We passed last evening talking on the bedroom deck, and Mr. Cardinal kept swooping around and landing on nearby branches for my viewing pleasure.  I didn't have my camera or cellphone with me (and likely would not have gotten much of a picture anyway) but I sure enjoyed watching him. Apparently they see cardinals here all the time - year round!

I'm not very happy about waking up so early this morning (before 4:00) but at least my worries about not having enough time to shower, pack, make lunch, etc. for our trip up to NY were unfounded.

And speaking of packing - after last year's adventure in NY (another "if you saw it in a movie you wouldn't believe it") I'm packing light to minimize the schlep factor.

That means no laptop, just my iPad, so posts over the next few days will not include photos (and probably not even any illustrations.)