Hold on to your virtual hats, folks! Mother Nature is sending lots of wind our way. Dry (11% humidity--now down to 9%!) and dusty (achoo!). Typical winter storm for southern California.

When the wind direction is exactly right, there is something above my bedroom window that goes "flap, flap". Then the wind shifts, and all I can hear is the whistle of wind around the corners of the patio and the sough of the wind in the trees.

If I had my druthers, the winter storms would all be of the wet, wild kind--but in this neck of the woods we get these dry, Santa Ana winds regularly.

The birds were nowhere to be seen, even though the bird feeders were filled with seed and hummingbird nectar. They waited for the wind to die down, and now they're happily filling up. Thinking of calling the back yard The Filling Station, with seed for the little birds and doves, nectar for the hummers, and dry bread crusts for the squirrels.

And, as always, hot coffee for me while I watch the morning's feasting.