It's fall now and the birds are flying south

Things began to change a few days ago. It wasn't one or two birds visiting the bird bath, it was ten or twelve birds, most of them robins. Up to this time the birds were always, shall we say, polite? Well-behaved, considerate, they queued up, sat in the bird bath, and left. A few days ago the "politeness" was gone, they were bossy, assertive, and pushy. I suspect they were preparing for the long flight south, a last visit to the bird bath and then off they went. We've had some heavy rain this week, Wednesday was the last full day of summer, it's gotten a lot cooler, and the bird bath now sits empty. 

"A Bird came down the Walk" by Emily Dickinson

A Bird came down
the Walk –
He did not know I
saw –
He bit an Angleworm
in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

And then he drank
a Dew
From a Convenient Grass –
And then hopped sidewise
to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass –

He glanced with rapid
eyes
That hurried all around –
They looked like frightened
Beads, I thought –
He stirred his Velvet
Head

Like One in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a Crumb
And he unrolled his
feathers
And rowed him softer
home –

Than Oars divide the
Ocean,
Too silver for a seam –
Or Butterflies, off Banks
of Noon
Leap, plashless as they
swim.

Birds preparing to fly south

The garden in mid-May

I always enjoy seeing photographs of other people's gardens; here are some photos of my Canadian cottage garden taken on May 21, 2022.

At the side of the house, a path, and then this lilac bush that I cut  
to about one foot in height and was told it might not survive. That
was about eight or so years ago; it took all of this time to grow back  

There is a special quality to water
in a garden, even as little water as in a bird bath

Last fall I planted this row of hostas in the very rear of the garden; 
all of the plants survived the winter and are flourishing

Hostas

This row of hostas pulls the garden together, frames it so that there is something
where before there was nothing but cedars, shade, and dirt

I added day lilies to another area of the garden in addition
to what you see here, soon the day lilies will be in bloom

A row of miniature irises

The garden is being pulled together; not sure there is any need for
more expansion, mainly maintenance, and dividing and moving
plants when they get too big plentiful for where they are now

Garden mulch (and being visited by a hawk)

It's about a week before Christmas. Returning from buying groceries I walked to the backyard to check out the garden. I remember a few years ago, in early spring, pushing aside some mulch, that's just fall's leaves raked onto the flower beds, and seeing a plant coming back to life, it already had some new green leaves. Since I know where most of my plants are in the garden it was like seeing an old friend, it was actually a happy occasion and similar to how I feel when seeing honey bees in the garden, I don't generally like insects but I have a love and fondness for honey bees because I was once an amateur beekeeper. Mulch is the way to go if you garden, don't rake and bag and discard those leaves, rake them onto your flower beds. Mulch protects the plants during our very cold winters, just a layer of leaves will save some of your plants from dying; it doesn't cost anything and most gardeners will recommend doing this. Then, as I was taking some photographs of the mulched flower beds (as seen below) I saw a hawk in the cedar hedge at the very rear of the garden. At first I wondered if he was injured, sitting right in the cedar hedge. But he wasn't injured at all, he jumped out, walked a few feet across our neighbour's backyard and then took off into the sky. What a great sight that was. Nature restores the soul, nature returns us to the essentials of life. And that is why we need to protect every vestige of nature we have left.