Sparrow swarms

There seem to be huge groups of sparrows constantly thronging our backyard and one of our neighbor's. They like the holly tree bulging over from her side, and if there were any berries on it, have probably stripped them. They are a cheery lot, but they leave their tiny little droppings all over. Every so often, they will fall utterly silent; if you look out to see what happened, there is usually a cat skulking by.
The windstorm provided one good thing: A multitude of downed greenery in a wide variety, which I've been picking up and sticking in my old grapevine wreath form. Wound a bit of stiff wide cranberry and gold-colored ribbon in there, and it looks just like downtown, as someone in the family used to say. A dear friend brought over some cookies she'd made with her teenaged daughter, so I could get a fix and didn't have the temptation of piles of things I'd made lying around. They're very good for breakfast.