Hello everyone on this beautiful Friday morning here at Steve’s Country.  If you have been reading for a while then you already know that for me, it’s always time for coffee! Although, I admit that in the evening I do like tea as well.  But here it’s morning.  So grab a coffee and join me for our weekly chat on my deck.

It is such a beautiful sunny morning!  And it’s completely calm.  Not a leaf moving.  The lake is like a mirror except for a few ripples from some ducks swimming by.  And a loon sitting a little further out as he laughs, then dips underwater going after some fish.  Yes, it does sound like he is laughing.  His mate is undoubtedly sitting on eggs now.  They are a beautiful bird and one of my summer favorites.  I love listening to their mournful calls at night.  I think it sounds beautiful myself.  But it is always described as mournful.  Maybe I’m just strange.  Yes, I know.  We will just skip the ‘maybe’ on that one.  Ha!  Beat you to it.

The sun is shining right on the deck now, removing any touch of coolness that was present earlier.  The squirrels have arrived for their peanuts.  Two squirrels.  That never works.  Both females, Choco and Chatter.  Choco was first but Chatter is tougher.  So the fight is on.  They jump straight up, over a foot high (30cm) and land on top of the other one.  Then they roll over and over, joined tight together like a furry ball.  Amazingly they never seem to get hurt.  Certainly not seriously anyway.  Mostly a lot of noise.  Now if Cinder was here, she would be chasing both of the others away.  Not even nasty LB, a male, can stand up to Cinder.  She is top squirrel now.  Therefore LB doesn’t show up much anymore.  The only squirrel that Cinder can’t beat is Whitey.  But I think she likes him anyway.  Probably that white tail of his.

Doesn’t that chorus of bird song sound nice?  There is the song sparrow, white-throat, goldfinch, purple finch, robins, wren, and so many warblers out there this morning, all singing together.  And the sun shining so brilliantly on those new leaves, making them shine like gem stones.  The sights and sounds of country in town.  But the same can be found even in larger cities.  Parks early in the morning can provide the same enjoyment as found in the country.  People just need to get outside and enjoy it more.  It’s healthy for the body and for the mind.  If you get discouraged or depressed, then please, spend more time outside, you will feel much better for it.

A very light breeze has started up and there are some dark clouds on the western horizon.  It is supposed to rain later today, looks like it might be earlier instead.  I love to see the new bright green leaves dancing in the sun with that breeze.  And the cherry tree next door is full of buds and will soon be a mass of pink blossoms.  And the apple tree by my deck has beautiful large white flowers each year.  It isn’t doing too good this year though.  That bear broke it seriously last year.  And it was definitely rotting in the center anyway.  There is so much green showing up everywhere now.  So many different shades of that green.  Just beautiful.

I love spring.  But I’m sure you could tell that already.  It’s my favorite time of the year.  Followed by summer.  Because it’s warm.  And I like warm.  Just in case you didn’t know.  Hmm, those clouds are moving in fast.  Soon the sun will be blocked for the day.  Well, we still need rain, we only got a little the last time.  However, it’s probably time to end our chat for this morning.  It’s a little too cool yet to sit outside in the rain.

Thank you so much for joining me again today for our coffee time, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  Enjoy your day everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.