A Cardinal Sighting!

I had my first long walk since I got back today, little sweetheart. I often walk along the route that’s also my running one - all the way west along the Hudson and up into Riverside Park - but today I decided to go through Central Park. I haven’t been there in a while - like since the classical music concert at Naumburg Bandshell in June. I usually head north and cross east around Lincoln Center, then walk up CPW to the park entrance there a little above W66th Street.

Today, as I was going up the stairs there was a big male cardinal perched in the branches there! I stopped in my tracks and watched him. I tried to surreptitiously slip my phone out of my pocket and take a picture since I was so close to him but he got wise to that and fluttered away, returning but deeper into the bushes, unseen. It still seemed very much like a blessing, though, little sweetheart.

It feels good to be back in NYC although I took quite an epic walk - like you and used to! - and am pretty knackered right now on top of the jetlag. Before I fade and hit the hay with an earlier than usual bedtime, I just need to prepare a birthday card for your mom and order her a cake for next week. Then, it’s off to sleep. See you in my dreams, I hope!

Two Cardinals!

I think I’ve told you before, little sweetheart, how wonderful it is to spot a cardinal here in New York. I’d never seen one in the city until a couple of years ago during the pandemic when it seemed that the pause on human bustle led to an abundant return of nature.

There are a couple of places where I’ve seen cardinals in the city. High up in Riverside Park, almost to Grant’s Tomb, there’s a wooded section called “The Wild”. I went up there a year or two ago in the height of August to record cicadas and I saw at least half a dozen cardinals as I made my way quite up through the winding paths. Sometimes in between buildings just west of Lincoln Center, where there’s something of plethora of trees, I’ll see one alight.

They’re incredibly songful! They have the most unique calls, probably at least half a dozen different ones. It’s hard to believe it’s all coming from the same bird!

Anyway, today I saw both a male and a female cardinal. And in a place I’ve never spotted one before - over near the dog run in Riverside Park. I saw the bright red male bird first and then right afterward, his more muted-colored mate. They sort of went back and forth between trees, alighting a bit higher each time they took wing and then came in for another landing.

The legend of cardinals is, of course, that when you see one, it means that someone who you love dearly and has passed has come to visit you for a while. I also quietly stop whatever it is I’m doing and just watch and listen to them. And think of you, of course.

With all my love…

Saw a Cardinal!

I’ll admit, little sweetheart, that I begin to get more than a bit impatient for the weather to turn nicer once we get to April. A kind of frosty air more identified with February than the first days of spring often seems to keep us in its grip periodically all the way to May 1st! And it was still a bit on the chilly side today as I went for a long walk, taking a day off running because my knee is acting up. If you weren’t in the sun and the wind kicked up, it wasn’t very springlike. 

But as I was walking through the leafy courtyard that adjoins four tall apartment buildings around W68th Street between West End and Amsterdam - a little space I affectionately call “The Quad” -   I saw a cardinal alight before me! 

He was a really small little guy. It’s too soon for babies, I think he was just petite- ha! And he kept flying back and forth between trees and branches and singing. Cardinals are incredibly songful, I’ve discovered. 

Of course the thing I like most is that legend has it that when one sees a cardinal, it signals the spirit of a beloved calling to and visiting us from the other side. I always stay and watch, linger and listen, and say a little prayer. My thoughts, my heart, filled with you. Thank you, my love.

Our Morning Bird

Little sweetheart, I think I’ve told you how much I’ve come to be enchanted by birdsong and look forward to seeing the beautiful sparrows and starlings and magical cardinals when I’m running or out for a long walk. Once last summertime, I ventured into the northernmost part of Riverside Park and saw several cardinals, one after the other, singing sweetly to one another. When I got home I excited wrote down “Saw a cardinal today!” and attached the note to the door to remind me that there’s always something to be grateful for - you! 

Sometimes a little avian friend will perch just outside the window and I’ll see and hear him as I sit here working at my desk. I’ll go quiet and move gently toward the blinds, careful not to startle him, as I try to get a better look. 

For the last little while, still in bed in the early mornings just after daybreak, I’ll hear a little friend chirping sweetly, excitedly, with musical trills and happy whistles. But I can never see him! I think he favors a place just under the housing for the air conditioner outside. I think he’s made himself a little home just under the sheath there, protected against the elements, and alights to sing his morning song. 

I read somewhere that birds call to one another like that in the morning to let their partners know that they got through the night safely and are here, ready to join the day. I think that’s especially sweet and altogether resonant. 

I hear and feel your own presence often in birdsong, my little sweetheart, and it its this that is such a blessing to me. I know you see and hear and seek to guide me. I have faith! And I love you with all my heart and soul. Forever! Forever!

Cardinals in "The Wild"

Little sweetheart, I went for kind of an epic walk this afternoon, farther north than I’ve been in a while. So far, it was dark by the time I finally got home.

At the northernmost point of Riverside Park, there a section of called Forever Wild. It’s trails, a forest and woodland, almost 60 acres. The big highlight in Riverside this year, little sweetheart, is that the parks conservancy have introduced half a dozen goats into part of it so they can feed on invasive species of undergrowth.

I had a mind to go that far up and see if I could spot them but the real treat turned out to be all birds I spotted and a very quiet overgrown spot where I could hear cicadas - I’d been wanting to do a field recording as a base track for our next Dark Outside track.

Right around where I recorded the cicadas in a grove of trees, no sign of the city around me, I saw two cardinals! They were as close as I’d ever been to one. We’ve had a lot of rain of late, and there was almost like a little stream running there because of the run-off. A couple of sparrows and a starling were taking their turns, having a drink and splashing about and the cardinals - at first poised on a railing, only an arm’s length away - flitted down to the spot and joined them.

It was truly magical, little sweetheart, and I felt so very close to you.

I’ve been carrying that blessing my heart all day. Thank you, my angel.

With all my love forever.

More Cardinals!

Little sweetheart, speaking of snow, we’ve had a ton here! Two big snowstorms and the drifts linger, although the sidewalks and pathways have mostly been cleared. 

I love to go for a long walk every day in the afternoon while we still have light in these short days of the year. I often go down close to the river and then climb higher into the park. 

I’ve been blessed here the last few months, as I’ve told you, little sweetheart, to spot a cardinal every now and again. But over the last few days I’ve seen one almost every day. 

There’s a little spot, just after the tunnel where the hill begins, and a couple of still winter leafless trees stand. A lot a little sparrows like that spot and sing sweetly in their branches but I’ve noticed a pretty cardinal there among them almost every day. I always stop and watch and talk to him quietly. 

I know the legend of cardinals and that when they alight before you it’s to share the presence of our beloveds - of you! I’m so glad to be near you, always, little sweetheart. 

Please keep finding me. Help and guide me.

With all my love.