Been back in NYC a few days now. And pretty crabby about it. The ACA experience was just terrific for me. The space, the quiet, the emptiness of the day, the seriousness -- but not self-importance -- of everyone's approach to work. It was all an eye-opener. Now the hard part will be to import some of that back into my life here and keep things from getting out of control again.

Meanwhile, it's pretty nice in NYC. Cold for this time of year, but clear, and the leaves turning yellow. Whiter sunlight than Florida has. The river's been high, and rough in the wind. I haven't seen any ducks or geese, but that doesn't mean they've left town. I don't know whether the second batch of ducklings got big enough to fly south while I was gone, but I doubt it. They may still be here. In fact they might stay; some of the mallards always do. And the Brant geese are probably plotting their winter invasion-and-occupation strategy right now.

Sometime in the next couple of days I'll post a list of the birds I saw in Florida. You non-birdwatchers might want to skip that one.