San Diego Bird Festival

There I was, in the middle of an atmospheric river-something that sounds so lovely and is really a climate catastrophe, trying my hand at birding for the first time. The women who invited me, very good life long friends, called and said maybe I shouldn't come, that birds don't care for high wind and torrential rain, but I had committed. I was doing what Mel Brooks reccommended, I was trying out potential post-retirement hobbies while I was still active enough and with a full time salary to support me, and birding held a lot of appeal for me. It got you outdoors, looking for things in all sorts of natural places, and learning more about them. Despite the weather we saw a couple hundred different kinds of birds over the course of three days. I discovered that birders are generally very kind and willing to share what they know. I found out that with a good pair of binoculars I, too, could spot birds and in the end, I decided I would happily do this all over again.