The Hummingbird Spa

The hummingbirds come very early in the morning to the water fountain in front of the kitchen window. This little Anna's hummingbird stayed for a long time drinking and thoroughly bathing. I took dozens of pictures but chose this one because of the flying water and the rumpled little wet bird. I'm tagging it for Silly Saturday because hummingbirds are usually so sleek, businesslike and sometimes downright mean but this little fellow looked...well...silly.

Blippers, including myself, often write about how they look at the world through different eyes once they join Blipfoto and start looking for a picture every day. Today I decided to leave the camera at home when we went to Spring Lake so that I could just enjoy the walk, the beautiful weather and OilMan's company. Of course we saw two red shouldered hawks being chased away by a hoarde of little birds and an osprey, a rare sighting in these parts. I probably wouldn't have gotten a good picture anyway....

Today is the opening day of the Tour de France, an event we have loved to watch since we first saw it on Italian television in French as we waited overnight in a hotel at Malpensa for a flight home after Annie's wedding in 2004. We had planned to go  into Milan for dinner but it was hotter than the hinges of hell and we had no energy for anything but to lie on the bed in our air conditioned room and watch the boys on bikes.

Despite the fact that we don't ride bikes ourselves, we are fascinated by the international cast of characters, the scandals, the horrific risks that are taken, the baroque and somewhat mysterious strategies, the feats of endurance accomplished (even with the help of steroids) and the announcers. The last time I rode a bike I got thrown over the handlebars and woke up in a ditch trying to tell the paramedic what day it was. I sort of lost my taste for the whole thing after that, preferring to watch someone else take the risks.

Today they were doing individual time trials in the driving rain....