10:28am…I hear a mad, rapid fluttering at the reading room window. I suspect the robins are back at it.
I take a final swig of cooling coffee and venture onto the porch with my broom in hand. The porch is lit up with cold sunshine. The chimes are quietly churning in the wind and the window ledge is empty. There is not a twig or piece of nesting detritus in sight.
I look around. Where are they? I stroll to the edge of the porch and lean way over the railing, looking to the right and to the left. Nothing.
It appears they stopped by only to say hello, to flutter happily and with abandon around the edge of the ledge and then…gone as quickly as they came.
I look up and see a steady stream of high flying birds, robins and maybe others…heading into winds in the direction of the tree line opposite the house.
They are off to mourn the cathedral…
690 Saint Paul 