Home - the best place to be!

We made it home from London yesterday evening after battling thousands

at Heathrow, then Charlotte, and even here in Raleigh! Airports are just getting so

 difficult, tiresome, and getting through them in those ever lengthening lines is like

 fighting a battle.  Seems everyone has TSA Pre Check now!  We do have 

Global Entry which gets us through Immigration faster - however as usual I was 

called aside because of my fingerprint problem - I don't have any clear ones for

 the machine to read! Perhaps it's easier in Business/First but for the rest of us - the

 majority of us - it's murder in the airports these days.

I'm too busy/tired today to write much now.

The garden is still suffering from the drought which was in effect 

when we left. It's cooled a bit but apparently only a light shower fell

the entire time we were gone, almost three weeks! 

No much-needed soaking rain.

I looked out early this morning as the sun came up - jet lag had me up

 before 5 AM, so I started unpacking. Then I noticed just a touch of color 

brightening the morning - those hardy little morning glory seeds did

germinate after all!

I'll be back here later in the week - stories and photos to share of some new, interesting, 

often mysterious, lovely places and beautiful people. . . . . . .and tales of life on board 

a small ship.

Sunrise on Sunday. . . . . .

I've rarely seen such a magnificent sunrise off to the east across the garden.

My best sunrise memories are from Autumn mornings at the coast, viewed from a 

high floor hotel balcony. Watching the sun creep up from the horizon, throw

 down a golden carpet and unroll it across the pewter ocean, sometimes all the way

 to tide line along the beach, is breathtaking.

This morning's surprise came close. I grabbed the camera and dashed outside.

Sunrise or sunset. . . . . they are always too brief.

Thankfully, the ancient mariner's rhyme, 'red sky at morning sailor's warning' 

 forecasting rain, isn't expected. Here, the entire day looks close to perfect. 

At last we can enjoy true Autumn weather. . . . . . . this morning I actually

 felt quite a chill in the air, and I welcomed it.

Sunrise ~ 7:20 AM today

Have a special Sunday wherever you are.

It's a new day. . . . . . . .

She greeted me in the morning, soft feathered and I think quite young, 

her tail feathers especially beautiful - Ms. Northern Cardinal. 

Enjoying the brilliant October sunshine from her perch on the

 shepherd's hook where the feeder hangs beneath the fig tree.

She stayed quite a while seeming to enjoy the warmth.

She and her family are non-migrators so will be spending the 

winter months here. They gather in small flocks of up to 

twenty birds and will definitely be looking for seed, insects

and fruits/berries in the garden no matter what the weather.