June 28, 2009. Chevy Chase, Md. Simple Pleasures.

Red winged blackbirds have taken up residence at our farm. They are beautiful elegant birds. Up till now, they only stopped by, on their way to someplace else, but this year, they have come to stay. We saw them arrive in May, and thought they would be gone by the time we arrived in June, but not at all. We see them everywhere. I believe they nest in the tall grass because I walked over to the path to go for a walk and two birds were not a bit happy with me, dive bombing and swooping close beside me. Clearly, they wanted me to leave their area, so I did. Every time we look outside or sit on the deck, we see these wonderful birds.

Ken saw an indigo bunting this morning down by the pond. He was out taking pictures and then this bright bird appeared flitting along the branches. And we spotted a Kestrel when we were riding around the farm in the gator yesterday afternoon. They are the smallest of the hawks and perhaps the most beautiful. In every direction at the farm, birds can be seen and heard. We must have hundreds of barn swallows nesting in the barn and sheds. For several years, the number of swallows diminished but this year they are out in force. And the tree swallows are everywhere too, nesting in about half of the bluebird boxes which might be a problem except we see many. many bluebirds too. This has been a wonderful year for birds at the farm. Now I still need my friend Phyllis to tell me the birds I can not recognize.

Tammy and Bryan have increased the size of their garden so on Saturday we stopped by to see what we could buy from them, as we had no vegetables. We came home with onions, zuchini and potatoes which Ken cooked for dinner along with some good Angus beef. Fresh vegetables right from the garden taste so good. The only problem is that Tammy will never let us pay for the vegetables. One day she will let us pay her, but not today.

The sunset Saturday evening was beautiful, full of pink and purple and blue. We sat on the front stoop and watched the evening darken and drank our wine, which we left too long in the wine cellar. Simple Pleasures, coming all day at the farm.