Friday, October 3, 2014

Five Minute Friday - New

Photo courtesy of Jez Elliot, some rights reserved.

It’s an old house, but it’s ours now.  Waking in my old bed to a new view, this garden full of old growth.  Azaleas taller than I am, but we came in July and the blooms won’t come until February.  I wonder what color they will be, and I look forward to February for the first time ever.

Two new bird feeders hang on the two old hooks that were already in the trees, and the old birdbath is clean and full of fresh water.  Now there are new visitors to marvel over.  A mated pair of chirping cardinals, a troop of warbling gnatcatchers, and the nearly silent tiny brown birds that scratch the ground around the starflowers.

I wonder if they are old visitors, glad someone new has come.


The garden is green, but I can name many of the plants and know they will flower.  Cannas, azalea, lantana, king's mantle, trumpet.  A dogwood that made me cry when I recognized the leaves.  A fruiting orange tree.  A garden made for butterflies and hummers, made for spring.  A gift from the people before, more precious than anyone can know, except the lady who planted them.  She knows.

I have planted new ones, pentas and passion flower vine, to host caterpillars for the butterflies that are frequent visitors and to fill in this long flowerless green spell.

I saw the first hummingbird last weekend, unexpected without blooms to draw them.

Maybe he remembers when the flowers were there.

Maybe he heard someone new had come…someone who filled the bath and the feeders, who was already digging in the soil, and putting down new roots.

Maybe he’d like a new friend.

#FMF

8 comments:

  1. I wonder where you are that the azaleas will bloom in February. Your new, old home sounds lovely and I bet the hummingbird will come calling many more days. We are neighbors at FMF. Nice to meet you.

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  2. It's nice to meet you! I'm in Florida, where the azaleas bloom February through April, and I can't wait!

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  3. Ah to live in the beautiful state of Florida. I am in Kansas and we are getting ready for winter here. The hummingbirds are passing through. I will get them for just a few more days...weeks if I am lucky

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    1. I hope this winter is kinder than the last, Paula, and I hope your hummingbirds stick around awhile.

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  4. What a lovely garden! You mentioned so many of the same plants we have here in north Florida. I don't know where you are but you can't be far. ;) May your new house daily become more your own.

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    1. North Florida it is, Karena...so north it's often referred to as south Georgia. And this house feels like it was built with us in mind. It was love at first sight, and every day I discover something new that surprises and delights me...something else to cement the bond of home in my heart. Thank you so much for stopping by!

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  5. I saw your hummingbird photo on the FMF link up and had to stop by and say hello! I'm a hummer lover :). This morning, I took a video of a late-migrating Rufous Hummingbird shivering on my feeder. Hummingbirds will actually return to the same flowers and feeders year after year. They remember stuff like that! Isn't God amazing?!

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  6. Blest, I'm counting on it! Since I posted last, I've discovered the little gray birds are not gnatcatchers, they are Carolina chickadees. And the tiny brown birds scratching beneath my starflowers are Carolina wrens. On weekdays when I'm lucky enough, I make it home in time for the "last food run", and today I was luckier than usual, and was surprised by a mockingbird as well as my faithful cardinals.

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