The clematis is blooming like crazy.

The wild roses, dreaded brambles at any other time of the year, are in bloom all over the property; clouds of white everywhere.

They’re so delicate! And they have a lovely scent. My favorites are the tiny, tiny pink buds. Right now I love them. In a few weeks, we’ll be enemies again.

And the peonies. What can I say?

I walk down to their position near the road more than a few times a day to inhale that heavenly scent. I don’t know of a more luscious flower than a peony. (Purely my opinion, of course!)

The days are getting warmer around here. We seem to have turned a corner.

Two quick animal/avian stories:

Last night, I was looking out the window of the kitchen door and saw one of our young bunnies munching on some grass. He was fairly close to both the house and the big garden bed. Suddenly, his head moved to the right and he took off and ran through the secret garden. I yanked open the door and saw some bigger animal run under my car. When I walked outside, the animal took off toward the shed. It was one of my neighbor’s cats – the bane of my existence. He paused at the shed, and I shook my fist at him and told him to “Get out of here!”

That bunny knew the cat was a threat. I remember thinking – before I knew what animal was lurking under my car – that it would be hard to believe it was a groundhog because I’ve seen both creatures co-exist peacefully in the yard. Groundhogs have no interest in bunnies.

But a large cat? A definite threat.

Then, this morning, we were sitting out on the porch for our second cup of coffee and I saw two large hawks flying high, followed by a smaller bird. The hawks veered to the left, one of them disappearing, the other landing in a tree. Immediately, a constant warning call sounded, with non-stop urgent chirps. I told Don that that was a distress call he was hearing. Soon the distress call was taken up by another bird as well. You could hear calls coming from both sides of the road. On and on it went until, after about five minutes, the hawk erupted from the tree, followed closely by a red-winged blackbird who chased him away.

The chirping stopped. All was peaceful.

Don was amazed.

It was better than anything on television.

Happy Thursday.