The Night Singer

I had to blow this sunset photo way up so you can see the silhouette of the mockingbird that's sitting on the sign post.  He often sits there and sings.

And what a singer he is!  I haven't been sleeping much this week and I've been lured outside every night around 1:00 am or so to listen to the mockingbirds beautiful song.

At least I think it's beautiful.  I can see why it might be annoying to others as it goes on and on and on - all night long.

Apparently, he's looking for a mate.  Mating season here in Florida is April and May, so that's when you'll most likely hear him night singing.  I hope he'll be successful!

One site posted how the mockingbird likes to sing especially when it's a full moon.  Well, it happened to be a full moon this last week.  And it was gorgeous!

So, if you hear a pretty tweedle, tweedle, tweedle or a thrack, thrack, thrack interrupting your dreams - it's probably Mr. Mockingbird.  

Now, we do have other birds that make noise during the night here in Florida.  I don't have any pics of them, so I'll just put this funky shot up while I list some of those other noisy night birds:  chuck-will's-widow,  black-crowned night heron, yellow-crowned night heron and of course owls make noise.  My favorite noise-making owl down here is the barred owl - they really get hooting back and forth and I can't quit grinning every time I hear them.

Well, this week in the garden, I've got some pretty orchids blooming on the lanai.

I get all excited every time this lime green one blooms!

These are all Phalaenopsis orchids that I got on markdown at the garden center and this is their fourth time blooming since I got them - hurray!  

The Spathiphyllum or Peace Lily is putting up a few blooms lately as well.

I also wanted to mention that I haven't seen the beautiful Indigo or Painted Buntings for the last three days.

I think they've all taken off...but no worries, they'll be back later this fall!  (what a goofball shot, Ha!) 

I also want to thank you all for leaving such kind and caring comments on my posts!  I haven't gotten back to reply, but hope to do better in the future.  Have a lovely week everyone!  

It's a Jungle Out There

It really does feel like Jurassic Park!  Early morning sunrise in the preserve behind the backyard.  This is my wake-up view from the balcony off the bedroom.

The balcony is small, but there's plenty of room for me and the dogs.

It's certainly not glam by any means, with mismatched furniture and faded cushions.

But it's surrounded by greenery with a relaxing view and has become my "meditation station"

Anyway, in the preserve there is a well worn deer path that comes out between our house and the neighbors.

Just about every evening the deer come flying out of the preserve, run between our houses and head over to the lake across the street.  

I'm usually in the house when this happens and see them out the windows, but the other night I happened to be out photographing the Angel Trumpet and caught these three as they zoomed by.

The Angel Trumpet's a bit spindly looking as she's not in the best spot to thrive as well as she should.  It's just too big a job for me to move her at this point.  But, she insists upon blooming like crazy, which is just fine with me.  (yeah, it feels like a she to me)  

Just an odd angle to make it a little more interesting :)

This shot I took with my phone so I wouldn't have to contort myself into any odd positions to get underneath.

Also out front the Firebush is starting to bloom.

Which attracts lots of these Giant Swallowtails and other butterflies.

Like our state butterfly the Zebra Longwing.

I really chopped back the little hibiscus bush by the garage and it responded with tons of these gorgeous yellow blooms.

So bright and cheery.

Speaking of yellow, the Allamanda in the backyard is blooming.

The Plumbago is flowering.

And the Jasmine is blooming...

and climbing the trellis up to the little balcony where it makes sitting on the balcony even more enjoyable.

I love all of the visitors to our yard, even if they eat all the Purslane and other pretties.

This pretty doe says "Have a Happy Day" - that's just what I was thinking! 

Beautiful Indigo Buntings

Such an incredible blast of blue!  I absolutely adore these guys.  I do find them a bit hard to photograph as they are more skittish than most of the other birds in the yard.

This shot is from last year.  I don't even want to mention how many pics I have to take to get a halfway recognizable photo of one of these birds, Haha!  They are truly a challenge for me - same with the flitty little gnatcatchers.

The afore mentioned flitty little gnatcatcher.

The Painted Buntings are still in town.  I don't blame them for not going north or west or wherever they go, as it seems to be cold again elsewhere in the states. 

That's okay, they can stay here as long as they'd like!  I just bought a new bag of white millet and they love the birdbath, so we're set for a while now.

I haven't decided if I like this photo or not, but I found it kind of intriguing. I like to play around with capturing the light.  It was early evening and I liked how it highlighted this male redbellied woodpeckers profile.

Here he is in a brighter light.  

Well, I've always been basically a picture blog.  I don't offer any great gardening tips, because I'm not a great gardener (big cheesy grin)!  And now I'm discovering that I won't be able to garden like I used to due to my autoimmune diseases.  This last month has pretty much made it clear to me that I can't get out there and take care of things like I used to.  And in all honesty, I've been dwindling down since last fall.  I've recently had a rheumatoid arthritis flare like I've never experienced and I'm working on learning what I can do and what I can't.

The big gardenia and the dwarf gardenia bushes are all getting set to bloom.

So, I'll probably be doing mostly container gardening.  Which offers lots and lots of opportunities to try new plants and have beautiful flowers around.

There's nothing like having a big pot of fragrant jasmine to sit next to while I'm reading a book on the lanai.

And I can always give vegetables another go.  These little tomatoes were so cute, but unfortunately didn't taste very good.  I'll have to try another variety.

And I definitely can see myself turning into an herbal green witch of sorts.  

I think I'm quite a ways down that path already :)

Plus with all the cool visitors we have to the yard, like this orb weaver - there's always something to blog about.  

I get pretty excited over leaf patterns, Haha, but I'll consider it a creative endeavor to come up with blog posts about things I hope others will find somewhat interesting.  And still keep with a gardening theme.

Oh, how could I forget!  The orange blossoms have been perfuming the backyard all month long.  It's so wonderful!  

Thanks friends for having a read through my blog!  Blessings to all!  Be well.