March gale

The creek was too disturbed by the Southwest wind to do more than bounce light.  Some dogwood buds had completely opened, others were in the process.  I refilled one dish of barkbutter balls since we seem to be past rain for a few days.  I also put out jelly in the forlorn hope that a passing oriole might partake..  Big bees were very interested in that.  I thought I saw a dragonfly but it may have been a queen bee. 

Bluebirds braved the wind for barkbutter balls. Myrtle warblers seemed more thirsty than hungry.  A skink ran across the patio at lunch, but I got no picture.  By then it was 79°.  I never saw the thermometer get to 80° though.  Leaf holdouts were torn off their twigs and tossed high and low.  Dark clouds raced across the sky without spilling a drop.  But the ant moat sloshed over.  

A black swallowtail flitted around the rue.  Some money plants were already in flower.  I saw the oak tree catch a plastic bag.  The camera was more than usually confused by foreground and background, and managed to miss most of the few birds that weren't hiding from the wind.  The wind dropped by twilight, so the dog and I enjoyed the smells of the night air.