Friday Morning

I've been out on our screen-in porch since 7:30 am, enjoying the balmy weather, a cup of tea, and the company of cats.

When we first moved into this house, all I wanted was the back patio screened in so I could sit out there (I am SO anti-bug it's not funny). Then the next thing that happened was the cancer and I spent hours and days in a zombie chemo fog on the porch.

I realized this morning, my screened in porch is one my favorite places. Let me share a little bit of it with you. Here is the lantana and spruce oasis:

In the cool of the evening, about 8:30 or so, two different hummingbirds and a handful of butterflies come by for an evening meal. I think the orange flowers are Lantana and the spikey looking flowers are the spruce. It's really fun to sit out here at dusk and watch the hummingbirds dip and sip.

Then later, out by the crepe myrtle, the fireflies start putting on their show, looking for a mate.

We don't use chemicals in the yard because as most of you know, firefly grub live in the ground. I prefer extra bugs (the reason the porch is enclosed) to losing fireflys. Yes, the picture is crooked. My balance is not quite what it could be.

And the trees are alive with birds and bird calls. We have Bluejays, Mockingbirds, Robins, Pigeons, Grackles, and a very shy Baltimore Oriale who makes an appearance maybe once every two weeks. Most live in or behind our redbud.

And yes our backyard is not landscaped, though it will be one of these days, it's still plenty cozy for us. We used to live on an acreage between Edmond and Guthrie and belive me, this is much nicer!

I had a few more pictures I was going to share but blogger has decided I've shared enough. I do have a question - I'd like to put up some hanging plants on the patio, any suggestions for someone who has the "thumb of death" where most plants are concerned?