Well, this is embarassing

This blog has become rather mordant...is that the word I want?  I seem to spend a lot of time on Facebook.  Twitter?  Not so much.  I've been writing, and editing and gardening and recovering from 10 weeks of company.  Trying to get everything re-organized as it were.

My 1928 Southern California book now has over 65  thousand words, and is coming along, very slowly, but the word count is encouraging and I think I see the incidents that will occur before the end of the book.  Even if one plans ahead somewhat, it is still a hard row to hoe, as they used to say, and I don't do a complete outline, as that would take all the fun out of it. 

The Twenties were a fascinating decade and Southern California was one of the most corrupt places on earth.  For a writer, bad things are good things.  One must do a skidload of research.  For example, I was researching Tijuana Bibles for the book.  Not going to tell you what they were.  Look it up.  The stuff I've learned. 

We have two pair of the sweetest hummingbirds.  They are feisty and there are always aerial dogfights that are truly stunning.  One of them comes and perches on the tomato trellis, and we have conversations.  I talk; he listens and sometimes he scratches himself.  So funny.  After ten minutes of so, it's hard to think of stuff to say, so I talk about his migration and how I hope it won't be too hard, knowing that it will be and that I am looking forward to seeing them next spring, and is the nectar to their liking and is it changed often enough.  Where is your nest?  I planted the nicotania just for you.  Glad you like the other flowers, too, especially those tall purple things that bloom in August whose name I have forgotten.

Yes, one-way bird conversations can be kind of awkward, but he listens so intelligently, three feet away, and not a bit anxious.  The clematic are in view on the photo, and those are NOT the tall purple flowers I was taking about.  Sometimes he (or she) is so close I see all the markings of the feathers and it's such a treat to be friends with this little bird.  I think he REALLY KNOWS who puts out the fresh nectar and keeps the feeder clean. 

They'll be gone soon, and I'll worry a bit until I seem them again in the spring.  They are truly a wonder of nature. 

My New Best Friend

We've had various hummingbird feeders over the years, some cheap, others expensive and none of them perfect.  The ants always figure out how to climb in and drown, or they are hard to clean or something breaks. You know. 

This  year there were fewer hummers than usual, but we were diligent with the nectar and the ant removal and of course provided lots of cool flowers as well as nectar, with an abundance of red blooms this year, everything from geraniums and petunias to begonias and verbena. 

The past few weeks I've noticed that whenever I work in the garden I get "buzzed."  The tiny bird, wings beating, hovers nearby as if to say, "Hi!  Thanks for the delicious nectar."  They are pugnatious little things and guard their territory well.  I alwys  offer a greeting in return, if only, "Hi!  Birdie."  Lately they have been coming to the deck and saying "Hi!"  and this morning, for the first time ever, I saw two birds in parallel flight, not squabbling or dive bombing each other but flying together.  This was so cool.

I think they like me.  They do like the nectar and they seem to know who brings it and fills the feeder regularly.    Can a woman have a relationship with a hummingbird?  I don't know, butI think we are definitely friends.

The Joe Pye Weed in the garden has finished blooming,(alas, butterflies)  but we have morning glories galore and  the cleomes which reseeded themselves from last year are great.  I had a tiny coleus grow from a seed dropped last year. I have to say I love my little garden, from the leggy somewhat drab phlox I rescued from the old state hospital grounds to the heath that blooms all winter to the  chipmunk-chewed tomatoes to the coleus that I grew from cuttings that have been fruitful and multiplied.  We have a bumper crop of cukes this year.  The soup made with buttermilk and avocado was superb, as was the gazpacho from a 1964 (no typo) Gourmet.

Here's a photo taken of my little friend.  Isn't he/she sweet?        We have another feeder in the meantime.  They always come, no matter the feeder.  I shudder to think of their long perilous journey in hurricane season.  Yet they always return.  Seems like a miracle to me, just like our weird little friendsip.


Grapeshot           

My New Heroes are the Hummingbirds

This is a great site with lots of wonderful facts and information about hummingbirds.

The World of Hummingbirds

They are so feisty and fearless.  I love to sit on our deck overlooking the wetlands and watch the hummingbirds in the edge of the woodlands and on the feeder in the flower garden.