I remember the first time I ever saw a blue-jay, it was in the Rockies around Banff; where they are not at all common. It sat there looking incredible and rare and …majestic, then flew away. I thought about that bird for months. Then I spent a year bumming around Ontario and the damn things were everywhere. For some reason, the experience burnt up a tiny portion of my heart.

And for some reason, when I see cardinals, I think of blue-jays. Perhaps a sort of color-dyslexia.