I hung all of the wash out on the line, including our sheets.  What is it about sheets that have dried outside in the fresh air?  They smell so good.  And they are as crisp as if they had been ironed.  Oh, and we have not caught THE gopher yet!!!  Yesterday we took  a little ride out to the feed store for chicken supplies.  They had new chicks, but no Australorps or Buff Orpingtons.  Maybe next week.
l always go out to the garden in the evenings after dinner.  I water, and pull weeds.  Look for new blooms and  coax wayward vines to their supports.   Make sure there has been no insect damage.   Perhaps eat a strawberry or two.

I turn the compost pile, and go from box to box, working freshly composted fertile soil into the veg beds.

I try to remember what it looked like out here, only a few short weeks ago.  When the seedlings were barely poking their heads above the soil for their first bit of sun.

 Before the climbers had begun to reach their sticky tendrils to anything sturdy enough to climb.

When the tomatoes were like little waifs inside their metal cages, barely even touching the rigid spheres that were meant to support their heavy fruit laden limbs.

And now, some of them are as tall as I am.
I toss bits of lettuce and parsley to the girls.  They all gather, just outside the rusted gates to wait for their treats.

Basil is their favorite!
And then, the sun begins to set, and the girls make their way to their house underneath the big avocado tree.   I sit for a minute, sipping iced tea and watching the daylight wane.

The sky takes on an amber glow, and the lingering sunlight twinkles between the leaves of the trees.

I watch as the girls waddle, their crops full, back to their roost.

I built an exterior run for the girls.  Only  a temporary space, for when we have to cut back weeds and want to keep them somewhat confined, but still leave them a space to dust bathe and scratch for bugs.  It is made with wrought iron fence panels and chicken wire.  I think I have finally adjusted it so that Aunt Bea can no longer escape.

From the house, it is not visible at all.  From the grove, it is tucked in like a fort in the jungle.  The perfect place for my yard birds.  The wrens that made their nest in the tree adjacent to the coop, have abandoned their home.  The eggs were left unattended for several weeks.  The wrens are gone.  Either they have fallen prey to the hawks that have taken residence next door, or they have moved their home to a quieter place.  I removed the nest and eggs, in hopes that a pair of birds will rebuild.

Six tiny speckled ecru eggs.  I placed them inside the nest that I removed from atop the speaker on my patio where I was trying to discourage the house finch from building.  It is sitting on the patio table now, as are many abandoned nests throughout my house, for display.

The wrens nest is now on my potting bench by the garden.  It is such a work of art!  It constantly amazes me, the intricate detailed work involved in some of the nests that are built by these tiny creatures.

Thanks for visiting me in the garden today.   It looks like it is going to be another sunny day here where I live. Tonight I am joining my daughter Erika and daughter Gennifer at her house, for a Bachelorette watching party with the ladies.  I don't usually watch this show, but I think that Emily is so darling.  And it is fun to watch it with my girls.
Go make it a great day!!
XO  Kris