Refreshment of the Soul . . .

Another beautiful day dawning and time for a little refreshment of the soul . . .

Not reading nor writing but pulling weeds, re-potting some plants, and generally tidying our little entryway garden . . .

The bearded iris are coming on strong -- such lovely, graceful things. The hostas are lush  -- the slugs must not be out yet.  The yellow climbing rose by the green house door has its first bloom. . .

The greenhouse snake kept an eye on me as I busied around in her domain -- at one point when I reached for a potted plant that was right next to her, she got all flustered and slid to the floor, out the open door, and into the flowerbed beneath the greenhouse windows. 

I shut the door (to keep humming birds out) and went on with my weeding.  A quarter of an hour later, I went back to get another plant from the green house and there she was, enjoying life atop my night-blooming cereus.

Obviously, she has a private entrance.

Another Day in Paradise

Garden work Monday -- mainly pulling weeds out of a day lily bed that looked so awful I couldn't bring myself to take its picture -- so instead here's a look at the part of the garden John hoed while I tied up and suckered the tomatoes a few days ago.

The wild raspberries are beginning to ripen -- one of the prettiest of fruits, I think.

I lurked by the mama hen's apartment hoping for a picture of the babies -- her four chicks are doing well but she mistrusted the lady with the camera and sent them back inside whenever they dared to look out.

Heading back to the house I poked my head into the greenhouse -- the resident Northern Water Snake was sunning him/herself as usual. This snake is so used to me that it ignores me even as I move plant pots around on the lattice right by it. I was fascinated by its cozy pose -- when you're a snake, you can keep yourself warm!

A big rain (an inch) cooled things off in the late afternoon . . .

. . . and the skies cleared once more. We're loving all this rain after several years of drought -- the pastures and the woods are happy and content -- and so are we.

Just Lurking

I tossed a handful of fish food pellets into the goldfish pool and one of the snakes that had been relaxing on the flat rocks at the edge launched itself into the water like Michael Phelps going for the gold. Sure that I was about to witness a Wild Kingdom moment, I started taking pictures.

(No, I didn't try to interfere and save the goldfish; if it weren't for the snakes we'd have goldfish overpopulation. It's a small pool and can only provide oxygen for a limited number of fish.)

Most of the fish you see are probably too big for the snake to mess with, but there are many smaller fish -- probably last year's babies -- that you don't see -- as goldfish start out dark and only get their color slowly and in patches. When they're little and vulnerable, they stay hidden from snakes and other predators which include, I'm afraid, their parents.

It was interesting to see how totally the goldfish ignored the snake, even when it swam very close, sometimes sliding right over them.

But in the end there was no murder and mayhem: the snake observed; the fish fed; and finally the snake swam back to the side, oozed up onto the rocks, and resumed its sunbath.

It seemed I had tuned into Peaceable Kingdom.