Party Time and a Little More

Laurie is finally rid of her boot as her ankle has healed.  But we’re still hanging around home.  The good news is that, with Daylight Savings Time, now its light until about 8:30 PM.  Given that fact, the odds of us upping our local explorations/adventures in the near future are greatly heightened.

In the meantime, it’s all about our home and our neighborhood…

Recently, our neighbors Sue and Steve were hosts for a neighborhood gathering for the folks who live on our street as well as similarly named streets.  So our street is ‘Way’, another is “Circle”, another is “Lane”, and yet another is “Trace”.  I only took a few photos.  This first picture shows that almost everyone focused on something happening off to the left of the photo. 

Note: I estimate that there were about twice as many attendees at this neighborhood gathering than are shown in the photo.

This is Dale… He walks his "Westies", aka West Highland White Terriers, past our home a couple times a day…and as is evident in the photo, Dale is a musician.  With his guitars, microphone and sound system, he was the focus of the group in that first photo.  Not only can Dale play the guitar, he can sing too!

Note: Both Laurie and I ‘tend’ to carry dog treats in our pockets whenever we’re headed to the mailbox or hanging around in the front yard.  It’s how we get our dog ‘fix’ without having a dog.  The local dogs look for us now whenever they pass by our house.

I did neglect to take photos of the 3 plus tables laden with food.  Everybody brought something to share.  Our contribution was a big bowl of KFC ‘nuggets’ with a variety of sauces.  There were meatballs, little sandwiches, veggies, chips, casseroles, desserts and more for the crowd to nosh on…

We did get rained on for a short time.  Most of us hung out on Steve and Sue’s front porch or in the garage.  However Wayne made do/adapted as necessary given the situation.  Comfortable in his chair under his umbrella, he continued to enjoy a variety of the food offerings available.  That's what I call multi-tasking!

This was a pleasant neighborhood event and everyone had a chance to meet new people and spend time visiting.  I suspect that it was successful to the degree that we’ll see other similar gatherings in the summer and fall.

…now onto our home and various changes and views. 

This photo shows the front of our home looking from our driveway.  Note those 2 large reddish loropetalum bushes to the right side of our porch as well as that tall straggly looking almost red hued loropetalum bush to the left of the photo next to the magnolia. 

A year ago we thought that they had been killed due to a cold winter...but they came back.  This past winter, we had a prolonged and unusual December cold snap and there wasn’t a sign of life from those bushes for several weeks into spring.  But Mother Nature triumphed again and they are staging yet another comeback.  

Once they look healthy enough to survive a shock, the two at the right will be cut way back as they are both too large and too tall.  We may eliminate that tall straggly one and plant flowers or a different bush. 

In the picture showing the front of the house, you can see that despite a stunning growth spurt in our neighborhood and the area in general, we still have some woods adjacent to our home.  When we first moved in almost 15 years ago, we had woods right across the street, behind us and beside us on the right/garage side of the house.  Much of that has disappeared…

For now at least we can take comfort and appreciate the remaining forested areas.  The first photo above was taken from the front porch on the left looking along that side of the house.  The second photo, taken by Laurie, shows the wooded area on the left side as taken from the back yard.  The third photo shows the woods on the left as viewed from the front porch…and that final photo is of the one wooded lot right across the street from the one next to us. 

In the last 2 photos above, note the new homes peeking through the woods…

Laurie took this photo in our backyard.  That house is behind us and it wasn’t there just a few months ago.  It will be completed soon and we’ll have more new neighbors.  That lot was completely wooded but we are lucky in that there still is a nice dividing fringe of woods between the houses and now that the sun can reach the ground and do its job, the undergrowth will thicken up.  Laurie saw our neighborhood fox the other day and once construction dies down for a bit, perhaps we’ll have an occasional visit from our local deer herd. 

Mother Nature and a passing bird probably ‘planted’ these pretty wildflowers that popped up in Laurie’s circular front flower bed.  The bees and butterflies liked them…so they stayed.  I’ve been unable to identify them but they are very decorative and pleasing to the eye.  If you know what they are, let us know...

The rose-breasted grosbeaks are back!  Laurie managed to capture a few photos of these colorful birds at our feeder and our water source on the deck.  Sometimes referred to as a ‘cut-throat’ given the coloration under its head, this large seed-eating bird is a member of the cardinal family.  As usual with birds, the male is the colorful member of the family. 

An average maximum life span in the wild is a little over 7 years but in captivity they can live for up to 24 years.  Rose-breasted grosbeaks flee to warmer climates in the winter, where they range from southern Mexico through Central America and Cuba to Peru and Venezuela.  These birds are plentiful and are classified as a ‘least concerned’ species by wildlife experts.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave