Enjoying The Bayou Life

  Early this morning, Mark and I headed out to the garden to pick tomatoes.  If we don't gather them, the critters haul them off.  It is frustrating to put so much work into a garden only to have animals ruin it but, as Pop used to say "They have to eat, too."  He would follow that up with a remark of "Next year, we will just have to plant more."  Well, Pop!  That may have been fine and dandy for us back on the farm because the fields could hold a lot more plants than my tiny garden plot.  There is simply no space to "plant more".   The critters need to find another food source.

  After filling our bowls, we decided to walk to the pier.  It was on our way back up the hillside when Mark pointed out a woodpecker in the oak tree.  It turned out that there were actually three birds in that tree!  A mama and two little red-bellied woodpeckers were busy finding breakfast.  While I photographed the birds, Mark was giving me a summary of what was happening.  "She found something and now both babies are fussing over who is getting it."  I continued snapping pictures in hopes of getting that "great" photo.  "They have moved to the pine tree.  Oh, wait.  No, now they are on the other oak."  I had the best guide leading me around the yard while I peered at the camera.  It made life a lot easier to have someone guiding my steps.  

  After a bit, the birds flitted off to a thicket and we continued our walk.  It is the simple things like this that make mornings happy, here on the Bayou.  The birds, fresh tomatoes, hikes or merely time spent together can make the day happier.  It also helped that these birds were not raiding the garden patch!