lady bugs and lupines

If I stand too long
in one place
the lady bugs 
think I am a plant
and come crawling
looking for aphids

I am not a plant

tho I love them

and join in

the aphid hunt

a family of robins 

have decided to 

claim my ripening

mountain ash berries

as their own

they sit in stealth mode

camouflaged with their red breast

among the red mountain ash berries

accurately aim droppings on my

shirt if I stand too long

under their branch

that was the give-away

a family of magpies

stopped in the top of my 

poplar one morning

quietly discussing their day

or their night

or when to fly to

other trees

other homes

they spoke 

a different language

when perching all together

in the poplar

musical murmerings

and conversations

entirely missing the racous 

yelling I hear when they 

are far apart or 

defending territory

#poplarshelter

lupines are back

my friend brought me a 

package of seeds this spring

perhaps remembering that lupines

lined the highway to Nelson

when we picked Adam up

from his year of woodworking

lined the New Zealand creek

bed that we followed with

so much laughter when we were

visiting Mish, and Lisa and Luke

they sprouted

survived the slugs and their

first summer in the shelter of

my dogwood here 

survived - not thrived

today I moved them out 

into the front sunshine

long tap roots and

chomped-on leaves

watered them

hope to see them

again in spring

oh, I live in hope...

...and in the meantime

that frost skipped along the tops 

of my pots and gardens

but beneath the blackened shells

one zucchini blossoms brightly

one morning glory strand survived

my black-eyed Susans are trying 

to keep growing if I would just

notice that they are not dead

and offer them a drink

I finally noticed

my petunias are extravagently luscious - 

but to no avail

not one bee climbs to the heart

no hummingbirds

they go to morning glories and snapdragons

and sunflowers and liatrus and oh so many others.

even geraniums

but not the petunia. 

methinks I will 

find other flowers

for my pots

next year