The grackles enjoyed two suet squares and my new “water feature”–a bucket with a tiny hole so water drips into the birdbath below. Grackles’ shimmering blue head feathers are their only subtlety, so I’m much happier about the chickadees and woodpeckers that also visit the suet.

Five raccoons spread themselves over two of my neighbors’ trees around 7:30 p.m.–in broad daylight–on Friday night. Rachel Gooseberry, the mother, has four children of varying sizes. Three of the four seem to hang together. Earlier I saw three heads peering over the edge of the birdbath as they stood on the orange plastic chair Iggy put there years ago to ease the squirrels’ access to water. I worry about child number four, the runt.

Also this week:
* Black-eyed Susan’s bloomed in my yard for the first time. They’re transplants from a neighborhood lady’s garden last fall.
* Most of my Oriental lilies bloomed. They got through the season without any beetle infestations. Hurray!
* A couple of my numerous hostas are finally showing buds, long after the neighbors’.
* Some of my bean and cuke plants have flowered.

Away from the garden, Iggy and I biked 18 1/2 miles from Burlington to Bedford to Billerica and back. Turned around after reaching the historic Middlesex Canal.