It just can’t be August. It was such a cool day. I was only in the kitchen for a few minutes this morning, when I turned off the ceiling fan, and went back to the bedroom for a sweatshirt. When I left work today, the sky looked menacing, and more like the skies of an autumn day. We had dinner out, at the airport restaurant, then a short drive into the country before coming home. I want to soak up as many sights of summer that I can, before it is truly over.

The birds seem to know that change is in the air, as the visitors to my feeders, themselves, are changing. Blue jays are suddenly back, after months away. A couple of cedar waxwings landed in the willows yesterday, and they are rare in my yard, for sure. Most surprisingly, a hairy woodpecker made an appearance, not only this morning, but again late afternoon, at the suet feeder. I have had downies continually, since I have fed the birds, but this is the first hairy that I have ever noticed. She made herself known, by picking a fight with a blue jay, while I was watching out the window at breakfast this morning.