Birds, Flowers and storms

Night before last we were visited by some raging winds and heavy rain. A lot of large tree limbs suffered because of that visit. Yesterday my husband brought out the chain saw and helped our next door neighbor clean up the mess. I didn't think to take pictures but it was a mess. Our yard did not suffer so much thankfully. Probably cause we lost a lot of stuff in a visit from Hurricane Isabel a few years ago.

But on to better things. The flowers are loving the nice rains we have had followed by the heat.
Here is a picture I took just before the storm.
The Iris have been beautiful this year and the plants just behind are the Rudbeckia (black eyed Susan) awaiting their turn to shine. The little teacup is on a spike. I think it was designed to hold bird seed and water but I just like it as it is. My daughter gave it to me. She knows I love tea things.

In other news..... We have a LOT of bird activity in the yard. My husband has set up bird feeding stations all over the place. And we get a lot of different birds. One in particular is a favorite, the chickadee, reminding us of our years living in Maine where it is the state bird.
A week or so ago I set this old birdhouse on the bench next to my garden house and a family of Chicadees moved in. We noticed they are now feeding the babies. We have to stay away now but it is worth it.