Mid-April and there's plenty of light for even the dim-eyed to navigate before six o'clock these mornings. Flowers are in bloom with daffodils flamboyantly leading the way, the grass is greening up nicely, and the air is warmer. It's morning, and everything is new.

There are mourning doves and mockingbirds outside our window, and cardinals and blue jays and starlings and more kinds of sparrows than one devoted to moderation can count. There are chickadees, of course, and crows ponderously descend from time to time. Catbirds are a favorite, including one that comes back year after year to a tangle in our privet.

The sight of them all is a great satisfaction, but waking to their song is better still. It's the way mornings should be, and they're getting better.