Birds and Blooms

Sunflower seedling in our garden.

Willow tree Robin's nest. This is the third year in a row that they've nested in this spot.

Our Tree Swallow couple is back. They're setting up housekeeping in our garden bird house. We're hoping they have a successful nest this year!

Tree Swallow coming in for a landing.

Jackmanii Clematis

Dogwood

The pink dogwood tree on the edge of our property was especially pretty this year. I took these pictures last week and am just now getting around to posting them.

Garden 2014!

This past weekend we finally got our garden planted. We finished up on Easter Sunday. Thank the Lord for the beautiful weather that we had. Our backs and knees were sore, but it's going it is always worth it.

 I got this cute garden sign at Hobby Lobby with what was left on my Christmas gift card from sister Kay. (Thanks sis!)

We planted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, squash, peppers, pole beans, lima beans, cucumbers, okra and lots of sunflowers.

We got these beautiful hanging baskets at Chuck Johnson's Nursery in Cookeville.

I redid my iris garden this year. This past fall I separated all the iris bulbs and replanted them. I didn't think they would bloom this year, but lo and behold they are.

We also added a new jackmanii clematis vine and climbing flower vines to our Iris garden. We ripped out all the plastic lattice last year and Terry built this awesome new fence on either side of our garden entrance.

Tomato plants.

Got these colorful sun catching wind chimes at Hobby Lobby as well. They are really pretty when the sun is setting.

"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful." ~ Abram L. Urban

"Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it." ~ Author Unknown

"Gardening requires lots of water — most of it in the form of perspiration." ~ Lou Erickson

The Cats are in Bloom

Our cat, Libby, sleeping in a flower pot on our back porch. I found her curled up in the litter box in the garage a few days ago.

Tennessee Spring

Our willow tree with a little Orton effect thrown in.

Orton imagery, also called an Orton slide sandwich or the Orton Effect, is a photography technique which blends two completely different photos of the same scene, resulting in a distinctive mix of high and low detail areas within the same photo. It was originated by photographer Michael Orton in the mid 1980's.

Our forsythia is gorgeous this year! The yellow is beautiful against the deep blue sky today.

Spring?

Enjoy the flowers on this snowy spring day.

Winter please go away!

Colors of Spring

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~ Robin Williams

I took a picture of this barn last year around this time. A few days ago I went back and used my wide angle lens. This is one of my favorite barns in Gordonsville! Me and T want to wish our brother-in-law, Don Foy, a Very happy 52nd birthday today! Love ya', dude!

The fields in Smith County have been filled with these beautiful yellow flowers. I love the green and yellow colors together! Also want to say congratulations to my niece, Sarah, who graduated from high school yesterday with honors. We're so proud of you Sarah poo! Happy Anniversary to my sister, Kay and her hubby Neil. They are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today. Love you guys!

Rob!

It was 5 years ago today that I lost my youngest brother, Robert. I miss hearing him play drums, his sense of humor, his big bear hugs that would literally take your breath away, his laugh, his funny stories and everything else about him. He touched the lives of everyone he met during his short life. Anyone who ever met him will never forget him. I miss him each and every day and was truly blessed to have him as a brother. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him or laugh to myself about something funny he said or did. Thank goodness for all the great memories that have helped me get through. Love and miss you each and every day brother! Until we meet again.

"Some people leave our lives unexpectedly, we hold on to the memories, and spend the rest of our lives searching for little reminders of them."

"Everyone copes differently, some cry for the loss of a loved one others smile because they know they'll see them again."

Daddy bluebird bringing home the bacon, or should I say the grasshopper.

Feeding the little ones. I got a quick glimpse of one of the babies yesterday.

Field of yellow. 

We have a couple of bluebirds and tree swallows nesting in birdhouses in our backyard. The bluebirds eggs have hatched and we've heard the babies peeping from inside the box. The tree swallows had been busy building their nest and we noticed that we hadn't seen the female around in a couple of days. I saw the male perched on our deck railing and he would fly up to the opening of the box then fly off. When Terry got home from work yesterday, I asked him to put the ladder up to the box and look inside. I had a bad feeling that something had happened to the female and unfortunately I was right. Terry found the female tree swallow dead on her nest inside the box. She had been attacked, pecked on top of the head by what we think was a house sparrow. I did some research and house sparrows are known to attack tree swallow and bluebird nests. Their MO is to trap one of the birds inside the birdhouse, then attack them and take the birdhouse for themselves. Terry told me he had noticed a sparrow coming out of the birdhouse over the weekend and I had noticed one around the box as well. It made us both sad as the nest had been built, but she hadn't laid any eggs yet. I cried as he removed the little nest. I'm sensitive that way. The male keeps coming around. I'm not sure if birds grieve or not, but he definitely knows that something has happened to his mate. I just hope our bluebird family will be alright. We didn't think we would have any tree swallows this year until today when I heard that familiar chattering sound. I looked out the back door and sure enough there were four flying around, checking out the box. As of late this afternoon a pair have been in and out of the box and we hope that they can successfully nest and brood their young. Nature can be cruel at times.

I love the perspective I get with my wide angle lens. Love the two darker irises in the patch of light colored ones. I can't wait until our lilies start blooming, which should be any day now! Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Our darker purple irises are starting to bloom now. We've really enjoyed them this spring. It's funny how the darker irises have a totally different scent than the lighter color irises.  Or maybe it's just me :0)

An update on our tree swallows. They are building a nest in the new birdhouse we put up on our porch post. The male and female have been flying in with nesting materials, plus there little bits of dried grass on the back porch.

Up Into the Willow

I took this shot yesterday. I aimed the camera up into the willow tree in our backyard. Pretty neat perspective with the wide angle lens.

Great news! Our tree swallow couple found the new bird house this afternoon. So far so good. No conflicts between the tree swallows and the bluebirds :0) I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed!

A bluebird couple have taken up residence in one of our back yard bird houses. We think their eggs have hatched because we found remnants of blue egg shells near their nest. Also, the male and female were bringing insects to the bird house. I've read that blue birds can lay up to three clutches of eggs in a season. We're still waiting for our tree swallows to start nesting in another box we put up. The bluebirds and tree swallows have been fighting for territory over the past month and we're hoping now that the bluebirds have babies to take care of, the tree swallows can start nesting. One good sign, I noticed the female tree swallow checking out the other bird house this afternoon. Stay tuned!

Cherry Blossom macro.