some wonders of the world

Here's a peek at who rules the roost around here.

Yesterday as I passed through the kitchen, I saw a ruby-throated hummingbird hovering outside the window, just where the feeder was last year. What a delightful surprise! So I cooked up some nectar right away and filled the feeder, and now he's guzzling to his heart's content. He's not quite used to our movements around the kitchen yet, so we're walking slowly and carefully by the window.

Excuse me for a moment please, my husband is asking me vocabulary questions from the other room...do I know the words frigorific? fugacity? exuberate? obtund? We're in love with words around here.

The wonder of today was this ~ As part of my Master Gardener training, we had a tour of an arboretum near here. More than 250 acres, with some wonderful plantings. Here's what blew my mind: I should have known, but didn't really, that if you plant a seed from the apple you're eating, you won't grow a tree bearing apples just like it. You have to graft your kind of apple onto a root stock. The original apple came from Central Asia. The arborist at our arboretum was given seeds from Kazakhstan from the real deal apple tree. He planted the seeds here in Maine and the trees are now about two feet tall. Time will tell what the apples will be like. I am in love with this piece of information!