It's been a beautiful day here. There's been a strong wind out of the west, I think, although when I was outside this afternoon it seemed to change direction from time to time - but perhaps that is because we're sort of behind the hill and we get a back draft or something. Anyway, mostly it kept the black flies at bay - but they did pester some and I got at least one bite. I had the crocodile stuff on, and it worked fine until I'd perspired and I suppose it got diluted.

We went for a short walk this morning down W. Shore Road. There weren't any people out, but we did see a few folks going by in their cars. Perhaps they were headed out for breakfast at Bentley's. We've heard there have been waiting lines at both Bentley's (for breakfast) and last weekend at Woody's trolley (by the beach in W. Danville) during the day.

Fred is mowing the lawn now, and I'm in for the day. I took a break from my computer today - there aren't as many messages on weekends, so I can do other things. We've been cleaning up dead and broken branches from trees, and I did a little weeding. Sometime this week we'll chip up the branches for mulch. Now that Fred has mowed, I'll probably rake up some of the grass clippings for the garden, too. So far that has worked pretty well, but I have only planted the one short row of peas (which haven't done much!) so I have to wait and see how it goes to plant through the dried and decaying grass. I've noticed there are a lot of earth worms in the garden under the mulch, and I think that is a good sign.

You'll notice I had a comment on this page (on yesterday's entry) about humming birds. Thanks, Carol for letting us know you have had them for a while. And by the way, welcome back to Joe's Pond! I guess our hummers were just a little later than usual getting here, and maybe you'll have more as time goes on - and if there aren't too many storms for them to fly through.

We saw both a male and female at the feeder today, so I think everything is back to normal. There have been bumble bees around the apple blossoms, too, even though the blossoms aren't fully in bloom yet. Now if we could see a bat or two . . . our neighbor, Elizabeth, said she normally sees them around her house but there haven't been any this year. We don't often see them, but with all the black flies this year, I sure hope the bats are around.

Here is a picture of our apple blossoms. They are very fragrant when they are fully out. The ornamentals don't seem to have much scent, but they are pretty. The lilacs are budded, but it'll be a couple weeks before they are out, I think. I guess that's about right - usually around Memorial Day, if we're lucky.