A Wee Sparrow

There was excitement in the backyard yesterday. I looked out and saw a tiny baby sparrow hopping around on our back patio. One of its parents was beside it. I ran for my camera and kept my distance while taking some photos but my presence was enough to scare it. It went scurrying into our long, not-yet-cut grass. At that point, its parent was no where to be seen. I felt so bad. I was worried that Meeko might find it, so we kept him in the house. Then I worried that someone would step on the poor thing because it wasn't obvious at all where it was. I ended up putting a metal fence around the area where it was hiding as a reminder to us of where it was. Then I went to garden on the other side of the yard to give the little sparrow time and space.

Emma was inside the house and monitored it from there. She googled baby sparrows as we weren't sure if it had fallen out of one of our birdhouses or if it was really time to fly. She found that if it had feathers (which it did) that leaving its house was most likely intentional and it would soon be able to fly. Sure enough, a little later our little fellow was gone.

The downward crook of its beak makes it look a bit sad or at least very serious. I suppose in a sparrow's life, the first day of flying is very serious and I'm sorry that I added to this little one's stress.

I am happy however to have photos of him and think I will try to do a painting of him. Right now though, I have a few more days of gardening ahead of me.

Nature's Paintbox

I am constantly amazed by the beauty in nature. I love looking closely at flowers and admiring the lines, colours and textures of each bloom. Of all of the flowers I know, I think pansies remind me the most of watercolours. Don't you think Mother Nature must have her own extra special paintbox?

I have painted a lot of violas and pansies over the years. They are such happy flowers. You can click here to see a few of my prints featuring them.  If you are relatively new to my blog you won't know this special connection. One of my grandmothers was named Viola.

I planted the little beauties in these photos in my front garden this week. The traditional planting date for annuals in our region has been May 24th for many years. I tend to try to plant much earlier if overnight temperatures are forecast above frost. Pansies, however, can handle frost so they can be planted before most any other annual. One neighbour a few houses down never plants anything before May 24th. Often when I'm out planting my first annuals, he will pass by and say "Isn't it a little early to be planting those, Kathleen?" I always assure him that they will be fine. It's like an annual tradition! I was a little disappointed that he didn't walk by this year. ;)

I have been so busy this past week with the spring cleanup in my garden that I haven't had a paintbrush in my hand once! I have so many flower beds that it takes at least five full days to clean everything up. I filled 20 big garbage bags with clippings and garden waste for the municipal green pickup! You should have seen the pile at the curb. I feel like I should have got some sort of Amazon woman award for that! Once the beds are presentable again, I will move my attention to my beloved square-foot vegetable garden.

My handsome and kind-hearted garden supervisor

After the slow, cold beginning to the spring, this week has been remarkably sunny and warm. If you blink, you can miss an important change in the garden. Leaves have opened. Flowers are blooming. We have our first sparrow family too. It's a beautiful time of year.