Seen in the gardens:

Heavens, it’s a gorgeous day out there! Actually, I should say ‘here’ as I’m sitting on the glider writing this post. Today is the first day I’ve noticed less birdsong. Cicadas, yes. Mourning dove, yes. An occasional bird. But not like it was and that always makes me a little sad.

It’s a little too quiet out here. I can hear the sound of the river across the street. And traffic, of course. Bird song does a good job of blocking out the sound of traffic.

We mowed the largest side of the front lawn yesterday and then, after Don left to run some errands, I mowed the corral and the little area next to the shed. There’s still more to go, but we’ll wait a day or two. It just felt so good to be out  there after being housebound with the heat and rain and some back problems. I had an endorphin high going. I love mowing because the results are so immediate. Too-long grass instantly transformed. Everything looks neater. That’s especially needed when you live in the country and your lawn is a big mix of all kinds of grasses and weeds. No manicured lawns out here!

I also pulled some weeds and weed whacked the funky patio. There’s more to weed whack but one can only do so much in a day.

We watched a Shirley Temple movie – Bright Eyes – on TCM last night. No one was more surprised than me when Don indicated that he wanted to watch the whole thing! He kept saying how talented little Shirley was and we were both happy to see one of our favorite actors, James Dunn, in the movie. It turns out Dunn did four movies with Shirley. Our favorite James Dunn role, and one he won the Academy Award for, was as Francie’s father in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  He absolutely breaks your heart in that role, a role he was made to play. Don noted while watching Bright Eyes  that, despite his joviality, Dunn has an underlying sadness. You see that sadness in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

There are two movies that are guaranteed to make me cry, no matter how many times I’ve seen them: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn  and To Kill a Mockingbird. Actually, I’m sure there’s even more but those are the two that immediately come to mind.

Oh, just heard a beautiful bird call! Gorgeous.

I may buy some replacement flowers for some of the pots. The lobelia is looking rather tired.

I’m having one of those “I love my porch and my garden” days.

Happy Thursday.