15-Hour Spring Break

Uncategorized 2 Minutes

We set off for South Carolina, seeing snow on the mountain tops around us. There were even a few cars coming down from higher elevations that had snow icing on their tops. The further south we drove, the more advanced the evidence of Spring. I was shedding layers all along the way. We met John’s sister Chris and husband Steve for lunch to celebrate all our birthdays. As we went into the restaurant, I noticed bushes were laden with Spring blooms.

After lunch we went back to Chris and Steve’s house for birthday cake. I asked them to pose with the cakes, keeping in mind that one friend thinks I stalk people with my camera. Can you tell if they are cringing?

041618 Steve Chris birthday cakes.JPG

We were delighted to visit with their daughter Barbara. We hadn’t seen her for perhaps a year. I am not good with time or numbers, but it seems to have been quite a while. The time flew by, and we left a couple of hours later than we had intended. As we were leaving, I included myself in the punishment by asking for a selfie. Chris’ face was photo-bombed by my hair. Barbara was tending to dogs inside and managed to escape being photographed. One of these days I might learn to leave that camera in my pocket.

041618 Summerville selfie JC AM Chris Steve.JPG

The drive home was uneventful until we began seeing snow in the headlights in Asheville. We reminded ourselves to bring in the hummingbird feeders. The sugar water had not frozen, but the ant moats above them were solid ice. If ants discover your feeder, there will be a steady stream of marauders the rest of the summer. To stop them, hang a moat filled with water so that they drown on the way down.

The next morning neighbor Joyce stopped her car to speak to us, as we were walking and she was going to work. She had not taken in her hummingbird feeder. The water was still moving, although there was ice on top. The first thing we did when we got home was to put the feeders out again. Before we finished breakfast, one little bird had his first sip of the day beyond the porch. I took a picture of my deck, with the usual squirrel raiding the bird seed under the hummingbird feeder. The snow will melt when the sun reaches it. The birds have not yet learned how to use this new type of feeder. Perhaps they will be desperate enough to try it.

041718 Squirrel and new hummingbird feeder.JPG

We are again waiting for Spring to come to stay.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

52 thoughts on “15-Hour Spring Break”

  1. Us too! We have lovely weather last Friday and Saturday and then Winter came back. Back on with the socks and sweatshirts! Not long now hopefully! You take great pictures. Somehow my cell phone camera (it can’t possibly be me) distorts noses. Everyone looks like Jimmy Durante!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That is so funny about distorted noses. Most of the time I use a camera, not the phone. I like having control of the size of the file, among other things. Pictures are hit or miss. I’m lucky to get some to illustrate what I’m writing about.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  2. I’m tired of this back and forth game between spring warmth and winter snow. I’ve never experienced an April like this one and I’m not grooving on it. At least you got a glimpse of what spring will be like when it finally gets here to stay. The cakes look yummy.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. I think you should go back to South Carolina and kidnap the good weather, oh and while you’re there perhaps you could stick on of those cakes in the post to Wales as I’m sure there’s too much for them to finish and I want to help them out.
    xxx Massive Hugs xxx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Beautiful cakes and photos. I love the fun you have with your weather- the ups and downs- depends on how you look at it.
    For us here, we dread summer and regret the passing of winter- with every withdrawing winter, we wonder if we will see another one or will the summer keep going on and on ?
    Susie

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. The cakes looked good – I wanted to reach over and swipe my finger over that chocolate icing. John and Chris look alike and that was a nice picture of the four of you. I love the squirrel happily feeding his face on the seeds on the deck … amidst the snow. Sigh.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. I wondered if that happened or if you sprinkled seeds for the squirrel. You’re lucky the new feeder didn’t break if it was that windy. The blogger I follow from Traverse City that broke her hand, they had over a foot of snow, almost 15 inches this past weekend. She felt sorry for the squirrels who came around to her feeders as they were foraging for food and has icicles hanging from their face. So she had put the tray feeders away, thinking Spring was on the way and because the bears are coming out of hibernation, but she felt badly for the poor deer, so filled it up and took pictures of them coming by. https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/53805955/posts/91080

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  11. I live in SC. Saturday was 85* Monday was 60* today 70*. Weird. I put my hummingbird feeder out but so far no birds. Maybe it has been too windy for them? The cakes look delicious!

    Like

    Reply

  12. Love your stories, photos and sharing. Two questions, one-do you know where Chris and Steve got that pot rack? I’ve never seen one before and it looks like just the thing we need, we have limited cabinet space. Two-how do you get birds to come to a new feeder? I got a bird feeder for my birthday, I put seeds in it and waited. Put seeds on the ground under it, and waited. They are all feeding at my neighbors house but won’t come to mine. 🤔
    It was 85 here in my little suburb, the wind has been our nemesis for a week now, I like to hear it blowing through the oak trees at night outside my window though. 😊

    Like

    Reply

    1. I’ll ask Chris about the pot rack. Seems to me you’ve done all the right things to attract birds to your feeder. It could take a while for them to notice. You might try different seeds. I’m a miser and tend to buy lower priced ones. We have the slum feeder in the ‘hood. I would get more birds with higher priced feed. What about adding some sunflower hearts or some other enticement to jump start the birds’ interest? You might look up what birds you want to attract and see what their favorite things are. Good luck! Watching birds is so much fun.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. I went back to see what I had written. I replied to you before I got out of bed this morning. I was fairly confident I made sense, because I’m an early bird, but I never know when my common sense might be a bit uncommon. Or unintelligible.

          Like

          Reply

        1. We bought the two cakes at a local grocery and drove them 4 hours to SC. They insisted on our taking a lot back. Another 4 hours in the car. This did not harm the taste is any way!! There is now nothing left to taste.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

  17. The cakes look great and your photos are lovely too… what a happy trip! With all the talk of humming birds feeding early, I set out our feeder too. It’s a different kind and they never got used to it last year so hanging it early this season may do the trick. Good luck with yours too…. it looks like fun. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    1. I’m curious what different type of hummingbird feeder you have. Ours is new, and it seemed to take the birds a while to understand there was sugar water in it. They are now fighting over it.

      Like

      Reply

Do you have a comment? I'd love to hear from you.