Squirrel Sunday...And this year's Pole Sitter is.....

It's May! In Indiana that means our thoughts turn to the Indianapolis 500 and the question of who will sit on the pole! Hmmmmmm.........think this guy has a chance????

(It's Simple Sunday for me today, so that's all you get for now)

After the rain.........

Yesterday's rain seemed to bring out all the birds.......wet and dripping at times, but hungry!


I was pleased to see the Indigo Bunting a couple of times in both the drive and the garden.

All the birds are beginning to discover this new feeder and give their approval. Maybe I should have put a bigger tray on it!

Mr. Cardinal looked pretty miserable......dripping water from his tail and waiting for a place to feed.

Mrs. Rose-breasted Grosbeak showed up! Didn't recognize her at first, but I was pleased to see her. My husband saw the male also, but I missed it. They've been shy so far this year.

She was wet and dripping after the rain, too!

Do you think the Red-wing blackbird is telling this fake bird to get out of the feeder??

One very wet finch!

She found the "frog fountain" and had a drink, so I hope I see her there again! My husband made this fountain for me from a fiberglass ball with frogs on it that we found at Lowe's a couple years back. I just love it and so do the birds! We just repainted it.....last year it had a bad problem with slimy stuff growing on it.

Another visitor to this popular feeder! My husband made this, too from a little trellis and a plastic dish with holes drilled in it. I have such a handy husband who can take my ideas and make them work!

Chipping Sparrow

Hopey ventured out after the rain to walk through the pink petals that came down everywhere from the cherry tree.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Pink petals stuck to the roof, the bushes, the steps, the garden, the trees.......

Rain always turns this tree into a mess but it won't last much longer.

The woods at St. Paul's nature preserve...

I really don't know what photos to select to post. How does anyone ever select just one photo when they post each day?? I thought this sign was very appropriate. I stood still often on this walk and just looked and listened. All I heard was one very loud woodpecker and the silence of the woods around me.

The creek bed ran through shale and there were interesting outcroppings and broken bits everywhere.

Ferns, mosses, wildflowers were poking up everywhere and covering the forest floor, the tree roots and the banks of the creek with beauty. Even the poison ivy looked beautiful among the rest of the plants :-)

This Mayapple leaf was trapped by the dead leaf it grew up through. After I photographed it, I "set it free" :-)

Happy May Day!

You are sipping your morning tea or coffee and the doorbell rings........I'm hiding in the bushes to see you find my offering of flowers for the first day of May :-) This was a tradition of my childhood. Happy May Day! Now enjoy my wildflower offerings below.

Wildflowers at St. Paul's Nature Preserve

I went back to the Nature preserve at St. Paul's and there were lots of wildflowers beginning to bloom! I tried to get some decent pictures, but I'm not good at close-ups (and not very flexible in my body :-). I have been trying to identify them, but have several I'm not sure about. Will have to go purchase a good wildflower book for Indiana!

Blue PhloxWhite Phlox


Virginia Bluebells

Some sort of Rue Anemone maybe? Or False Rue Anemone?

Looks like the Oxalis family although our most common "weed" one is yellow.

A different Oxalis....look at the leaves on both....one has dark bands

Spring Beauty

May Apple

Jack-in-the-Pulpit ....I was hoping to find these!

Trillium

Is this Star Chickweed? I liked the dark stamens against the white petals!

Some sort of wild strawberry would be my guess looking at the leaves.

There were violets and lots of ferns and such, but since I have posted hundreds of violets already, I won't post any here. I'll post more pictures of the woods in general tomorrow. I took a different path from last time and really liked this path better, but I didn't see the Dutchmen's Breeches from last time, so obviously there are lovely things on both paths!