S is for Spring Has Sprung

Best said in a thick Cockney accent:

Spring is sprung,

The grass is ris.

I wonder where them birdies is?

Them birdies is on the wing!

That's strange,

I thought the wing was on the bird!

Although Spring officially began two months ago, I can honestly say that it appears to really be Spring now. My garden is blooming and a chickadee family has taken over my decorative wooden birdhouse, that I nailed up on the side of the house on the patio, as their home. Apparently, chickadees are quite picky about where to nest and prefer fir, white pine, cypress, or cedar, so we should be honoured that our home was chosen. "Mama Chick" has been sitting on the nest that "Papa Chick" made for her and the other day we saw Mama out and about bringing food to the newly hatched baby chicks. We're now constantly on the lookout for the neighbourhood cat who regularly visits our garden and has discovered the nest. We're constantly hearing loud chick-a-dee-dees when Papa wants to get into the nest and the cat's around. So out we go and shoo the cat away. Now Papa doesn't seem to mind if we're outside on the patio, weeding the garden, or even standing by the barbecue awaiting our ribs or burgers or such. Last night we sat on our lawn chairs away from the patio and watched Mama and Papa fly in and out of the house bringing food to the babies. As soon as they enter, we hear sweet little cheeps and we're wondering how many chicks there are. We felt part of nature and hope that the babies will survive.

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy seeing some photos of our garden with cornflowers, English poppies, rhododendrons, and azaleas. We also have a bleeding heart that's growing like a weed, some lavendar that isn't in bloom yet, some California poppies (pods are still closed), and other annuals in bloom. We've also planted 5 tomato plants in pots along the sunny side of the house and are hoping for a good crop. Be sure to click on the photos to enlarge them.

In the last photo, you can see where the birdhouse is located, so it's amazing that this chickadee family has taken it over. Around the corner to the right is the sunny side of the house where the tomatoes are growing. As you can also see, our patio and garden are not huge, but we're enjoying it so much right now. AND we saw our first hummingbird tonight, too!

ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt.