Warm and damp and still

I can see dew on the chairs outside. The paper says it's overcast, but the sun is shining. A squirrel tested the feeder and some chickadees visited it. Last night the waxing gibbous moon was spectacular glowing through holes in the clouds surrounded by a multicolor halo.

Why is there a dove on our feeder? The chickadee and the finch seem as puzzled as I am. A squirrel climbed the post and shooed the dove off. Then a brilliant male cardinal arrived and the finch left. Now all are gone. The bees however are still busy.

It got fairly gray with overcast and a breeze and the current in the creek ran strongly. The chickadees fussed at me for a while and a blue jay hung out in the dogwood. Then, toward evening, the sun burned through and the sunset looked like fire with a golden haze in front of the sun and clouds streaming away like smoke. After dark, it is strange to see the Christmas lights and hear crickets.