Early One Morning

We went walking on the cliffs for the first time since before the fire. The ocean is still there. I managed a half mile to the cypress tree, where I sat on a fog damp bench for awhile and watched the steady line of birds flying low over the waves. Huge numbers of them, not in a flock, but one by one by one, evenly spaced, dark spots against the grey water. Pelicans and cormorants, says Mr S.