“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
1 John 4:11-12 ESV
Welcome to our Sunday and the final day of May. Were you able to view the full Blue Moon last night? It is a bit different for us to begin a post showing our old, worn out, welcome mat that sits at the patio door where no one goes in and out but the two of us. A close look will reveal the story. There is a real, live, pink million bell growing from the crack between the steps and the patio. We don’t have any pink million bells this season anywhere close to the patio. We believe, like the one at the front walk earlier, it must be from a plant that we had last year.??? The neat thing is that the bloom is a perfect color match with the mat, and you wouldn’t notice it just passing by!
Seth’s golden rain tree was all aglow last week. This is one tree that definitely lives up to its name! In a few months it will be covered with pods that look like little lanterns.
While on my walk by the lake, I knew before my eyes verified that there were new blooms along the path that weren’t present, or at least not mature when I walked here the previous week. I could tell by the fragrances that were drifting in the breeze. After going 3 years without the ability to smell (Covid-19), it is a blessing to enjoy nature’s ever changing perfume. Our pink mimosas have a warm honey-like fragrance that is very sweet and pleasant, but subtle. Our pink trees aren’t used widely in perfumery, but others that bloom yellow, and live other places, are used extensively in perfumery. I discovered that those mimosas were used in iconic fragrances such as Jo Malone Mimosa & Cardamom…which happens to be Pam’s favorite, and can be found not too many steps from where I sit and type!
I enjoy walking on the boardwalk. It is scenic and easier on my knees than some surfaces. I was startled when Henrietta the heron came in suddenly and landed on the handrail. She was like a sentinel keeping watch over everything. I paused until she decided to fly away. If you make a close observation, perhaps you would agree with me, Henrietta has a minnow in her mouth!
Nothing seemed bothered by my closeness this particular day. If I pause, turtles always fall off their log and disappear in the murky water. Not these two. In fact, I didn’t realize there were two until I examined my photo. There is a small one on the left that blends in quite well with the surroundings.
While walking along the river bank near the picnic table I came across this shell. Kinda pretty I thought as I started on by, when it occurred to me that this was a mussel shell and had to be brought here by an animal who enjoyed dinner at this spot. We have river otters, muskrats and other creatures that would enjoy such a meal. Other land dwellers like raccoons will wade the shallows and might have been the responsible party. There was nothing that interesting about finding a shell until I decided to research mussels that live in our Coosa River system. Seeing things prompts me to read. Our river system once supported 53 mussel species, 11 of those endemic to our river. Today some are extinct and 8 are endangered. Alabama has the greatest diversity of freshwater mussels than any state in the US, with some found in the river system by our house that aren’t found anywhere else in the world. I had no idea. Even an empty shell lying in the woods tells a story!
Near the mussel shell was this weird shaped, mossy stump that made me think of a ship’s anchor. I also thought about the “stumpery” we ran across in the botanical gardens, and featured a few photos in a recent post (SSS 599). I went back another day and was able to free it from the ground and debris, thinking I needed to find a way to use this in the garden or woods by the house. I was able to flip it over, and while it wasn’t extremely heavy, it was very bulky. I’m still considering a way to get it home, but PJ is not excited about it.
One day we were invaded by small, fast flying birds that were zipping under the carport, porches, patio arbor and all around the house. They were such that it became necessary to watch before opening the door in order to not invite one inside. We first thought they might be chimney swifts since those swifts are normally seen in the east part of the country. Finally one decided to take a break. Barn swallows! We’ve not seen them for a couple of days, so hopefully they are migrating and have moved on! They do eat a lot of insects but we felt like we were having to dodge them every time we went out.
Elderberry is in bloom and it is in abundance. We try to be faithful to take elderberry in some form, mainly in the winter months, but get lax at times even then. It’s mainly forgetting to include it each week when putting together other vitamins and supplements for the daily routine. Do you take elderberry?
A lot of the roadside elderberry is still not in full bloom. We order elderberry syrup, but I suppose there’s plenty growing wild. If I was industrious enough and had the know-how, I could make our own…but ordering online remains my current source!
I have often bragged on vines as having some of the most beautiful blooms, even though we know a lot of them are aggressive and invasive. This is one of the favorite native late May bloomers. Often called “cow itch” because it can cause skin irritations in some people, Trumpet Creeper is popular with butterflies and hummingbirds.
When May arrives I begin to look for the Purple Passion Flower vines. I discovered numerous very healthy vines weaving their way through the tall pasture grass just behind the garden, a place I had never found them before. This intricate bloom gives us a very tiny glimpse of the infinite design and handiwork of the Creator!
The ole lizard’s tail, sometimes called swamp lily, was very busy last week with a whole lot of blooming going on (just blooming, no shakin’). I found it all along the trail where I took several walks. Growing in standing shallow water suits this vine-like plant just fine. However, it might appear like it could be a vine, but really grows upright, and thus, not a vine.
Recently someone reminded me of the song “Sunrise, Sunset” and we talked about the lyrics in comments on a blog post. One line says something like “seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers”. What you see behind the fence are sunflowers, no blooms yet, but you may recall a recent photo I posted of the small plants. We don’t think our sunflowers have ever grown so quickly. They simply took off almost overnight! BTW, the song is from the 1964 Broadway Musical, Fiddler on the Roof.
I had to trim a couple of low hanging limbs off the magnolia. In 2024, the 13 year and 17 year cicada broods emerged simultaneously, which had not happened here since 1803. The damage done is still so evident. There are literally hundreds of small limbs and branches on our big magnolia tree and every limb on the tree, except for the newest growth, looks similar to this one. I find the same on most other trees. This would surely have to be harmful to some extent!
We have all had those moments where we’ve felt like someone or some thing was looking at us. This was another thing Pam was not excited about when I texted and said look out the kitchen door, but don’t open it. From her view she could clearly see the remaining 3 or 4 feet of our marigold visitor hanging down the pot, stretched out on the porch. I had started up the steps when I happened to notice I was being watched. I have better photos but it was only after serious negotiations that Pam agreed that showing just the head and portion in the pot would be allowed. A non-poisonous rat snake which we often call a chicken snake, but PJ said he had to move on. He did depart with some coaxing, but aggravated me because he broke a couple of plants upon leaving. No respect!
The Sunshine Cottage is a fun place in all seasons, but spring and summer might be my favorite time simply because the cottage is surrounded by color, new life, and the promise of more to come. You will probably catch glimpses of it in tomorrow’s Monday Morning Blooms!
A mixture of sun and clouds was our daily outlook last week. We received several helpful rain showers but the drought monitor still shows we are in a moderate drought. We received a half inch late yesterday afternoon, but the clouds cleared away before sunset and later we even had a view of the “once in a blue moon” Blue Moon!
Have a pleasant week!
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Hebrews 13:8 ESV
Linking with:
Pieced Pastimes, Between Naps on the Porch, Katherines Corner, Follow The Yellow Brick Home,
Life and Linda
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