Hummingbirds, flagpoles, and bumblebees

Go back with me, if you will, to the summer of 1980.

I know, most of you were barely alive, but humour an old lady, will ya?

Jeff and I were newly married and living in a non-air-conditioned, upstairs apartment in Orange County, California. Bethany was born nine months and six days past our wedding day, so yes, I was pregnant. 

And miserable. 

Nauseous, tired, and hot. 

I got a little job sewing drill team uniforms for a high school team and, on the days I managed to crawl out of bed, I sewed and listened to the radio. Ironically, this song was very popular that year. It played over and over until I imagined its only purpose was to drive me irrevocably mad.

Even now, when I hear the song, it causes faint waves of nausea to wash over my body.

And what does that have to do with the price of vanilla pods in Madagascar, you may ask?

Well, it has been in the upper 90's all week and it just doesn't seem to be worth the bother of putting in the A/C. 

It is, after all, the middle of September. 

We manage quite nicely most of the day. We close the windows mid-morning and start the fans. It gets a bit steamy around dinnertime and then cools down in the evening, so we open all the windows and listen to the crickets chirping as we fall asleep. But I have taken to wandering around in my dreaded muumuu and sporting a minimal amount of supportive clothing, if you get my drift. Which has nothing to do with the steaminess at dinnertime, so hush your mouth! 

It kinda reminds of those blissfully miserable days of our first years together. 

Josh came over to spend the night last night. We spent most of the the evening watering our new cypress hedge and all of the flowerpots and vegetables. Joshie loves to water things. By the time we finished it was cooling down so we sat on the deck and I said to Josh, If we sit quietly maybe we'll see some bees and butterflies and even a hummingbird.

He thought that sounded pretty neat, so we sat and watched the bees and butterflies and it wasn't two minutes later that a hummingbird darted into view. 

We were pleased.

Josh thought I was awesome.

I think.

I took this photo this morning when I heard the distinctive "click click" of the hummingbird. I didn't really have time to do anything but grab my camera and zoom, so the focus is terrible, but it's proof positive of the visit.

I've purposefully planted my flowerbeds with perennials and annuals that attract hummingbirds and I've been tickled with how often they visit. Almost any time I sit on the deck for a few minutes I am enchanted by a visit from one of the endearing little birds. The last verse of this poem  sums up my feelings.

Diminutive, defiant darter -

tiny heart in pounding pace;

we savor every fleeting glance

- a streak of heaven's fragile grace.

After Josh had bathed and eaten his bedtime snack and read his books for "22 minutes" (a compromise he wheedled out of me when I told him he had twenty minutes) I tucked him in and said, Josh, do you hear the crickets? His window at home is always closed tightly at night so I knew it would be unusual for him to be able to hear them.

He listened for a few seconds and said, Nana, how do you know about crickets?

Ah, glasshoppah, I am all-knowing!

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I've been playing with my new camera. I love the natural light photos I've been taking but I haven't quite figured out the inside settings.

Witness these of my lovely Josh.

There's nothing as sweet as a sleeping child.

For breakfast, he ate a whole juicy peach, a large bowl of cinnamon oatmeal and two maple-flavoured sausages.

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In other breaking news, Jeff installed our new flagpole this week. 

The Titan Telescoping Flagpole.

Made in the USA.

Guaranteed to never bend in the wind.

Just like us.

It will fly at half mast tomorrow and we will be thinking of those who died ten years ago.

And of our Charlie.

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I tried out the close-up mode on the camera this afternoon. That is what gave me the most grief on the old camera so I was thrilled with the results.

The flowers were blowing in the light breeze and I was my usually jumpy self, so I'm way impressed by the clarity of these shots. They are only lightly edited.

Cropped.

Another gratifying feature is the accuracy of the red end of the colour spectrum. My Hot Cocoa rose has always defied the camera lens, but it only took a little brightness and shadow tuning to get this picture, which is very true to the actual dusky-red shade.

Then I had some fun with the bumble bees.

Thanks for reading.

Did I ever mention how happy you make me?