Posing for the camera

I nearly melted Saturday as I tried to get some much needed weeding done - 

but it was worth it to be in the garden when this black swallowtail visited the lantana.  

 Sunday was a good day - rain (hooray!), naps, and the birds posing for me.

I hope the weekend in your garden was restful and refreshing!

The star of the show

This dogwood is the star of the show in my garden right now, though the others come close.  The dogwoods turn first and the other trees seem to wait for them, giving them center stage.  The leaves of this one look like rubies hanging in the sky when the sun shines through them.

Some other show-offs in the garden now are the pyracantha, loaded with berries,

and the mums, of course,

But I also love the hydrangeas at this time of year

and the finch at the feeder at every season of the year!

What wondrous beings these

Do you ne'er think what wondrous beings these? Do you ne'er think who made them, and who taught The dialect they speak, where melodies Alone are the interpreters of thought? Whose household words are songs in many keys, Sweeter than instrument of man e'er caught! - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The view from the sun room window this morning. I am home with a cough and a cold. Watching these birds was as good as any other medicine.