We’ve had visitors here lately, though no fox to wear the foxgloves.
A chipmunk, however, stops by most mornings. He sits upon the window ledge and looks into the library window, then acts surprised when he sees me sitting at the desk, tapping away on my keyboard. He must think I’m warning him away, so, he sits and chides me until his little striped body shakes in dismay. He’s quite noisy. In fact, he rattles goes on and on with his rant until I threaten to get my camera, wherein, he leaps across the Rose of Sharon and scurries up the bricks.
This morning, I heard a thud. Thinking a bird hit the window (a good reason as any not to wash the windows) I turned and there, magnified in segments by the leaded glass hanging in front of the window, was Midnight, a hefty black cat with the greenest of eyes who has taken to wandering our grounds. He stood there, quite proud and quite steady, on the opposite ledge from the chipmunk’s lookout, and arched his back, as black cats and others are wont to do, the sun streaming around him and through the prisms of the glass. Then, he swatted at something on the vines growing on the bricks. Whatever it was, we will never know, for he stopped, looked in at me, and sprung, like a cat on a hot tin roof, and slowly wandered away.
My brief guest Sunday evening was especially pleasant, though came unannounced. I was talking to the Antler Man. I had on a colorful floral blouse, appropriate, I thought, for our garden club’s preview walk earlier in the day. My visitor seemed to like it as well. There we stood, recalling the day, when a lovely white moth took it upon herself to settle upon me, where she rested quite comfortably, it seemed, for a half a minute or so before joyfully flitting away.
Mornings, this youngster stops by, nibbling on mulberries that have fallen to the ground. We don’t mind, just as long as she stays out of the flower beds.
Have you had any visitors lately?
What a wonderful story. I found your blog at Teresa’s comments. I guess wordpress works differently from blogger because there is no place here to become a follower not is there any place with more information about you. I always find it interesting to see where people live, what their interests are, etc. But I did enjoy reading your account of the visitors in you garden. If we just pay attention to the small details we can really connect, can’t we!
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Thank you, and thank you again for stopping by. Teresa’s blog really touched me heart today, as I’m sure it did everyone who read it.
Wordpress does work a bit differently. If you go to the top of the page, there is a box that says About. Click on to read about me, though I have only a few lines. I’m in the Chicago area and well, the about part tells the basics, and tell the rest most of the time in ramblings.
What an lovely blog you have and I look forward to reading more.
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Oh, this is lovely, Penny, can’t wait to read it to Mad and Felix! We have a jay who comes to see us, but he’s a bit of a bully boy with all the other birds. And squirrels. Oh, and that fox who came to see us at Christmas!
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Thank you, Kate. Jays are beautiful birds, but, they can be bullies. They were pretty thinned out in this area because of the West Nile virus. Bullies or not, we were happy to start seeing them again.
Ah, I remember that beautiful fox.
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What charming visitors. The only visitors I have at present are ants, which due to the warm first part of winter, have continued to stream in as soon as there’s a tasty morsel.
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We had some this winter when it warmed, too, Juliet. I remember because our granddaughter was here, crawling, and, of course, saw them and tried to pick them up. I don’t think her mommy thought it was as entertaining to watch her as we did.
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We are having all manor of odd visitors here, but no cute chipmunks or baby deer! What a menagerie you are surrounded by Penny! The visitors we pay closest attention to in Kilkee are the clouds overhead that can change the weather in an instant!
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We do have an assortment here, Janet. How dramatic those clouds are and the weather as well. I hope it has warmed up there now.
By-the-way, I did get Summer at Tiffany from the library and I’m enjoying it. Thank you for the recommendation.
Keep writing from the bog!
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I hope you like the book. It’s a light read but I felt like it really described that era well. It seemed to be a more innocent time in many ways – even with the war going on.
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I love your little friend. You do such a nice job of capturing the moment on film. We don’t do as well. We were just coming home and noticed some majestic looking deer in our neighbor’s meadow. We were so impressed from a distance and were slowing down and searching for cameras when we realized they were decoys. This neighbor doesn’t hunt, but he likes to watch them from his deck. Maybe he is trying to lure them closer. He may not fool the deer, but he certainly had us going for a few minutes.
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Thank you, Janet. Tom actually took the picture of the fawn out of the dining room window. ha ha! That is funny. It would be even funnier if you HAD taken a picture and then discovered it was a decoy.
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Such wonderful visitors grace your gardens Penny. I am trying to picture where you live. . . . Mary Anne
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Just before I came in, a doe ran across the street followed by a fawn, her little flag tail waving behind her, Mary Anne. It is fun-until they get into the plantings. If I spent as much time weeding and trimming as I do fawning over the deer and taking pictures, our garden would look a whole lot better. sigh
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hello,
i adore your visitor. we have a crafty raccoon who is fearless as he enters our garage door that is only open wide enough for our outside cats to enter and exit. he did find a small amount of dry cat food so keeps coming back hoping for a full meal. we researched ways to discourage him and the best and safest option, considering the cats, was to sprinkle baby powder. they don’t like to get it on their feet. it worked where we put it but we don’t want to cover the garage in powder. he now walks around it. we hope he will find a better restaurant. any other humane ideas would be welcomed.
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Ah, raccoons can be sly, can’t they? A smart fellow to walk around the baby powder. I think now that he’s found his way in, nothing short of blocking off the garage entry will stop him. Are you sure you are dealing with a he? Try putting the powder in different places each time and see if you can befuddle him.
There are always live traps.
Good to hear from you.
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I have had no visitors as warm and welcoming as yours. Thank you for allowing me to relive your morning in such descriptive detail.
I absolutely love the rationalization of not washing windows. i think I will use that one come the fall 🙂
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Glad you did, Molly.
Now, if only I could come up with a good one for not washing the floors. haha!
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