This morning have been sitting, sipping coffee and watching the birds in the back yard. There are goldfinches, the brilliant males and understated females, and the male white-throated sparrows are particularly beautiful now in their mating plumage. The white on their throats and the yellow stripes on their faces are shimmery. The male cardinal is solicitous of his mate, feeding her now and then and otherwise keeping a close watch. A bun-rab seems to be eating bird seed! Better that than the lovely buds off the recently-transplanted historic family peony, three of which I found last week, excised by rabbit tooth and laying uneaten on the ground. He mustn’t have liked them because the remaining buds are so far unmolested. And yesterday evening as I drove through the park the purple martins were everywhere in the sky, dancing their bug-catching dances, whirling and twirling and diving. What a relief all this is from the tenor of news this week- bombings, explosions, misguided youth. Tomorrow to the arboretum, I think. This there will be many changes to see!