A warm Summer breeze this afternoon wafted over the balcony. I just had to go back outside to take it all in, despite the baking hot sun.

Who knows? Maybe it would even prompt me to remember what it was that I forgot to write about this morning.

If I seem to you to be wiling away my hours with inconsequential matters, I suppose that might be accurate. Do remember, I’m retired. Humor me.

While sitting out there, I perceived in the corner of my eye, not five feet from me, a hummingbird. Bingo! And you is thought there was nothing to write about.

Did you know that the average hummingbird weighs less than a nickel ? Regardless, they still sort of throw their weight around. If you think you’ll beat the hummingbird to the next available nectar, guess again !

They are the only bird that can fly backwards. Where they learn that, I don’t know. Driver’s Ed ?

There are 343 different species of Hummingbird. I’ll spare you the list !

Surely you’ve examined a Hummingbird’s beak, or bill. Did you know that its tongue is groovy ? Really. Very groovy.

And you never contemplated a Hummingbird’s tongue? The grooves channel nectar to where it belongs. Indeed, Mother Nature provides, even the much vaunted Hummingbird’s tongue.

Hummingbirds have hairs on the tips of their tongues. Of course, they help to lap up nectar. but they have been derided in human discourse. Surely you’ve heard the expression ,”as worthless as the hair on a Hummingbird’s tongue “.

Believe it or not, Hummingbirds have no sense of smell. Again, an expression is evoked. “They can’t smell their way out of a bag of nectar.”

I commenced this meandering with laments over my memory. Contrarily, Hummingbirds have remarkable memories. Not unlike kids, they never forget a location where they’ve been fed.