houskeeping Week

The week of my birthday (mid-February) I make a habit of cleaning and repairing my birdhouses in anticipation of the spring arrivals. Although I won't see the house wrens or violet-green swallows till late April, the intrepid mountain bluebirds will arrive back soon! The earliest return date for our neighborhood is March 4, a good landlord needs to be ready for prospective tenants.

December at Jenny Wren's house...

Jenny Wren is probably scolding someone in a garden somewhere along the Gulf Coast right this minute. In her absence from my garden, we brightened up her summer home in celebration of the Season. She won't be here to enjoy it, but I think she would if she were here.