Although Mondays are no longer dreaded at the beginning of a work week, this one held no particilar promise. I was surprised as exciting things began to unfold. I heard a slow, steady hammering from my bedroom. Surely my closest neighbor was not making repairs on his porch, but that is what it sounded like. I quietly stepped onto the deck and tiptoed to the edge, having a premonition that it might be the pileated woodpecker. Yes! As soon as I looked over the railing, this great bird flew to the dogwood tree at the edge of my property. What a sight that was! The red on the back of his head was highly visible as he flew to safety. Later I walked around the house to see if there was visible damage under the deck. It’s there on the cross piece — two round holes and a gash.

If this wasn’t the longest day of the year, it would be off by only a day. Knowing the sun was coming up, I stepped on the back porch to see exactly where it rose so I could mark the spot. Now I have it in my head, as measured by the railing. Merry thought — I have had eleven chances to do that and only now thought of it.

Joyce wasn’t walking, so I took the weather warning that rain was coming soon, and left to walk 15 minutes early. It didn’t rain until after I got home and weeded one section of the garden path. I had planned to turn back if clouds were visible, and that’s when neighbor Cindy came into view, walking her two dogs. She said she’d turn around and walk with me, knowing my goal was the stop sign near her house. If I had gotten rained on, it would have been worth it to spend time with Cindy. Her exciting story of the day was learning why her riding mower wouldn’t turn on. She had stopped to move a branch out of the way and couldn’t restart it. A neighbor looked at it and explained it was a safety feature. She had failed to stop the blades before cutting it off, so the machine refused to start, since the blades would have roared to life.

Shawn’s day lilies were exceptionally pretty just across from my driveway, so I stopped for a photo. When I sent it to her, she asked for a copy. She recently learned that she should have been removing old leaves, and this was proof that it worked.

As I watered plants that David had put in my garden, I found one of the dwarf butterfly bushes had a bloom. The other one had more buds, but they hadn’t bloomed yet. I had to share that with him by sending the photo. We were both excited about it. This was a merry happening, indeed!

After I checked the side of the house for woodpecker damage, I noticed a plant growing out of a huge evergreen under the guest room windows. There was a red berry, and I knew I was looking at an unripe wild blackberry. I will check on it, but it’s likely a bird will get it before it’s ripe enough for me to eat.