New Year- We have a new President and the vermin that infested that office for four years is gone, thank God, if not the people who somehow thought he actually represented them and was worthy of their support and a bunch of cynical or reality-challenged politicians, not sure which is worse. Everyone I know, myself included, is smiling more, sleeping better, feeling lighter, even in the midst of the other storms we are facing- pandemic, sour economy, racism, polarization. There is at least some hope again that things can get better.

On the home front, the goldfinches are beginning to change from their winter olive green to goldish-green, to be followed by their brilliant gold. There is a Carolina wren who has been around all winter. I have seen him recently diving into the old sherbet tubs that we fill with food scraps and put out at night for the possum. There are still lots of juncos and white-throated sparrows and woodpeckers and cardinals and crested nuthatches and chickadees. And of course house finches, too many house finches, and squirrels. The eagles are here and we will go on the weekend to see them up on the river in Illinois.

So 2021 begins.