Got up early this morning. Not because I had to but because I just woke up, as I usually do--early. Stumbled into the kitchen in my gown and made myself a fabulous cup of coffee in the Keurig--- Butter Toffee is my very favorite-- and from there stepped out on the porch and sat in my favorite outdoor chair. I didn't have to wait long for the show to begin. Approximately a dozen hummingbirds swarmed the 4 feeders we have hanging in a huge Live Oak tree by the porch. Pound for pound they have to be one of natures most aggressive little creatures! They dip and dive and hover with the precision of a Huey helicopter. And they are voracious--swilling down 4 quarts of sugar water every 3-4 days. Needless to say, we are always buying sugar in 25 lb. bags to keep up with their demand. But hey, we don't think it's that expensive for such continued entertainment.
The deer were next in my sight--all eleven of them. There was 2 bucks, 3 fawns and s does. The does were so graceful while grazing on the short grass and the fawns bouncing around their mothers. I couldn't help but compare them to human mothers and children in a park. And the bucks were quite statuesque, ever vigilant in their watchfulness, standing in the tree line with heads erect and ears perked. Well you make the comparison. Just breath-taking in their existence.
After finishing my first cup of coffee and seeing the deer wander out of sight, I strolled around to the front yard. There is where my herb garden and the zinnias are planted. And just outside the fence are our feeders for the big birds--Indigo Buntings, Cardinals, Sparrows, Titmouse and Tanagers all were on the feeders even as I prowled around the yard. I gave them fresh water in the bird bath and picked myself a vase of zinnias and left them to their breakfast and bathing.
What a joy to live on this lovely Hill Country land that has been enjoyed by my family for six generations! In Gone With the Wind, Scarlett O'Hara was so in love with Tara and the land first and foremost. I know how she felt. I love this old place and though not an antebellum plantation it is home to me. It's not even South Fork (of Dallas fame) but as a Texas woman my heart is tied to the land and it's natural inhabitants as surely as I am tied to my ancestors who made it possible for me to be here this morning in this little bit of bliss. Thank you to them! And thank God!
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