Today I was waiting for the red cardinal. I was not waiting for the red cardinal of the Catholic Church, or the red cardinal of the St. Louis Baseball teams but for the red cardinal bird that has been visited my garden and yard the last few days. The red cardinal stands out from the robins and sparrows that frequent my yard looking for bird food or worms. I am not sure what the attraction of the garden is for this red cardinal or if it is the same red cardinal I see all the time. I do know that whenever I go for the camera to capture the red cardinal’s picture it disappears. Today I had my camera ready with the zoom lens sitting in the sunroom but still could not take the bird’s picture. For a while I just stood still on the side of the garden waiting for the red cardinal. Birds came and went but not the red cardinal. It is almost like if I capture the red cardinal with the camera the bird will no longer exist. So maybe it is best I just simply enjoy this unusual bird.

This morning I did some work along with a neighbor youth on the DMZ garden. The boy was 10 year old and kept taking breaks to check on his friend next door to the garden or to his house on the other side of the alley. He always came back to help me spread wood chips on the lot. Once when he came back from his house I jokingly said, “I bet you have been watching ‘Sponge Bob’ on TV. He said he had and asked me if I watched the program. I said yes and that I watched it regularly. He asked me if I had any kids. I told him that I did but that were 35 and 37 years old. I told him my grandchildren, 10, 8, 3 and myself enjoyed ‘Sponge Bob’. He told me that his mom was only 25 years old and asked me how old I was. I told him to guess and he said 80. I laughed and said I was only 65. That was still 10 years older than his grandma he told me.

I did not see any red cardinals in the DMZ garden but made a new friend, a 10-year-old boy. This new friend was more precious than capturing any picture on my camera of the red cardinal.

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