Orange Bird!

Yesterday I put out the hummingbird and oriole feeders.  This morning I had the patio door open so that I had a lovely morning breeze for my (indoor) yoga.  While doing the forward fold I heard an unfamiliar bird call and glanced up to see a male Oriole hopping from crook to feeder.  One day!  You have no idea how many years we put oriole feeders out and never once saw an Oriole.  We don't live near enough to a wooded area for them to be super comfortable here so we knew it was chancy to see one.  A couple years ago a pair of juveniles came again and again to the grape jelly.  I really hope that this Oriole decides to come back--and brings a couple Hummingbirds with him.  Realistically, I won't see Hummingbirds until the lilacs and honeysuckle are in bloom, but I can dream.





Once I was sure that the Oriole wasn't coming back I went out to water in today's ration of high nitrogen fertilizer in the bales.  They'll be ready for planting in about a week.  And there are a couple little green sprouts from the onion sets I planted the other day.  Yay!

 


I glanced down at the flower bed next to the patio and saw that one of the fern fists is starting to unfurl every so slightly.  Come on, fern, you can do it.






 

When I came in from watering I heard the Slinky jangle and looked out to see this squirrel perched on top of the peanut wreath savoring a peanut.  He had such a steady look as if daring me to try shooing him off.  I let him be.






This afternoon I met my writing partner, ACJ, down at The Attic Books & Coffee for a couple hours of writing.  And this time we really wrote, only visiting a bit before settling down to write.  I have been feeling like my writing brain is turned off lately (yeah, yeah, I know that I write a blog post every night but I mean real writing, fiction writing, NOVEL writing) so I decided that I'd set myself a goal of writing 200 words today.  Well.  In an hour, my trusty Alphasmart and I managed over 1000 words.  It was busy in the cafe so I pulled out earbuds and called up the hours of nature sounds downloaded to my phone and reminded myself that those rain forest and ocean waves have been my writing sound track for years.  When I plug those things in my ears and turn on the waves, words come.  How do I forget that?  Anyway, you're getting a paragraph of that writing here tonight.  I'm too tired to write a prompt.

15 May--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview.  Over the next few days I kept almost sliding back into the easy relationship with Iggy.  A few times I saw him reach toward me as he passed and then catch himself too.  By the end of the next week I realized that the crew was tiptoeing around me and I wondered if they thought that I would take offense at a careless remark.  My tiff with Iggy was affecting the progress of renovation and I didn't have the money to waste on personal conflict.  That afternoon I announced that I would buy the first round of drinks at Johnno's and, if they behaved, I'd order conch fritters too.  "Everyone?" Silas asked.  I nodded. "Everyone."  "Even Uncle Iggy?"  I took a breath, let it out, and said, "Even Uncle Iggy."  I watched Silas make the rounds of the crew letting them know that drinks and fritters tonight were on Mrs. Rose.  Iggy's head lifted and he looked at me out of the corner of his eye.  I kept my head down over my sewing but peeked through my lashes to see a small smile tug at his lips.

And there you have it, one small step inching back to the romantic days they'd had before Iggy let himself be monopolized by all the island women at the dance.  Now it's time for me to hit the hay.  I'm tired.

--Barbara