yo, the second day of spring

I love the seasons and with the brief 6 months of living in Desert Hot Springs back in the early 80's, have lived in a state with 4 of them my whole life. Summer, Fall, Winter and SPRING! Even though each has its pros and cons, if asked what my favorite season is - the word 'Fall' does fall out of my mouth. (Pun intended.)



yard today - March 2011

 However, I always do a happy dance the minute my crocuses appear at the edge of my lawn in early February. Even this year while touring the Southwest I knew my yard's first born would appear to welcome the daffodils that would follow within a few weeks. We arrived home almost 2 weeks ago and my yard is, again, not disappointing me. I have daffodils - lots of them. Tulips have pushed up nearby preparing to bloom next, roses and hydrangeas are sprouting new beginnings, and lilies ...visible evidence that Winter's blast of enforced plant hibernation is on it's way out and 3 months of brilliant colors and texture is about to be born again. Cyclical? Yes, and it never gets boring. This is all worth a happy dance,  and I have, on several occasions, danced my heart out and then some to Cee Lo Green's "Forget You".

Looking forward to my yard looking similar to this May 2009 photo soon:

Winter's hibernation, while seemingly peaceful and restful for the plants, gave way to the pine trees in the neighboring yards dumping every cone they grew into my yard...actually it was hilarious to see. Oh, I have had pine cones in my yard for years, however this year was 2x!  Apparently there was a bit of wind while we were gone - who knew the neighbor's debris could jump the fence, so to speak.

Until today, the only thing missing was the birds and squirrels. To encourage their walk/fly-bys, we feed them - hazelnuts for the squirrels and sunflower seeds for the birds. Oh yes, we spoil them. The squirrels returned yesterday - it took 3 days for them to find the nuts, but they are back. This morning while having my first cup o'joe and looking out over my kitchen sink, what do my wandering eyes see? A robin, finches, bushtits, wrens and yellow breasted chats all flew to the feeders. Now I am just waiting for the resident raccoon to return,as we have a family living in the neighbors Madrona tree. I've named him Zorro....for the obvious reason.


Zorro sitting on the squirrel feeder.

He feeds out of the squirrel feeder (which he is standing on here) and apparently hasn't missed many meals.

Ciao~