{"id":1265,"date":"2012-09-17T03:00:21","date_gmt":"2012-09-17T07:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2014-02-09T15:11:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T20:11:41","slug":"a-college-of-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/2012\/09\/17\/a-college-of-cardinals\/","title":{"rendered":"A college of cardinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

No, we’re not electing a Pope.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“College” is one of the collective nouns for a flock of cardinals–as in birds.\u00a0 Others are “conclave,” “radiance,” “deck,” and “Vatican.”\u00a0 Alliteration explains “college” and “conclave,” and I get why “radiance” would come into play.\u00a0 “Vatican,” too, makes some sense.\u00a0 But, “deck?”\u00a0 Is it a reference to “deck of cards?”\u00a0 I guess it must be, but–note to whoever makes these things up–I think you’re reaching.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the cardinals are a Monday Miracle.<\/p>\n

They’re back.<\/p>\n

One of the minor miracles about cardinals is that I can recognize them.\u00a0 My skills as a naturalist are about average.\u00a0 I can identify most four-legged creatures and tell the difference between a bird, a snake and a fish.\u00a0 After that, it gets somewhat hazy.<\/p>\n

I mean, distinguishing one bird from another?\u00a0 Well, I’ve gotten to where I recognize the ospreys and the Great Blue Herons and the bald eagles.\u00a0 Woodpeckers are clear.\u00a0 And owls.\u00a0 Most of the other little feathered things that flit around. . .many of them look alike.<\/p>\n

But cardinals!<\/p>\n

Bright red.<\/p>\n

Crests.<\/p>\n

And a song that I’m beginning to know.\u00a0 (Unless I’m confusing it with the Carolina Wren, which is entirely possible.)<\/p>\n

Now, when I say ‘they’re back,’ I can’t swear to the fact that they’ve ever gone away.\u00a0 But I have been noticing quite a few of them hanging around in the last few days.<\/p>\n

They provide a nice note of complementary color in the yard.\u00a0 It goes well with the pine cone ginger–and my roof.\u00a0 And they chirp up a storm.\u00a0 Last year, they demonstrated a love for sprinklers which they have not gotten to indulge lately, but I’m thinking that may be a reason to install a birdbath.\u00a0 Maybe one with a spray fountain?\u00a0\u00a0 Solar-powered, if I can find it.\u00a0 (Another of those “someday,” things.\u00a0 Probably, I should focus on furniture first.)<\/p>\n

All of this is to say, I am happy that a college of cardinals is convening conveniently close at hand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, we’re not electing a Pope. “College” is one of the collective nouns for a flock of cardinals–as in birds.\u00a0 Others are “conclave,” “radiance,” “deck,” and “Vatican.”\u00a0 Alliteration explains “college” and “conclave,” and I get why “radiance” would come into play.\u00a0 “Vatican,” too, makes some sense.\u00a0 But, “deck?”\u00a0 Is it a reference to “deck of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,59,84],"tags":[39,180],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-casa-lagarto","category-life-in-general","tag-monday-miracles","tag-birds"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1272,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions\/1272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainesmithwrites.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}