THE CELESTIAL CHOIR

I was talking with a friend the other day as she was preparing to return to NY for the summer.  She was saying how much she looked forward to going "home" in May when all the flowers were blooming and the birds had returned after the winter. She looked forward to the sounds of singing birds.
I wondered to myself how she could not notice that here the birds sing year round and the flowers bloom constantly.  The month of May is one of the BEST months here in South Florida. The magnolia trees and the gardenia bushes are in full bloom. They bloom continuously year round but this is their peak season where they literally EXPLODE !  My gardenia outside the front door is old and I have a feeling it is on it's way out. But in spite of that it is a riot of blossoms that scent the air as you come up the walk. The smell is wonderful and I now understand why my mother loved gardenias. It is better than lavender for soothing my soul so I pick a few blossoms each day to put in small bowls of water to scent my house with their heavenly smell. I can't help but smile when I catch their scent.
As for the magnolias, they too have gone wild with blooms and fragrance. I don't have any of them around my house but many of my neighbors have magnolias on their front lawns and it's all I can do to just enjoy their scent as I walk by and not grab a flower to take with me. (I'm sure no one would mind me snatching one HUGE bloom when there are so many but I feel it's better to leave them so I can enjoy them on my next walk.)

Speaking of that daily walk I am taking . . .  that's where the celestial choir comes in.  No matter where I am around here I am accompanied by the singing of birds. Mocking birds to be exact. For some reason these little fellows LOVE my neighborhood. No matter what time of the day or season they are singing their little hearts out. They're a pretty little bird and I swear they follow me on my walks. The entire time I am walking there are birds singing in the trees around me. I find myself talking to them, (Oh Oh ! ) and they DO talk back with their lovely songs.  When I go out to get the mail there is usually one sitting on the mail box singing to me.  They are forever on the roof and chimney chirping away and when I am in the pool there is ALWAY one in one of the palm trees that surround the yard. They sing and sing and sing! All winter, all summer. And I LOVE to hear their song. It's almost like they are calling me to be happy and joyful.

I used to comment to Gerry about how beautiful they were and he would stop to listen for a moment. Usually he thought they were annoying but he would humor me. He was more concerned that they were getting into the chimney and building nests there. (I thought that would be wonderful.) We had a couple of bird feeders for a while but H didn't like them because they "attracted rats".  They did attract blue jays and the big black grackles which I never see otherwise but I never saw a rat.

 I have a resident cardinal who is here with his wife and I think they are in the process of building a nest. Probably in one of the big cactus' outside my front door.  I guess they too like the smell of the gardenia.