Bird walk, finally outside again.

We did it. We got back outside. Sun and relative warmth (mid 40s will do) and the need to pick up the mail lured us. We are now down to counting the hours left in our week-long stint as a single parent household, and it's hard to decide which of us misses the daddy more. He is, after all, the one who usually gets the mail. That being said, since he's business-ing in the snow he might be the happiest to be coming home. Thankfully we seem to have dodged the threat of rain and snow this week and the foreseeable forecast is a return of the warming trend. Ahhh.

Reading in the morning, a trip to the bookstore to get my new book (released today, and I finished my tour back through the earlier releases in time), puzzles, lunch, books, journal, piano, and finally a walk through the neighborhood. We even saw neighbors. And lots, and lots of birds. The footpath may look peaceful, dead even thanks to being pre-bloom spring, but the cacophony was a sure giveaway to its surfeit of avian inhabitants.

The robin always makes me think of spring. I know they're here all year round, many of them anyhow, but we see many more of them in the spring, hopping around in our fields looking for worms and gathering material for their nests.

The red wings are prevalent in our pond spaces and fill the air with their throaty rattles.

We have seen this little Downy on every one of our walks along the path this year, but I believe he's new the area because he wasn't around for our bird walks last year.

And the daddy cardinal. His chirupping song is the song of my childhood. They performed often in our back yard and I can still hear my mom whistling back to them, mimicking their calls. Maybe that's because she still does this all summer long.

And this little guy? He's on all of my walks as well. His name may be Calvin, but he more often makes me think of Linus.

And the book cataloging project? It's still underway.