I’m still feeling under the weather, so rest is on the agenda for today.

It’s lovely out there right now, but we’re due for thunderstorms this afternoon, with more rain on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

There are a few little garden chores yet to tackle, but they’re relatively minor.

I think I’m repeating what I said yesterday!

Anyway, a couple of photos for you and then I’ll sign off.

Our lilac bush is spectactular this year with more blooms than I’ve seen in a long time. Heavenly. I will visit the bush this morning to get a strong whiff of those flowers before the rain begins.

And since I haven’t posted a photo of any of the girls for a while, here is Mabel.

Spectacularly pretty in pink.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

I do have a few more egg cups to show you, but I had a lovely little encounter yesterday that I want to share with you.

I was upstairs sometime during the middle of the afternoon and happened to look out our bedroom window. There was a large bird over by the shed, pecking away, searching for food. It was not a bird that I ever see around here. I went downstairs and looked more closely. I grabbed my long range lens and went outside, took lots of photos. The bird did not seem at all disturbed by my presence and when I walked even closer, it was unfazed. At this point, Don was watching from the kitchen door and the bird was changing direction and headed my way. I said ‘Come’ and it kept walking toward me.

I was standing by the funky patio and it walked in my direction, sort of like a pet bird or chicken would. It explored the patio, then headed toward the porch. (I was a wee bit worried that its wings might be injured.) It stopped at the edge of the porch, hopped up onto the porch and I followed. We walked around the porch, with me talking quietly. He/she was actually listening. When he got closer to the glider, he stopped, looked up at the seat cushion, flew up (wings not injured!) stood there a minute, then flew up to the railing, long enough for me to take a picture, and then flew off.

Of course, it was a pigeon, the kind of pigeon I see in the city all of the time, but never see here. Actually, it’s a Rock Dove. It wasn’t until I uploaded this photo that I noticed the red band around his leg. Another photo showed an orange and blue band around the other leg with the number 9 and “New.” Most likely New York.

A little blurry, but you can see the other band and the number 9.

I looked up information about banding. An owner might band a homing pigeon, or a racing pigeon. Ornithologists sometimes band birds to track their patterns.

But this little one was so gentle, so sweet, that I think it has an owner – it’s not at all afraid of human beings, whereas a city pigeon would have flown away as soon as I got close to it.

Right before it took off.

I worried that it might be lost, so I posted something on our town’s Facebook page, and one woman said the same bird had visited her yard yesterday and that it was very sweet and not afraid of them at all.

It looks as if the Rock Dove was having some adventures yesterday! It didn’t seem panicked. More like a tourist.

It was so lovely. We were really communicating. To have an encounter with a sweet bird, an unhurried encounter, well, that is a blessing and I have carried that feeling into today. Don and I feel very lucky that this beauty decided to visit our property.

I needed that.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Wednesday, about 10 pm, Don got a brief text message from his longtime friend Adrian. If you remember, Adrian had a heart transplant two years ago. Two years ago on Wednesday. Don immediately called him back. Adrian was crying.

Adrian and his lovely wife Margaret were going to the theater Wednesday night. They were celebrating the two year anniversary of his transplant. By the way, Margaret had open heart surgery about 3 months ago. She had recovered and was doing well. As Adrian and Margaret used the crosswalk, a car came down the street at a fast speed and hit Margaret. As Adrian watched in horror, her body flew about 10 feet in the air and landed on the hood with her head smashing the windshield. The car ended up several feet down the street. (There was a crowd of people on the sidewalk in front of the theater who witnessed the accident.) Adrian ran to Margaret who was now lying in the street, her face covered in blood, eyes open. He thought she was dead. He couldn’t find a heartbeat. But, thank God, she wasn’t. A nurse who was in the theater crowd ran over to help. EMS got there very quickly and rushed her to the hospital. And that was where we were when we first talked to Adrian, who was sobbing and in shock. We talked to him for a long time, doing our best to reassure him, but, of course, in shock ourselves at what had happened to our dear friend.

After a scan, it was determined that she has fractures on both her legs, her left leg had the most damage. She was going to have to have extensive surgery on that leg. She has five fractured ribs. Pieces of glass were embedded in her face. No damage to the skull or brain, thank God. Later in the day, after performing initial surgery on the left leg, the doctors discovered there was damage to one of the neck vertebra, so she has to wear a cervical collar. The first surgery was to insert a pin in her leg, but they won’t be able to do more surgery until the swelling goes down, which will be about 10 days from now.

She’s will have a long, long recovery.

Adrian kept repeating “She was taken from me” and “Everything can change in an instant.” He couldn’t sleep because he kept seeing her body fly through the air. Over and over and over again.

This happened at almost the exact minute that Adrian was wheeled in the operating room two years ago.

Obviously, this horrific accident has been our focus for the past two days. We are in contact with Adrian throughout the day, and thankfully, his son and daughter-in-law have come down from the San Francisco area to be with them.

I can’t do the egg cups today, but I’ll post about them tomorrow.

Please send prayers for Margaret. And Adrian.

They have been through so much in their time together. Years ago, Adrian and his son were in a car accident and Adrian had to be airlifted to a hospital where he went through a long, long recovery process. He almost died then. Then came the heart problems which lead to months spent in the hospital awaiting a transplant. Then Margaret’s open heart surgery.

Haven’t they been through enough?

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.