Arrrgh!!!

....if I can remember them all.

I saw a rufous-sided towhee yesterday. It was working it's way down the bare branches of a shrub near the big bird feeder. We get one or two birds from several varieties as they make their way north and south. We rarely see the Rose-breasted grosbeaks which seem to be fairly common here, but we've seen the gold and taupe and black Evening grosbeaks, and apparently, the towhee is part of that larger family. The thrush can't be too far behind.

Goldfinches and house finches and red-winged blackbirds are back, and we have plenty of robins. We're still waiting on the herons and egrets, and it's just as well, because the water is REALLY cold yet. Dear Husband said that he saw something very large flying past the house but he couldn't tell me if it was one of the sand hill cranes or a heron.

On another subject, I hope that my sister, Nan, will blog about her experiences over Spring break. She and her two daughters went on a church-organized mission trip to help people in New Orleans who are STILL trying to put their homes in order. The story sounds fascinating. She became very fond of the homeowner, who sounds like a testament to determination. Write, on, Nan!

Our Red Hat Lady group met for lunch yesterday. The ladies are a hoot to chat with, and it was fun to see the smiles on the faces of the other patrons of the restaurant as they walked by our group. I'm always reminded of the song from The Music Man with the line "Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more..." but I'm happy to say the conversation does not include gossip. It was cute to see heads bent together as they chatted, and bobbing in agreement. The woman sitting next to me has been to China, and we talked about her trip part-way up the Yangtze. Her husband is from Scotland and as a retiree he is learning to play bagpipes. The two of them have been to the Tattoo in Edinburgh, and I'm green with envy. A woman across the table worked in Iran in the days of the Shah. It's fascinating to hear about that period of my life from her point of view. A number of our ladies are either getting ready for surgery or are recovering. There's been talk about re-naming us the Walking Wounded, but I doubt anything will come of it. I know a lot of people think the Red Hatters are a frivolous waste of time, but they're wrong. This group has the most amazing experiences to call on. I learn something new every time we meet, and they are incredibly civic minded. Way to go, LADIES!

I've come down with the putrid throat again. In fact, I can't make any sound. I had to hand a note to my mother about the cinnamon bread that was waiting for her breakfast, and you should have been there when I tried to pantomime that the cat had come in the kitchen window. (Sigh) She's deaf and I can't talk. What a pair.

Dear Husband has been working on the renovation of the timbers in the Herb Garden. I'm going to do a bigger entry on this later, complete with a couple of pictures, but I wanted to describe what took place yesterday. DH doesn't realize that the upper branch of the garden has perennials in it, that haven't begun to show their new growth. I saw him walk over the bed, and thought...."That's okay, there are plenty of feverfew plants there. No problem." Then I saw him drop a ten or twelve foot cedar timber the length of the bed. Poor feverfew. In all fairness, this is not an easy job, and he's carrying those cedar timbers around all by himself. If I could have afforded it, I would have hired a landscaping company to do this work for me, but it would have been thousands of dollars.

We came home from luncheon yesterday, and I walked out just to touch base with DH, and let him know I was home. As I looked around, I saw the lavender (that I had been babying) lying on the ground north of the herb garden. He must have seen the dismay on my face, and he said, "It's dead........isn't it?" I really tried not to look dismayed about that lavender, but I must not have been able to mask it. This is the deal. My gardens need repair and renovation. I HOPE that DH is careful as he works, but if something gets killed off, I will either replace it, or look on it as a chance to create a new garden. I am NOT nagging him, given that he is doing all the work on this on his own, when he could have been playing with his boat.

So.....does anyone have suggestions for plants for my herb garden??

I've missed you all. It seems that we have all taken some time off around Easter, whether to clean house or determine the direction of our lives, and the blog world has been rather quiet. I hope that we'll find things of interest once again, and be able to find time in our busy lives to share them. Happy Spring to you all. You have my hopes for warm sunshine, bird song, and the joy of another day.