Spring and a first hummingbird!

It was a lovely day spent gardening. Today is Easter for Christians, and even though we're not religious, as a secular holiday, it has symbolism as a time of rebirth.

Spring is here. A newly mown 'lawn', borders and meadow edited of winter annuals, a flourishing vegetable patch, and all's right in the garden.


And now, about to have our dinner with greens and lettuces freshly harvested, looking out my study window, our first ruby-throated hummingbird of the season visited a few of the Carolina Jessamine flowers on the trellis out the window. Hooray!

Bats and lightning beetles

A spring night hike found us listening to early crickets, tree frogs, the final songs of resident cardinals, mockingbirds, and chickadees. It was a mild evening, a bit humid, but with signs of spring all around. There were more family groups this time (this is school spring break), and more than I expected (~ 40 people).

A couple of highlights were watching bats swoop around catching insects, and the flashes of lightning 'bugs' high in the oak-hickory forest. It's really early for lightning bugs; the warm weather probably encouraged them.