Summer tanager and Starry Rosinweed! The bright red bird is the summer tanager, and starry rosinweed is the flower. (We thought it was a whorled sunflower but a botanist friend identified it for me as a starry rosinweed, so I am happy with that.) The flower is still blooming in our backyard but the Summer tanager visited our bird bath for water this morning. We were THRILLED to see him! (And I say "him" because it is most certainly a male. We think we have seen the female before, it is a solid yellow.)
Richard didn't have his camera with him at that exact moment, so I have gotten this photo for you off the internet. Same thing for the starry rosinweed, but hopefully, R. will be able to get one of his great photos for you sometime in the future.
It has been a sad day to read all the tributes for Brian Wilson today. So many people loved him! He was a musical genius for sure but a very kind, gentle man who will be deeply missed. I have spoken of my love for music and in particular, songwriters, so you know, this hits home for me. Do you remember my post from 2023 when our son got married? The Mother/Son song that we danced to was the music by Brian Wilson, he wrote "Surfer Girl", and it made for a great lullaby for my son, with "Surfer Girl" changed to "Chris-to-pher" and with the lyrics about loving my baby, with no mention about surfing! Honestly, I think Brian Wilson would have approved. That's the great thing about music, it can be anything you want it to be! Many great melodies can be changed into lullabies, just don't try to make money off them! Now, my son didn't tell me in advance this is what he wanted the DJ to do, wasn't that a sweet thing for him to think of doing?
Hope you are all doing well, my friends! We continue to have stormy weather here, it seems that on our weather forecast we are shown a cloud every single day with the chance of rain. Remember I told you about the tornado that ripped a young man out of his house just in the next county over from us? He is recovering but it was very serious. I saw a video, let me see if I can get it on here for you...
There, I hope you can see that. What a nice family! Hope you all can either pray or send along positive vibes for him! Oh, you know that makes me think of a great song. Brian Wilson, may he rest in peace and music.
"God Only Knows" - A great cover by Evan & James. Enjoy!
