Our morning chorus today was truly magnificent. Such aural diversity! From lyrical chirps to soaring arias, clicks & chips to warbling melodies while woodpeckers tapped out a pulsing beat in the background!

The very first time I spied a Ruby-crowned Kinglet outside my kitchen window I was distraught. It appeared that the tiny bird had been pecked hard atop its little head and was bleeding! Imagine my relief to learn that it was just his beautiful crimson red crown!

“I have been in the enjoiment of our delicious spring. The soft genial temperature of the season, just above the want of fire, enlivened by the reanimation of birds, flowers, the fields, forests and gardens, has been truly delightful and continues to be so”

—Thomas Jefferson to Count Volney, April 9, 1797

We enjoyed a delightful visit to the botanical gardens with our neighbors Amanda & Ben. Turns out that as a child her family vacationed every year on Gwynn’s Island, where my grandma grew up! Cool, eh? But for totally weird & amazing – they rented the trailer next door to my grandma’s house. The trailor that belonged to my Uncle John Forrester! (Mind Blown) It is indeed a small world!

The two story house on the left is the first house off the bridge on Gwynn’s Island. It was boarded up when I was a child as they had tuberculosis there back in the day. The screened in porch is on the house where my grandmother grew up. My mom & her sister were sent there each summer during the depression so they could help grow & preserve veggies, as well as catch, cook, & pick crabs & shuck oysters to sell to the seafood market across the street!

And totally off topic: We have just adopted the most adorable green metal dragon for the deck! He’s holding a solar-powered pearl! Is he not utterly delightful?!? All his scales are individual leaves!