A Bit of Color in the Heat

While the heat and humidity did affect the walk Walker Evans and I just took, the highlight was of a different and unexpected kind.
We walked down Bryant Street to Ashland Avenue and turned going toward Summer Street, and came upon a yard sale. As we were passing it, I noticed a flash of red a little higher than head level, and thought it was a bird; I looked closer and saw a bird land on the porch next door.
As I got closer, I noticed that it had to be a male cardinal for its coloring and length at first, and then, as it landed on a very large tree just ahead of and then above us, I could see the unmistakable shape of its head. I stopped to watch the cardinal about 10-15 feet above me, and Walker gave me the "let's get going, Dad" look, so I told him to wait while I looked at the cardinal. While we see cardinals in the neighborhood in the spring, we rarely see them in the summer.
A couple that had been leaving the yard sale when we walked by was coming up, and the woman asked me, "Is that a cardinal? Really?" I said yes and told her to just take a couple of steps and look up; she could see it without obstruction, and as if it knew that we were watching it, the cardinal seemed to strike several poses before flying away.
After that, Walker was happy the attention and the walk returned to him.