I like things with wings. My other blog is about the angels I paint, and I'll get a butterfly for my next tattoo, once I figure out where to put it. I also like birds, and have had many parakeets, such happy creatures, but oh so fragile. Now I'm down to just one parrot, Pacino, my funny Senegal, whose Cockatiel companion, Dante, died a week after 9/11 because his cage was too close to the window that was open that terrible day.

This tern, with his sweet scarlet feet and beak, sat with me on the Houston Street pier, close enough for me to touch him, for almost an hour. He occasionally took a spin with his friends, dipping and screaming, but always came back to join me. No begging, a little eye contact; just keeping my company.