July 2026

I try to sit down on Mondays to take care of the “sitting” jobs, bills, emails, accounting, more emails, and if I can keep sitting, some writing. Since I haven’t sent an email in a while, you may have guessed the sitting hasn’t been going well. I chose one day to sit on my bike, another I sat on the beach, and others I’ve had to sit in the car running errands all over the county. It’s hard to get things done when you want to do all the things.​

Even the birds that don't know me from the backyard seem to know I hand out treats.

Even hummingbirds sit sometimes. It's the only time they use their legs, since they can't walk!

Today, I sit too long, I get restless, so do my friends. I hear Mr. Cardinal in the kitchen window. I ignore him. I feel bad, but, focus. Then, young catbird comes to look at me through the front window. He jumps as close as he can, peeking through the little gap between the aloe, shelves and windowsill. I still haven’t figured out what catbirds are looking for. They love elderberries and bugs, two things they can easily help themselves to, they don't need me. Then I hear pitter-patter on the air conditioner next to me. It’s Mr. Cardinal, finding me to give me puppy dog eyes for peanuts. I’m starting to think he sent young Catbird as a messenger. "She’s ignoring me, you go try to get her attention." Ok, fine, I’ll get up. I open the window, call for Mister and put the peanut out. He comes around the corner so fast! Then proceeds to hiss at a Mr. Sparrow and jump at him, feet first to push him away. 

It’s been amazing watching the birds in the back yard. They all have different tolerances for different species. Mockingbird wouldn’t allow any bluejays or robins near the house. This worked out great for us because he protected the blueberries from so many hungry mouths. I was able to eat so many and freeze a few bags for winter muffins and pancakes, even though we didn’t have a great year. I also never got attacked myself. Mockingbirds are famous for chasing even humans off. He’d check me out when he saw a bustle in that hedgerow, then go back to the antenna when he saw it was only me. Squirrely was not allowed near the house. She was attacked a few times on the porch. When I did see her in the front yard, she was very on edge, spazzing when anything moved nearby, always watching out the corner of her eye, scanning, ready. Catbirds were mostly ignored by Mockingbird. They hide inside the elderberry and pop out to eat berries when they can. Cardinals and sparrows are no threat to Mockingbird, so they fly free.

A hot Squirrely trying to catch a cool break.

July started hot, then wet, then got smoky. Squirrely was sprawling in the cooler grass and in the birdbaths. Then she disappeared for a while. We noticed she'd cleaned out her house on the neighbors roof. We were worried she moved away. But after a week or 2, I saw her gathering new nesting material to build a home in our big maple tree.

I didn’t see Blue or Jay for much of July either. Tensions have lessened now that fledglings are bigger. But boy are there a lot of them! We watch standoffs at the baths, hummingbirds teasing sparrows like you would a cat with a laser.  
The deer came into the yard for the first time. They were munching on apple and elder leaves and probably fruit outside the fence. But once I took down the asparagus fence, it was a clear shot into the yard. I don’t mind sharing some, but I don’t need my compact garden trampled by hooves. So we built a makeshift obstacle. I think it’s working. Chickens are not fans of these giant foreign-to-them animals and sound the alarm when they come near. 
Goldfinches are returning. I haven’t seen many in recent years. I think having flowers again encourages them. Both add to my smiles. 

I contemplated cutting back some of the elder, to make room for other things, or just room to walk without having to hunch or bend sideways. Maybe there’s just too much in this little yard. I froze ten pounds of berries and left so much behind for birds! Then I got up on our new ten foot ladder. It’s so great to get up high and see the yard from a new perspective, as well as work on my “disinterest”, (read slight fear) in ladders. As I was up there, a cedar waxwing perched on the tall elder branch just on the other side from me! I’ve never seen one in our yard, though we do have an eastern cedar next to the garage. It was so stunning! Usually I’m looking up at them, never at eye level. I was speechless. Poor Paul just missed it. That was all I needed to tell me to leave the elder alone. I’ll be making lots of syrups and elderberry “things” this winter and hopefully for years to come!

It was smoky for a week or so of the month. A reminder to work on some of those other elixir ideas I was trying out, like love your lungs and happy heart. 

I see our first tomato almost ready to harvest. Things are looking good. Arugula has been hanging on wonderfully. I planned on making some arugula pesto today, as well as baking some apple muffins, writing a newsletter, drying herbs that are all lined up waiting their turn, doing yoga and more. Lucky for me, it’s raining, so many of the outside things will have to wait.