Summer Evening

After a long day of work in my home office, I grab my e- reader, download a new book and move out from the cool comfort of my house, to the warm evening sun on my screened porch and I sit down to begin my new book.

Before I really get into my new read, I stop to watch and listen to the summer evening unfold. A light rain falls, not even enough to totally dim the fading sunlight, but enough for me to smell it on the ground and watch the robins gather on the grass in hopes that worms will soon be emerging and the robins will have their dinner!

I don’t think that it was enough rain to push any worms out of the ground, but I do enjoy watching the robins hopping around with hopeful anticipation.

Hummingbirds fight for their turn at the sweet nectar in the feeders. It’s August, so they are in overdrive mode trying to fuel up for their upcoming long journey back south. I wish I had the kinds of Hummingbirds that shared, but in all of years, and all of the types of feeders that I use, mine just fight. Still, I marvel at them each time!

Mourning doves, cardinals, blue jays and sparrows flock around my bird feeders. Blue jays seem to dictate who gets the best spot at the feeders. I think that must be the true definition of “pecking order”

A familiar sound coming from the woods of what I believe to be a king fisher is confirmed when it flies over head. I look up and tell it, as if it understands me, to just keep flying and stay away from the fish in my pond.

I used to love watching the blue heron’s stand by the ponds edge looking for their next meal, and the king fisher’s graceful dive into the pond, but after finding so many injured and dead fish, as well as piles of regurgitated fish bones, (the fish that I objected to when we first decided to stock the pond), I now have no problem moving them along to anywhere else but here.

The fish, mostly large-mouth bass know me well and greet me daily at the beach for their breakfast. It’s no surprise to anyone that knows me to hear me call some of them by the names that I have given them. There is “Mrs. Bass”, (honestly I don’t know if its male or female )who is the biggest, and kind of the meanest of all of the bass, but I like how she swims up and just floats by me, looking towards me when I throw the floating fish food out. Then, newer to the collection is “river monster”, a 3 foot long grass carp who we were told we would never see, as he does his job of eating all of the grass in the pond. Even though he is shy, we do see him eating the fish food along with all of the other fish, including the latest member of the pond,” little guy”, an adorable paint turtle who seems as curious of me as I am of him.

As I look up from this writing, a beautiful deer cautiously crosses the yard staying close to the woods. She grazes and then perhaps hearing me type furiously on my laptop keys in order to capture this moment before it passes, looks my way. Again, in my best” Dr. Doolittle” voice, I assure her with a smile that I am friendly, and she has nothing to worry about with me, but she still seems cautious as she continues to graze and the sun continues on its evening descent into the west sky.

I hear king fisher again, and keep a watchful eye out on the pond, hoping that I won’t have to jump up to scare him off, as that will surely scare the deer off as well.

With the robins still hopping around looking for a fat worm, and all of the other amazing things happening around me, I feel like there should be bunnies included in this Disney like scene but so far, I haven’t seen any which is okay because this was still an almost picture perfect evening among the beautiful nature that surrounds me in my very own back yard, and for that, I am grateful!