A Blogger's Kindness and Bird Photos Part I

Last week was awful.  Missed work, urgent care, and weeping kind of awful.

However, my foul mood was intercepted by a blogger's thoughtful gift in the mail.  Justine at A Half Baked Life sent me a lovely and delicious care package of these cookies. 


Perfection in a cookie

I take cookie quality very seriously and do not make this assertion lightly:  these are some of the best cookies I've ever had.  They are possibly second only to my sister's chocolate chip cookies, and I would be disowned from my family if I claimed any cookies were better than those.  Justine's cookies have fruit, almonds, and the clincher, coconut.  Moist, soft, flavorful, substantial...they have it all.  You must try them.

After eating an embarrassing number of these this week (only three were frozen for later), I'm feeling a tad better.  A smidgen less pain and, perhaps more importantly, reminded of all the love and support I have.  Thank you, Justine!

As my husband and I enjoyed the last of the cookies this morning on our deck, we watched a bluebird mommy and daddy bring bugs to their babies in the birdhouse.

HYDRANGEA (and blue birdhouse)

Um, so perhaps I'm a little obsessed with my hydrangeas right now and didn't focus on the birdhouse.  But you can see it in the background.  We haven't seen the baby bluebirds yet, but from the sounds of their chirping, we have at least three.  I mean, the mommy and daddy bluebird have at least three.

Bluebirds have been nesting in that house for years, which perhaps explains our lack of excitement about them.  We've seen lots of their babies come and go and have become rather "been there, done that."  Yeah, miracle of life, bird reproduction, blah blah blah.  But nothing could have prepared us for the tiny baby cardinals my husband discovered this morning.


Four babies tucked away in the butterfly bush





Our little beauties

Amazing, right?  So ugly cute.

My mom and dad are headed up here for a visit, and I told them we have birds aplenty to show them to compensate for our lack of baby humans.  I estimate that we've had at least 20 baby birds hatch within a few feet of our house this spring.  Overcompensate much?  Lots of birdie Fertile Myrtles in these parts.  Coming in a Part II post is a Carolina wren mommy defending her nest.