Michele and I have both had winter colds that just want to hang on. Outside, it’s been cold and rainy, inside it’s warm and dry, so we have only gone out for necessary chores. Returning, coughing and wheezing. Today it was almost 60 and dry so I wandered out on the deck – earbuds in, listening to Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 1 – to just sit and soak in the early spring. Near me, was a small pile of birdseed left over from our birdfeeder’s spring cleaning and I watched the birds trying to eat it. They would dash in, get close, and then dash out empty handed, getting closer each time. The bravest were the Chickadees followed by Juncos; all of them afraid but hungry. To me, it was adorable, for them it was a lot more serious. Finally, one Chickadee got some seed, then another, and the world seemed a little brighter.