Here’s a picture I took early one morning just before work.  I grabbed my company’s Canon point-and-shoot to get a photo of a pair of geese walking along the boardwalk next to the William A. Irvin in Canal Park.  Unfortunately, the geese didn’t make the cut as I liked this photo better.

Reflection

A month ago my brother was at our house inspecting our garden and trees in the backyard, offering some tips and advice.  We heard a number of different birds singing.  He said, “Did you hear that?  That was a cardinal”.  First off, I’m not sure why he knows what a cardinal sounds like and secondly, we don’t have nesting cardinals in Duluth.  Well, at least I didn’t think we did…until Sebastian and I saw this guy last week.

Mr. Cardinal

Mr. Cardinal II

I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see him in the sea of green grass on my lawn.  We have spotted him four times now and we also saw his lady friend.  We are fairly certain he and the Mrs. have a little family somewhere in our trees (or our neighbor’s).   I would love to see the kids, but so far we haven’t located the nest.

Guess who was back in the garden?  Seriously?

The Return Of Peter Rabbit

Too bad we spoiled his fun by planting the garden and putting up a fence around it last Saturday.  I’m hopeful that he’s too lazy to dig underneath.  There are plenty of other delicious things growing in the yard and in my flower bed to go through all that work.

I baked bread last Sunday.  Not like my Mom’s awesome bread that you want to slather with butter and homemade jam, but a more European loaf that is good with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh cracked pepper.  I made it to pair up with homemade broccoli cheese soup.  Too bad my timing was off and the bread came out of the oven an hour after we finished eating the soup.

Crusty Homemade Bread

I am looking forward to the long Memorial weekend.  I’m not so much looking forward to all of the rain in the forecast.  We already received 4 1/2 inches this week.  Baseball was canceled…twice.  Our backyard is like a big soggy sponge.  Keep your fingers crossed that the weatherman is wrong like he often is. 

Resting After A Nice Meal

Perhaps the message he is trying to convey is one of the following:

• Hey, thanks for the nice breakfast.  I was so stuffed I had to lie down right here in your garden.
• The strawberries plants were great, but when are you going to plant the rest of your garden?
• I’m not afraid to hang out in your garden.  Your color blind dog can’t even see me because I blend right in.
• Did your hear the news?  My girlfriend is expecting.  That’s right, a whole family of bunnies.  Sort of like your very own “Occupy” event, bunny style.

I really had high hopes for the garden this year.  The weather has been warmer than normal and we intended to plant everything this Saturday which is early for us.  We typically plant on Memorial day.  Deer, squirrels and Peter Rabbit along with his entourage are going to make it a very long summer, but not in a good way.

p.s. The photography is not my best work.  I had to be quick to get this shot.  I couldn’t believe the audacity of this guy just lying casually in my garden.  It took all my control to snap a photo instead of trying to snap his…well, you know.

On a beautiful, sunny evening the 2012 ELL Red Sox took the field against the league favorite Diamondbacks.  For the first time is his young baseball career, Sebastian was given the nod as starting pitcher.  With butterflies in many stomachs, the Red Sox gave up 3 runs in the 1st inning with a couple of walks and some fielding errors.  However, Sebastian relaxed and entered a zone recording 3 strikeouts to finish the inning.  He pitched the next two innings allowing no runs and recording 4 more strikeouts before his pitch count reached near maximum per league rules.  A solid first start.  Way to go Sebastian!

The Starter

Ready To Pitch

The Wind Up

The Pitch

On the batting side, the Red Sox were a bit overwhelmed by the best pitcher in the league…a 12 year old that can throw over 60 mph.  He breezed through our line up the first two rounds before Sebastian broke up his no hitter with a solid double to right center.

In the end the Diamondbacks were a bit too much, but the Red Sox battled hard and the season is young.

Open Wide

Lilacs

Crab Apple Blossoms