Arm birds, bloom update (more images)

Dusted off my old Canon Rebel G and shot a couple rolls over the weekend. Some favorites:

Arm birds, bloom update

I don't know about other people, but we like to pick up our hens. (Pictured here is Rupert, and that's Pip in the batch above.)

The beans are still coming in, but more slowly. We're picking about a handful every other day now. The "mystery" squash plants - can't remember what kind of squash seeds we saved in the windowsill last summer - have made yellow trumpet blossoms, all up and down the trailing plants. The first pink zinnias are opening. Some of the sunflower plants are four-feet tall, but no blooms yet. And in the front yard, the hydrangeas are full-on, with blooms from a pale blue-white to deep lavender. They've never given so much purple before. Maybe it's the pine straw below?

Today will be hot and sticky, but I'll get out there for some weeding. When I do, the hens sometimes bump into my elbows they stay so close. They're in the weeds too, pecking like it's their job.

Bean harvest

In the chilly rain this morning we picked more of the Italian bush beans that grow under the heart-shaped leaves - it was our third time through to pick a small colander full. (The Polaroids are from a sunny day last week.) There were a few more strawberries too. We have regular fat red, sweet strawberries. (I don't know the specific name.) And then we have a few plants of alpine strawberries with berries thin and long and full of seeds. It's probably the name, but when I taste them I immediately think of the mountains or Maine summers.

Worms or caterpillars or something else had chewed holes in much of the brussel sprout plants. Everything else looks good - lots of onions and radishes ready to be picked. The squash, eggplant and cucumbers have all flowered. The tomatoes and peppers are getting taller. And the garlic flowers are in full bloom now. It's a good spring.

Hen play

Why are chickens so amusing? They tilt their heads, bob and jerk when they move, cluck and cluck. I'm always going outside to see - could watch for hours to see them strut and peck at the grass, weeds and bugs.

Around sunset the other night, PF shot this one of Goldie and Pip in the yard. They make long, throaty calls when they are ready to roost in the evenings - seem wilder then, like wild turkey or quail. But then, these birds let me pick them up. I'm still amazed at that.

Garlic after the rain

I shot this Polaroid the other night, just after the rain. The garlic flowers are about to burst into perfectly round, soft purple blooms. (I know because I've seen them do it the past two years - these perennial leftovers from Mr. Thames' garden. I wonder when he first planted them.)

I can't wait. But I love them this way too, on tall stalks with pointed, papery hats. Once they've bloomed, I'll cut a few to bring inside. They smell of garlic and dry beautifully.