Nature From Our Lawn

     May 1 was the first really nice day we had so far this spring here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  After a cold April, we finally got some reasonably warm weather and clear skies.  I sat on our deck and lawn now and again that day to experience the beauties of nature in our neighborhood.  The flowers on our forsythia bush and weeping cherry tree were fading.  But our red bud tree was near its peak of blooming while neighbors' lilac blooms were just opening.  Our lawn was dotted with dandelion and blue violet flowers, while grape hyacinths and tulips bloomed in flower beds around the neighborhood. 
     I saw a few cabbage white butterflies fluttering among flowers, while queen carpenter bees buzzed around our wooden deck and looked for places to chew round holes in the underside of some of the wood rails to create nurseries for their larvae.  Both kinds of insects hibernated through winter, but were stirred into activity by the sun's warming the landscape.
     The short grass in our neighborhood was lush-green, while deciduous trees and shrubbery were getting green from their leaves beginning to grow.  And with sunlight on all that new green, our neighborhood was beautiful.
     I sat for awhile at our 100 gallon goldfish pond dug into the ground under our pussy willow shrub that shades the pond in summer.  The vibrant colors of the goldfish and koi leisurely swimming about in the clear water were a joy to see.
     As I sat here and there in the yard, I heard the songs of mourning doves, northern cardinals, American robins and a Carolina wren.  Their music was as pleasant and lovely as the weather and growing vegetation.  But those songs were emitted by male birds to announce their presence, establish breeding territories, intimidate rival males and attract a mate to raise young. 
     The usual pair of resident Carolina chickadees, and groups of resident house sparrows and summering purple grackles were in our neighborhood, where they all will nest, the chickadees in a wren box in our yard, the sparrows in crevices on houses and the grackles in conifers.  And I saw other kinds of birds, including a small group of cedar waxwings in a flowering Norway maple tree where they seemed to be eating blooms of that maple.  A handsome chipping sparrow and a gray catbird returned to rear offspring, in bushes or arborvitae.  And I am watching for a pair of lively, vocal house wrens to return to our yard to hatch babies in a wren box.
     I moved from place to place on our lawn in the evening of that same day to continue to experience the beauties and intrigues of nature.  The peach-colored sunset was lovely and I saw Venus glowing brightly with reflected sunlight in the western sky in the midst of that sunset.  Meanwhile, I saw a few chimney swifts zipping across the sky and about a half-dozen bats fluttering and swooping across the darkening sky a few minutes later.  I was happy to see that these two species of flying creatures were back for the summer.  Swifts nest down the insides of certain chimneys, and catch flying insects during the day, but bats snare flying insects at dusk and into the night.
     About 10:15 that night I looked out a picture window of our house and saw Jupiter shining brightly in the southeastern sky, a few stars and our moon "rising" with an orange glow in Earth's humidity behind a mostly bare tree in the southeast.  However, the big honcho, the sun, was missing.  But its presence was experienced by its light bouncing off Jupiter and the moon.  So there I stood looking at two planets, including the Earth that I was standing on, and the moon.  It was a beautiful scene of peace in the dark that I saw out that window.  And, at that moment, for some reason, I thought of the moon, planets and sun as living beings.  They certainly are part of the wondrous, striking universe and life here on Earth.
     Most people don't have to travel to see the beauties and wonders of nature.  It is there, in abundance, almost wherever people may be.