Phoenix Springtime

I have been really bad about getting entries in. One thing I can say is that each weekend, during the time when I could be blogging, I am outside just soaking up Phoenix Springtime! The weather has been fantastistic, and there is plenty to do in the garden.

I am proud of the flower beds which are at their best right now.

This is one view of the pool area and you can see the grass is starting to green up and the ground cover is getting lush.

The fruit trees are in bloom. I have lime, pomogranates, and figs. This is a pomogranate blossom, if you have never seen one. My grapes are just starting to get their new leaves. Hopefully, I will get my second crop of green grapes this year.

Last year, we had a swarm of bees visit our backyard for a few days. At the time, I said that it was a blessing, because few people get to experience sitting ten feet from a swarm of bees and just watch it sway in the breeze. This year's blessing is a hummingbird family. They set up a nest in my lime tree, and I now have two little babies that I check on. The following are a few pictures that I was able to get. Sorry for any blurriness, but they are small, and I am still trying to get good with the camera!

This is mom (or dad) sitting on the nest. The nest is about 2 inches across at most. I was standing about five feet from the tree, stretching my arms, so as not to scare off the hummingbird. But it just sat there, totally still and watched me!

This was afternoon and the babies were in the sun. They are so tightly fitted into the nest, you can't tell one body from the other! Their mouths were open and they were panting.

I went and sat down for a while. Later I saw the mom flitting around the flower bed, gathering nectar. She then zipped to the tree, hovered, and flew into the foliage to the nest. A short while later, I went back around to check the chicks and one must have been fed because it no longer had its mouth open.

If I look really carefully, I can see the nest from my kitchen window. I can't begin to describe how connected it makes me feel to be blessed with this experience! I am sure that little hummingbird families are starting up all over the place, in the thousands, but this little family is my neighbor and I really love that!

So you can see that I really have been enjoying springtime! Today is going to be 90 degrees, and soon summer will be here. It has its own beauty but you have to suffer a little to enjoy it! For now, I'm just going to soak up Spring.