Conversing with a Cardinal

 Conversing with a Cardinal

A green blanket still covers the yard with green. However, now that it’s October, the grass is dotted with the flaming colors of fallen leaves, and occasionally - overnight - a gauzy frost. Luckily we returned home from travels in time to shelter the hibiscus in the sun porch, the large plants still sporting showy blossoms and buds yet to open. It’s time to bring out the leaf rakes and make piles across our half-acre, and remove them to the bordering woods. A cardinal gets lost in the camouflage of the red leaves yet to fall from the maple. He complains to me that the flock of grackles that descended on the feeder yesterday left it empty. Well, I tell him, those grackles are flocking-up for a reason. They will soon head South, and leave you, the blue jays, and the chickadees to yourselves at the feeder. I thank him, though, for the reminder to refill the feeder. I, after all, have beaks to feed.