Curling my hands around my hot coffee cup, I let the warmth seep in and do its comforting work while I thought about this picture. Suddenly, a Blue Jay landed on the feeder pole, looked curiously at the half an orange and little bowls of grape jelly and then chose the suet. Within minutes, a jelly-loving Baltimore Oriole arrived, flashing his vibrant orange feathers, a sunset with wings. When a pretty female showed up, I thought her his mate; but a second male came to fuss with the first, and which of the two won her affection remains a mystery. Gracie snooze on the back of the couch as a Carolina Wren popped up out of nowhere onto the back of a chair on the porch outside the window. I forced my thoughts back to this picture.
It rained like crazy a couple of days ago; and how I love the deep, rich colors the woods take on in rain. I stepped out for just a few minutes to take it all in and fell in love with the bead-like buds of this viburnum, one of only two viburnum species I can't identify in the garden. Korean Spice (my beloved carlesii) resides in the driveway bed and off the right side of the deck, Summer Snowflake at the mandoor and in the fence bed, Burkwood along the north side of the pool wall bed, Mohawk along the pool wall bed's east side, Blue Muffin and Brandywine in the street bed, and two unknowns — the leathery-leafed variety beside the large double gate and these off the left side of the deck.
Three trees and some shrubs were planted yesterday, and darn it. I forgot to ask the guys to give me the tags. Simple names will suffice: magnolia, larch, japonica, Japanese maple; but I like knowing the full names of the plants in my garden. Its my thing — not my only thing but definitely a thing. I like to research a plant and learn things, like its value to wildlife, uses, history and meanings. But then, I already know the only thing I really need to know:
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
— Colossians 1:16
