LOTSA BIRDS, LOSTA PONY

The buoys are back in town as the Coast Guard plopped them in the bay this week. Must be spring?? It seems so, with cherry blossoms, trilliums, and garden asparagus in the pan. The so-called "Toy Truck" and driver were both working! On the ground: appearances by raccoons, three colours of squirrel, chipmunks and many many rabbits.

The annual bird migration seems to be peaking. Orioles, robins, and juncos have come and gone. Tiny warblers flit among the trees, very colourful but camera shy. Many of the others are so busy feeding that they hold still for their close-up; how many of these common ones can you name?

Glorious driving weather has also returned. The good news is that Pat is bonding with the Falcon now that it has an alignment and steers straight. The bad news is that the '02 Mustang has been sold, sort of. A couple from Collingwood wants the car ("We've never had a fun car!") for the sunny season and gave a substantial deposit. But the mechanic forgot to order the government forms that are needed to complete the sale and I still have the keys for one last cruise. Would you believe that excuse?

Bonus bird!! Once every few years an indigo bunting graces the grass... 

SOMETHING FISHY GOIN' ON

Today's post is about things that were odd, suspicious, or just plain fishy this week. For instance, that "renovation" in the Beach sure looks like a new house being built around old walls. The beach itself is being dug and dozed; for sunbathers or the lifeguards? Still, spring is showing its colours and the City Gardener is doing her part ---- by July these new lavender bushes will make strollers wonder what smells so nice.

Out at Kemble the spring sunrise is sneaking through the  northern windows instead of due east. But daylight reveals that there has been a heavy rainfall during our absence --- gravel has been pushed in lines down the lane. You'd think Noah was up top, gathering two of everything. Nope, it was the Country Gardener gathering the first asparagus. Lots of colour from plants on the ground, but the cold weather has the cherry blossoms suspiciously slow to appear.

Definitely fishy are the new additions to the pond --- yellowish ones we're calling the '14's. Get it --- 2014. Are the current pond fish suspicious of the newbies?? As long as they don't grow as big as these trout, they should be safe. Otherwise, they're dinner!

Here's a riddle for you. Why and for whom is Pat planting an Eastern Redbud tree? Some out there will know immediately. Hint for the rest of you: We're calling it "The Witness". Hmmm...

LIFE RETURNS TO THE COUNTRY

They're still playing hockey (Go Habs!) but longer and warmer days have brought familiar life back to the country, including us! The gardens are being cleaned up and new sprouts uncovered. A lettuce that was supposed to be a one-year thing ("annual") has come up again (now "perennial"?). Trees are being pruned, leaves raked that were leftover jobs from last fall.

The list of firsts and returns of life this week includes: hummingbirds, dandelions, garter snakes, grosbeaks, various warblers, trilliums, forsythia, bats, rhubarb, asparagus, thunderstorms, clothes hung on the line, washing a car in the yard, the waterfall in the pond, opened house windows, a barbeque, dinner with our American cousins, the top down on all the convertibles, etc., etc. But the absolute first was in the pond --- many clear jelly-like clumps floating around. We found out they're newt eggs. Stay tuned for all the latest newts, I mean "news"!

I had to do a repair on the 1963 Falcon top and  it was like revisiting the 1963 Plymouth Fury we used to have in Windsor so long ago. Same colours, same plastic rear window, same contortions in the back seat. On this Mother's Day, I remember that my mom also rode a red car. Just another reason to love her forever!

HOME: COMING, FILMING, GOING, BEING

Weather was still a big topic this week --- stormy waves in the city, monsoon rain in the country, and dismally chilly everywhere. May Day! May Day! May Days? The days got brighter when Pat returned home from the west-coast.  Next door to our home, one of the many movies shot in Toronto was being filmed entitled "Cocksure Lads": coming to your home on Netflix??

Back at home in Kemble, Coast Guard helicopters patrolled overhead checking the ice floes on Georgian Bay. The shipping lanes were open long enough for the ferry Chi-Cheemaun to start the 2014 season. The highways were clear enough for the Falcon to join the fleet in the barn! All 3 red hoods were up, like baby birds chirping for attention. Meanwhile a real bird's home lies vacant, waiting for new tenants --- small but great view and lots of fresh air.

The pond fish are cruising in the only home they've ever known.  The home-grown hyacinths and daphne are early show-offs with colour and cheap-perfume smell. And let's end with that tired but true cliche --- there's no place like home.