Monday, April 29, 2013

Expecting Company

Well, we had a gorgeous weekend.  I spent half of it in the yard, still cleaning out flower beds, and have a few more to go today.  Today, the temperature is slated to hit 70F/20C and I think my new dresses may finally be ready from the shop, nicely altered for me.  I am also planning to take my red dress in to get taken in a bit as per all of your advice last month when I picked it up in NYC. 

When you live in a place that is freezing cold for 6 months of the year, cool for 2 and really only warm for 4 months, you tend to get giddy in the early days of warm weather.  Honestly, I feel like running around to find a sailor to recreate this famous photo of joy:


Yes, I have spring fever. 

I am also getting ready for visitors.  You know I have a bit of the geekiness about me.  One of my favourite things in the whole world are the hummingbirds that spend the summer with me.  Yes, they spend the summer with ME.  I am quite sure they know all about me and likely read this blog in the winter months when they live elsewhere and were probably thrilled that I have posted the odd photo of them:




My feeders have been up for a week and I have been faithfully reading the hummingbird migration
map.  You don't read the hummingbird migration map?  Well you can do so here.  It is great fun to see them coming along the eastern seaboard.  And yesterday, someone in my neck of the woods reported seeing a hummingbird at their feeder!  You can see the Canada map below for the arrival of the ruby-throated hummingbird.



Ruby-throated map for Canada




So I am all set, am starting to change the food faithfully every three days, and waiting for my little buddies to arrive.

I know, I know - you are hoping I get a new career soon!  But honestly - who doesn't love a hummingbird? 




And speaking of things I love.... Though I love peonies, lily-of-the-valley and lilacs best, I am pretty sure if I was a flower, I would be a pansy, like these lovely ones I put in my planter out front.  They just look so darn cheerful don't they?    One of the funniest stories about myself I ever heard was someone asking a friend of mine if I was "always so f#$%$!ing happy".  The answer: yes, pretty much.  Just like these pansies!

Have a lovely Monday and stay safe out there!


36 comments:

  1. Aw, I think f#$%$!g happy is the way to go. You go girl! Enjoy life. My mother seems to be the queen of hummingbirds. She now how's them in droves and I have yet to see one at my place...we are only 10 miles apart.

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    1. maybe your mother and I are hummingbird whisperers! I have three or four that are faithful. WOuld love more. How many feeders does she have up?

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    2. She has two of the cheapest plastic with red at top and bottom that they flock to. By summer they are quite commical to watch as they fight over the feeders. Mine don't come to my feeder...they wait until my butterfly bushes are in bloom.

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  2. I didn't know hummingbirds were native to Canada. So pretty. Your pansies are beautiful. Thank you for being so #$%&! cheerful.

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    1. Well they are native to my backyard at least! They are all over the place here in the summer, from coast to coast! And you are %$##^ welcome!

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  3. Think how much you will have time to observe and enjoy those little birds this year! A gift!! My sis has a male at her feeder every year who's a real bully, chases others off.

    I love having spring fever. My hundreds of daffodils are nearly in full bloom today.

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    1. That is on my to-do list this fall - I only have a small patch of daffodils! For me it is my females - they are vicious with each other!

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    2. They multiply into large clumps and are poisonous to deer and squirrels.

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  4. Yay for your Spring! So glad your warm weather has arrived and I hope your hummingbirds arrive very soon too!

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    1. I am anticipating that they will be here by the weekend! Not beach weather here yet, but soon!

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  5. FLIGHTS OF FANCY Well, WMM, happy imagining you and my pater both glued to the windows, yard, and the sugar water rota, anticipating fluttery friends. (I just sent him the map link in case he doesn't know about it.)

    I don't know a lot about growing flowers. Hellebores made me think of Hell Boy (the comic). But I did a book tour with a Japanese lady (their Martha Stewart) who knew all about the meanings of flowers and their colours (which date back to ancient Roman and Asian civilizations at least and were re-popularized during the Victorian era). I was quite fascinated by it all. Wondering what personal flower all your followers here would pick/ be, based on personal preference and "personality"?

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    1. I love the oriental lily and orchids for inside. Sunflowers and shasta daisies are my garden favorites - just $%#!ing happy flowers :)

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    2. GF - Oh let me know when pater's arrive please! I used to have a flower book with meanings behind flowers, but can't seem to find it anymore - it is probably hiding from me! what are your favourite flowers! And BB - you are a girl after my own heart! I have a lot of shasta daisies in my garden! This summer I am going to try sunflowers again - but inside the fence so the deer don't eat them!

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  6. I think humming birds are so beautiful, I've never seen one in real life, no chance of them mooching round my garden but we have the odd weird crane sighting, they stops off at my neighbour's pond then stand on my steps then flap off as we race from the house screaming " a crane!

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    1. Trip to Costa Rica will solve your hummingbird dilemma. I do get Blue Herons trying to eat my fish..but they don't scare very easily.

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    2. Tabs - I think you need to come visit me - I will sit you by the pool with a drink and you can watch them all day long! I love herons - they are amazing! We get the off pileated woodpecker here, which are very fun to watch!

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  7. Spring! So lovely.

    We don't have hummingbirds here. Last fall I saw a giant bug that I thought was a hummingbird (fluttering wings and all) - a rather bizarre creature.

    The birds are out here and making the most wonderful racket. We have a big maple tree outside of our office window and I just saw a what I thought was a black capped chickadee, but thanks to google I am now second-guessing myself. I also just learned that the black capped chickadee is the official New Brunswick bird!

    I often spot hawks out of my office window as well. We border an agricultural area and live near a small stream, so there must be lots of tasty treats for them around here.

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    1. Abby - that is the hummingbird moth - I get them here sometimes too! Every time we have a chickadee at the feeder (we have a pair nesting here in one of my houses right now) my son says "Look: it's the black capped chickadee, the offical bird of our province!" Every single time!! We have the odd hawk around here, too and bald eagles up and down the river.

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    2. Your son is funny!

      Speaking of official flora and fauna, my husband and I recently discovered that the trillium is the official flower of our childhood homes! Province for me, State for him. When I was a kid, we had one in our backyard in Toronto and it was a similar situation as with your son - oh look, it's a trillium, the official flower of Ontario - every time we looked at it :)

      Hummingbird moth - a cheap imitation!

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  8. I must get the hummingbird feeder. Will they come if I have feeders? My friend lives at Cape May and they get plenty but I think Cape May is somewhat a capital of bird watchers. She must have 10 feeders in her beautiful garden.

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    1. I find that as long as the feeder is in a relatively protected area, they will come for sure. It is helpful to put a pot of red flowers, like geraniums nearby as well as they are attracted to red. I just have cheap feeders, but they especially love the one in front which is beside a honeysuckle shrub and they perch there all day long.

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  9. Haha, I thought you meant you were having houseguests :) Hummingbirds are around these parts, but I don't have a feeder, not being a bird person myself. I appreciate them as part of the bigger picture of it being Spring, though, I am irrationally excited for warmer weather finally. With it is coming a lot of rain, and with the rain comes uncertainty and/or rescheduling of all our outdoor activities, but I will still take it over winter! It's only high 50s today but the forecast looks promising. Enjoy your company!!! :)

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    1. Hi Cate! Will let you know when they arrive! I am hopeful that it will be soon! I am so glad spring is coming your way, too!

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  10. I am a bird lover so I share your excitement. We used to have cardinals nest in our yard and it was so exciting to see the baby birds emerge. I hope you'll post more photos.

    We have a mediocre day here then snow and cold for a day before getting into 15-20C weather for the next two weeks. I am elated! Can't wait to see your dresses.

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    1. xoxo - i love cardinals! i have friends who have them nesting in town, but they don't seem to come out here for some reason, which is a shame, as I would treat them like gold!

      I am not going to complain about the weather - I have been hearing about the freezing temperatures on the prairies and feeling sorry for LR!

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  11. LOL. I would be more likely to have someone ask if I was always so f@#%ing pissed off. I think I will try to be more like you!

    Lily of the valley is my fave, I planted some bulbs a few weeks ago... stalking them daily, waiting for them to pop up!

    Oh, I love hummingbirds too, they are just so cool!

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    1. JCrew JD - you made me laugh out loud about being pissed off! Believe me, I have my moments!!! I am hoping mine are spreading - this will be the third year since planting them and theoretically, that is the "leap" year - i.e. first year, sleeps, second year creeps, third year leaps...

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  12. Spring is really sproiging around these parts with all the dried up flowers now blooming - I actually though they were dead but there you are...

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    1. Ha! I never weed early; sometimes I forget that i planted something new and pull it up!

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  13. Lily of the valley was my wedding flower, good timing it was as today is our anniversary!
    I think hummingbirds are magical. You are inspiring me to take better care of the birds in our garden.
    I love that you are so f*#@%&ing happy!

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    1. Happy Anniversary, Dani!

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    2. Oh Happy Anniversary Dani! That is wonderful! I got married in September and of course, there were no lilies then. They are so wonderful!

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  14. Oh we are back with terrible weather, it is grey, grey and cool and rainy and windy... So NO garden work so far... I have stop trying to feed the birds as we have so many cats around the house (neighbor's cats, not ours) that feeding the birds meant feeding the cats... And I found this much less funny to watch...
    Keep being happy, I am convinced it is one of the secret of longevity...
    Hope your day is great.

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    1. Oh I hear you about the cats! We only have one on the street and I watch it like a hawk. I am sure that's why the birds love us. Indy the wonder dog doesn't even notice them anymore; they fly all around him and don't mind him one bit. Oh I hope Spring gets to Belgium soon!

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Kindness is a virtue...