Blue skies and bluebirds

I decided it was time to replace the photo with the dreary sky heading my blog, even if it did have a great image of a gorgeous rose-breasted grosbeak at our bird feeders. 

We finally woke up this morning to blue skies, the first morning in a long time. And better yet (if possible), before even lifting my head off the pillow, I looked out the window to see a male Eastern bluebird sitting on top of the shepherd's hook that is holding the orange slices you can see in the new photo at the top of my blog.

I never did get a photo of the bluebird sitting up there, but please try to imagine how stunning the image was. He was sitting right on top of the hook, with the oranges underneath him, facing to the right (west) with the eastern sun behind him just making his blue back sparkle and shimmer. Even when I bolted straight up in bed and woke my husband up with a yelp of glee, this bluebird did not move but (like other bluebird sightings I have written about after our dog Kaya died in January) just sat there and looked and looked and looked into the house as it appeared to be watching us.

It did finally fly away, and at least once today, I saw it fly from the bluebird house we finally put up yesterday. I think we are late (like, what else is new?!) getting that house up this spring, but maybe not. I cannot say why that bluebird was looking in the window so long this morning, but I can imagine to myself that it was thanking us for providing it a home, if not for now or later this summer, then to use next year. However, the bluebirds will have competition. Chickadees also were looking at the house today, and I expect tree swallows with also take a look, so we will have to get all the bluebird houses up that we have tucked away somewhere in the garage.

Here are photos of the backyard bird feeders and also a view of the bluebird house on a post (formerly used as one end of a clothes line, which we'll get re-established one of these days). We can see the bluebird house clearly from our bedroom window, and also from the barn porch, but the view from the kitchen window is obstructed by leaves that have finally emerged on the small oak tree.

(Photo: Our backyard feeders as seen from our bedroom window. No one is there, but the bluebird was sitting on top of the pole holding the orange slices. Our little pond is in the background and our lilacs and redbud tree are blooming.)

(Photo: Looking east from our bedroom window, the bluebird house can be seen clearly. We still have lots of dirt piles around as that part of the backyard still needs work to make sure water drains away from the house instead of back into the house, as was happening when we bought it.)

(Photo: Zoomed/cropped view of the bluebird house. I was hoping to see 'some action' when zooming, but I did not capture anyone on top, looking in, or peeking out this time. I hope it is not too blurry, but you get the idea. You can see high the grass is! We never have time to mow on the rare day that the grass is dry enough to cut.)

Do you recall the quote by Henry David Thoreau about the bluebird that I have used before in my blog? It seems particularly appropriate to use today. 

"The bluebird carries the sky on its back."

I saw exactly that when I first woke up this morning. That does not happen every day! And it is raining again right now, so the grass and the weeds will just keep growing. The garlic is fine because it is in raised bed, but the fields are too wet to get our onions and leeks in the ground. 

There is nothing easy or guaranteed about growing food for our community. Another RD-Farmer friend reminded me today to make sure to stop and smell the roses. I assured her I do. Tonight I am smelling lilacs I brought into the house along with some lily of the valley and remembering how lucky I was this morning to wake up in time to the sky, maybe even a glimpse of the universe, on the back of a bird.

"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD