This morning is lovely sunny, but chilly with a brisk, almost fierce, northerly wind.  Tonight will be cold with a freeze warning posted for the interior of the state.  Tomorrow dawn should be calm and clear, but then the sun will go to work and restore the famous south Florida warmth.  The termperature should break across 70 degrees tomorrow afternoon and reach 80 on Tuesday.

A bit warm and humid this morning, but much better than the forecast for the Northeast today.  We are pausing before lunch after a busy morning.  Anne and i jogged at dawn watching a sliver of the moon above the brightening horizon and hearing a mockingbird give its wonderful song of triplets.  A flock of fish crows passed over in the semi-darkness giving their anemic ca, ca, ca, ca calls.  Then with the sunrise a string of white ibis (Chokoloskee chickens) swept across Heritage Cove before a red-shouldered hawk began its pronounced jeer, jeer, jeer call and soared from

There is a pause in the action as Mom, Dad, and Anne enjoy lunch on the screened porch.  It is 74 degrees and sunny in south Florida.  This morning we rose early and attended the 8:30 mass at St.

As reported earlier, Anne and I have settled into the condo with Mom and Dad.  We are at the end of a first full week that has been a bit more exciting than necessary, but still pleasant and lovely.  January weather is often eventful in January and this week brought a cold front and now unsettled weather.  Still, compared with the weather on South Mountain this week, it has been wonderful. 

I have neither seen nor even heard the Black Rail, a tiny and secretive marsh bird with a limited and scattered range.  Since much of its range is along the Eastern Seaboard, an area I have long inhabited, my failure to detect this bird is a bit of an embarrassment, and one which I endeavor to correct.  Still, that is not easy.

We relax this evening after a second day in the warmth.  With Mom & Dad and Mary Helen we joined the Friday evening potluck supper here at Heritage Cove and were happy to find familiar faces. 

The temperature is plunging this evening.  Anne says if it falls to 20 we won’t run in the morning.  I can hope.  I have never taken much pleasure in dawn runs when it is cold.  Still, I enjoy what the running does for me.  It is a tonic, certainly, and keeps us fit for hiking, birding, and other grand exercises.

We are at home today returning last evening from a several day visit to Brooklyn, NY.  Our daughter moved on Sunday, and we parental units provided assistance with the move and the furnishing of the newly renovated house.  The move went well and was completed before the arrival in the evening of the post-hurricane-Sandy storm that produced an extraordinary storm surge along the northern New Jersey and coastal New York area. 

Having settled in at home for the season, we are upgrading the establishment.  That is a  problem with ownership.  There is always something to do, things you think of and things on the “honey do” list.  Last weekend I installed foundation shrubbery in front of the house.  As a result we really do now have a garden.  Before the bushes we had only a few herbs and a small patch of greens - currently lettuce and spinach.  I also removed a foot of clay from two other beds and replaced it with top soil and leaves.  These will now make good gard

I write from home after spending most of September in Italy.  We enjoyed a splendid sojourn there but are glad to be home.  I may compare the qualities of the two places and point out advantages and disadvantages, but of course familiarity provides comfort, and I am more comfortable here.