Let them eat cake - or grubs!

 

Easter tea time was a success, especially as my cake turned out well.

It has been many years since I'd made a real layer cake.

The lemon curd and vanilla buttercream filling went well with

 a real tea pot of freshly brewed Darjeeling.

What's so special about this tea?

Darjeeling Tea is the only tea in the world to get protection

 under the Geographical Indication (GI) trademark. 

It is said that these teas are the highest elevation produced teas

 world over and it is the altitude that creates an ideal environment

 for the tea plant.

Yellow tulips and mini-carnations brightened tea time and will

last for the week ahead.

Oh yes, have been meaning to tell you the latest 'bird news' from the 

garden. Went to check that we had cleaned out this box of

last year's nest. . . . . . .opened the side and out flew a chickadee

who was on a beautiful soft mossy-lined nest. I almost fell over but did

 a quick check and there were no eggs. Now a week later hopefully

 there are some eggs - they lay 5-7 - but I won't disturb her again.

Maybe we'll have a new family in the garden soon.

 A Carolina chickadee bringing a juicy grub to babies in another

 nesting box on our porch a few years ago.  

Love these busy little birds.

Doubly lucky here after that non-stop rain of Friday and Saturday - gosh

 it was so wet and cold. Yesterday, and now today, full sun with clear blue

 skies, and it's warming up again.  

The grass grew inches over the weekend - busy garden work ahead!

June garden notes. . . . . . . . .

Thankfully June is here!

We, in just about all areas of North Carolina, after experiencing a truly drenching

 latter half of May, are excited about getting our gardens in shape. . . . . again!

Things were looking good in early May, we all had an early start with landscaping,

mulch spreading, planting summer veggies and annuals, outdoor furniture scrubbing,

 seed scattering. . . . . and then along came constant storms, torrential rains and

 flash flooding in many parts, and so much hard work was washed away, the

 remainder left a sodden mess.

The week ahead looks so much better for gardening chores.

Fingers are crossed, rakes, mowers and trimmers are at the ready, and those 

hundreds of weeds that suddenly appeared will be thwarted come 

Monday morning here in my garden!

Luckily my basil seeds were planted in pots and didn't get washed away. Today

 they are looking good - pasta and pesto making soon. The third pot I planted up

 was gifted to my dear friend MaryAnn as her own basil was supper for

 visiting deer last week!

The Boston fern on the left was the home of the house finch nest for the

 month of May this year. Thankfully, being partially under cover of the porch,

 the birdies were not drowned or blown away!

On May 20 the two baby finches fledged - two unhatched eggs remained in the nest.

The most amazing thing was that for some unknown reason, a Carolina chickadee

 helped feed these babies, along with the finch mama, and the dad often stopped by

 to check on the nursery.

It was a busy porch for all those weeks with three birds checking in, bringing tasty 

morsels of spiders and grubs, and the constant housekeeping done by the chickadee

 (finches are messy birds and don't clean their nests).

I won't mention the snake incident again other than to say I still have 

really bad dreams about that evening. 

Seeing the two new little ones fly safely off in the heat of the afternoon

 was heart warming.

These are my weekend flowers - peonies and alstroemeria 

from Trader Joe's on Friday.

So pretty!

Birds at breakfast. . . . . . . . . .

Yesterday, after refilling the bird feeders, Bob called me to the window to advise of

 "a very big bird" on the suet holder.  Of course it was the beautiful Northern flicker.

 This is the male, but within seconds another one arrived, perhaps the female.

 Excited, I raced for the camera but when I returned, camera in hand, it had flown

 away and sadly I didn't get a shot of the pair. . . . . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . . . . I did however capture this shot later, our largest garden visitor

 sharing breakfast with the smallest, always very welcome, Carolina chickadee.

For me, this was a special Winter morning moment.

Bluebird BLUE. . . . . . .

I was pleasantly surprised when several Eastern bluebirds hung about

 the garden during the recent ice storm. I believe it's the family that nests

 in my birdhouse come Spring and now just stay here year round. 

Often joined by many northern migrants, swelling local populations each

 winter, they are always welcomed as colorful additions to the garden.

Quick flashes of cobalt blue in the trees where they feed on suet, 

seed feeders, and often on the ground, I was really thrilled when this male 

came back and forth to nibble on the seeds scattered on the front porch rail

 mainly for the chickadees like the one below.

This little guy picked an icy perch, the tip of a fig tree branch, probably using
 it as a safe lookout. Note the frozen rain falling. Hopefully no more weather
 such as this any time soon.

The proverbial sweet 'bluebird of happiness.'