I say again: who needs partridges in pear trees? I have doves in my olive tree, a whole gathering of them. The doves that used to roost under my neighbor's eaves have been displaced by his efforts to turn his house into a shrine to his sainted (and departed) bipolar mother, and they have decamped to my old olive tree.

I'm delighted. They seem quite happy, cooing there in the early mornings and flitting in and out on their avian errands. The olive tree bends down low over my kitchen window so I have a close view of the goings-on. I wonder if they're nesting there, or that is just a staging area for forays into the neighborhood for food. Do doves eat olives? If so, they will have a feast in a few weeks.

The cats have come to a wary truce with each other. They are willing to be in the same room so long as they are on opposite sides of it and don't make eye contact. I don't know what happened between them to make them enemies, but I keep telling them 15 years is long enough. Chill, already.

The only other thing in the works--I have retirement fever. I can see my way to paying off the credit cards in the near future, and that vision is giving me itchy feet. I want to break loose and be free before I'm too old to do anything more than hobble from bed to bathroom.

On May 5th, when all the money gets paid out and the financial dust has settled a bit, I'll take another hard look at it. I truly don't want to work another year, which is the current plan.

It's a beautiful (windy) day. I hope you enjoy your Sunday.