I just came in from listening to our froggy chorus outside. The rain over the past few days has helped our peepers in their peeping progess. Wow. Try saying that a few times in a row! It’s peaceful and restful and makes me wish I could just sleep outside under the stars with the peepers as a musical backdrop. Sadly, I prefer my bed thank you very much.

I was gone most of the day, but as I sat and looked out towards the deck around 4:00 p.m. tonight I saw the first hummingbird! Looking back on my blog in 2008, the hummers first arrived about two days ago. So, I guess they are right on track. The one hummingbird must be a baby because he has not yet figured out how the feeder works. When I saw the hummer fly by I got excited and immediately went to fill the feeder and hang it on the hook. The bird came to the feeder but was hanging around the bottom and never quite getting to the feeder holes above. We watched this bird struggle time and time again; never quite getting it. We saw two others that were fighting with each other so we know we have at least three and one is a bit slow. It’s nice to see them back again.

When the Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks arrive I know it’s Spring. We only have these lovely birds for a week or so, then they move on to wherever they live in New Jersey besides our back yard. Here are two males.

Each of them has a slightly different rose pattern on their breast. Take a look.

Beautiful, aren’t they? They just arrived on Wednesday as our company left. Now I have to keep a keen eye out for the hummingbird’s arrival which usually happens around Mother’s Day which is coming up on the 13th of May. I expected them early this year because of the earlier than normal Spring, but maybe they will come exactly on time.

But our weather has been a bit strange. One day we had over 90 degrees F, then we’ve had chilly weather for the past week with rain and temperatures barely reaching 60 degrees F some days. Last night at 1:15 (or should I say this morning?) we had our first thunderstorm of the year. It’s having a hard time making up its mind.

On Monday we took a walk in Skylands Botanical Garden. Here are a few blooming things that we saw.

The azaleas were magnificent!

Breathe deeply and you might catch a whiff of sweet lilacs! Sheer heaven!

Peony Power!

I don’t know what this is, but I like it.

The forest ferns had a good start; better than mine!

And these unique and lovely Jack-in-the-Pulpits were out on the forest edge all by themselves. It looks like they are having a conversation. They are truly interesting looking plants.

I do love Spring—even when it’s fickle!