Monday, June 13, 2011

Springtime Firsts

Today I ate the first strawberries and radishes of the season from my garden. I love this first sampling day every year. It proves that all the hard work of tilling, planting, watering and waiting was worth it. I am also sad that I did not check them yesterday when my grandkids were here so they could also share this joy. Jared has been so excited about the garden this year that he would have been thrilled to find the little red strawberries hiding in the leaves, waiting to be picked and eaten. I doubt I would have been able to get him to try a radish but the strawberries would have been gone in a flash.

I also witnessed a wonder of nature. I have had a little hawk youngster living in my trees, just hanging out. He and I had a stare down one day while he was very close in the branches to the deck where I was sitting. He yelled at me a little and then flew off, still yelling his displeasure at me, sitting in his yard. Today, there was a family of 7 squirrels playing in the trees surrounding the garden. I was enjoying watching them frolic. Suddenly, little hawk was flying through the trees towards the squirrels. LIttle hawk managed to grab a hold of one of the squirrels and attempt to fly away with it, but the squirrel was about the size of the hawk and managed to wiggle it's way free. Little hawk flew to a nearby branch to watch and figure out plan B while the little squirrels nosily scooted away to another playground. I wish I had had a video camera .......