The gardener came by yesterday afternoon to go over everything he’s done so far (the sod and the irrigation system) and to talk about what we’d like him to do next (lay all the paths). While we were walking around the yard, he took us over the arbor gate in the side yard and pointed to one particularly thick clump of roses and leafy vines near the top.

“She kept flying out every time we came through the gate with the wheelbarrow,” he told us, and then he very carefully parted the vines until we could see what he meant.

Hidden deep within the dense cluster of roses is a perfect little bird’s nest. Atop the neighbor’s roof, a tiny brown house sparrow scolded us irritably until we finally stepped away from her creation.

We checked again today but as of yet there are no eggs. I’m hoping we haven’t managed to chase her away, however. I think it would be wonderful if we had baby birds hatching in our rosebushes. I’m hoping that later we can manage to get pictures – of the nest, of eggs, and eventually of the fledglings inside as the weeks pass. I am also hoping that this is just a sign of things to come for our yard.