Wednesday Treasures

Happy Wednesday Morning!  "Hump Day"...Getting over the hump of this week and rushing through May way too quickly. Seems like May always flies by and before you know it, school is out, and we are plunged into those long lazy crazy days of summer!

Well, for "Colt", our young Sand Hill Crane, these days are just flying by.  Some of you have asked me how he's doing, so here's a few pictures so you can see for yourself:

I have been told that the young crane's wings should be ready to fly by the time he is about 65-75 days old. I don't know exactly what day he was born, but according to THIS POST WHEN I FIRST SAW HIM on April 2nd, we know that he has to be at least about 6 weeks old by now, which would be about 45 days? So, maybe 20 more days or so...I guess I need to keep track so we can tell when he's ready to fly! I don't want to miss it!

Every day he gets taller and stronger, and his wing feathers are much more pronounced.

He spends a lot of time preening and scratching and flexing his wings, but I never can seem to get a good picture of him actually flapping them. It happens too quickly.  

But here below he spent a long time poking around at his tail feathers...it's like he's discovering that he's got more and more stuff there to carry around with him and like any young teen growing whiskers, he's quite fascinated with the new growth. Or else he just has a lot of mites making him itch...

It must be nice to have such a long flexible neck and beak that can get to that itch!

Yesterday I did see him flap his wings, but it was through the window and it isn't quite as clear:

So anyway, that is the update on "Colt" for now. They remain very active in our yard most every day, poking around for grubs and worms and whatever else they like to eat, so every day is a treat and a treasure for us to watch.  I'll try to keep you updated as Colt makes more progress.

Now moving right along:

Early morning picture of our sweet Bob-Tailed Cardinal with the sunshine reflecting off his belly making him look golden.

And then I saw him over under the other bird feeder with this female Cardinal, and I thought he must have a girlfriend...

But then I realized the other one must be a juvenile Cardinal and he is feeding her. So maybe he's the daddy?

Or else they are kissing.  Either way, it's sweet.  

You know me, I rejoice over every blossom in my garden.  Well, the Rose of Sharon bush is very special. It is one of the plants we brought with us when we moved to this house from our previous home and from the Memorial Garden we had there. After our son passed away on May 25th of 2014, we established a Memorial Garden there, and our daughter in law was down with us for our son's Memorial Service and she helped me pick out some plants for the garden. This was one that she wanted to be there in particular.  And so when we moved away from that house in 2019 I dug it up, along with the special rose bush, and brought them with us.  It stayed in a pot for another year until we finally got it planted in this new "Secret Memorial Garden", and so now every time it begins to bloom again we celebrate:

This is a double blossom. I love that this bush has started blooming in time for the 8th anniversary of our son's passing on May 25th.  Yes, these are some of my "treasures".

If you saw this picture on my Mother's Day post a few days ago, you probably wondered about that plant on the table. It is an arrangement of hyacinth bulbs about to bloom:

Well, I've been monitoring its progress each day:

And here it is now:

It is so lovely, and was a gift from Benton and Rose.  I am enjoying it out on the back porch because the hyacinth fragrance is a bit too strong for me in the house. But I can see it and enjoy it here just as well.

Another "treasure".

And last but certainly not least, here's "Lily Grace", waiting for an adventure. I'm afraid I've been a bit lax in providing adventures for Lily lately. My apologies to her many fans.  Anyway, we have plans to plant a butterfly garden and she is going to help me. It won't be today because I have a UMW meeting at church this morning...and by afternoon it is too hot to work in the yard. Maybe this evening.

Anyway, we plan to include these cute little stones in the garden...to make it a place of "Sunshine, Laughter & Friends", who are always welcome.  And a place of "Hope, Peace, and a place to Believe" in all the good things God wants to grow in us.

Here's some final thoughts for the day:

(devotional taken from "Choose Grace", "3-minute devotions for women")

Yes, like a garden, our heart is a lovely dwelling place where God abides. When we keep the garden of our heart well watered with God's Word, we will grow into a lovely place, "filled with the grace of the almighty God."

What a lovely thought for this day.

I hope you are taking care of the treasures in your garden-heart today!

Have a blessed and beautiful day my friends.