Tulips, Mosquitoes, Hummingbirds, Swallows, and

We've had company all week, my oldest daughter and her family so we haven't done much gardening and I haven't done much weaving or knitting. While they were here the weather finally began to feel springlike. The frogs in the marsh are very, very loud at night, I've seen the first hummingbirds at the flowering currant bushes as well as a white crowned sparrow at the feeder. I heard a common yellow throat this morning. And this evening we looked up and saw a huge flock of swallows, maybe 40 or 50 birds swirling around in the air over our clearning. They looked a lot like violet-green swallows but they were fast and high and could have been tree swallows which are very similar. I 'm not aware of having seen them here before but all the information I could Google about them mentioned them flying in large flocks. So that was exciting. I did see several pairs of violet-greens down at the dock on Monday and two at the farm yesterday. We usually have 3 or 4 pair nesting here. the barn swallows come later and I haven't seen any of them yet. We also saw the first mosquito last evening but we also saw a bat flying around. They are about the best mosquito eaters around.

The first tulips are in bloom, the early Greggii ones with the striped leaves. And I got a big box of bulbs, gladiolus, lilies, dahlias and onion sets. So we have our work cut out for us. A few warm days and the soil will dry out enough for some serious tilling.