I was sitting on the back deck yesterday morning, waiting for Max to finish his breakfast, when a small cardinal flew up and landed on the railing right in front of me.
I'd love to believe he just wanted to greet me with a warm Good morning! which is what I told him, but I realize he was probably just so focused on cleaning up the seed that Frankie always leaves behind on the doorstep (such a messy eater!) that he wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings. I'm pretty sure I heard him chirp, Oh, Crap! when he saw us. In a flash of red he had flown again to a less dangerous spot much farther down the railing and then he headed on around the corner of the house in the direction of the crowded, but much safer bird feeder.
It's in the air - spring...and on its heels, summer. (Springtime in Texas is not an actual season...it's just a short opening act for Summer, the big show in these parts.) Something in the glint of the sunlight, a smell on the breeze, the sounds of the birds calling to each other in the trees...purty, purty, purty, oui? The yellow flowers peek up out of the winter grass, checking for frost, and the purple ones, battered and bruised but hanging on, look hopeful that winter has moved out of the neighborhood.
Summer. We're ready for you!
My reliable purple flowers (Praire Verbena) ready for their comeback...
Frankie looking for snacks...
Walking buddies/trainers...Max and Frankie...
The woodpile dwindles...come on, summer!
