Late summer blooms and hummers...

 This sunny volunteer came up in my veggie patch. 

What a happy late bloomer!

She makes me happy too.

We usually don't have hummingbirds stay during the summer, but we must be in a migration flyway because each year I see them early in the season and in late summer. I believe this is a Ruby-throated Hummer with no ruby throat, so I'm presuming she's a she-hummer.  (If you click the link, be sure to listen to the hummer's voice/sound) I saw two of them together and both had white chins.  I sat on the straw of the veggie patch garden for quite some long time before she trusted me enough to come down off the fence and begin humming about the flowers in search of nectar. I was close enough to hear her tiny peep after she withdrew from each flower.  She loved the glads but spent a good amount of time in the squash and pumpkin blossoms too. 

 

I'm trying to keep the flower beds watered down well so that the blooms have lots of nectar inside.  I want to ensure there's something to nourish the little ones for their migration.  They give me such joy, I must reward them some way.  Jesus said to offer a drink of water to the least of these.  Here's a toast to the flowers and the hummers.

 All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures, great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

......

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

Hymn by ~Cecil Alexander, 1848