The packing list for my trip to California in January will include the following essential items: a daily planner, a journal, Staedtler fineliner pens, a tiny bottle of perfume, extra underwear, face powder/cream, eyeliner (duh), a copy of North American Guide to Birds, and a pair of binoculars. I won't bring books, because they'll come to me anyways.

I've missed birdwatching, an activity I link to California: listening for woodpeckers in a grove of sequoias; scrying birds-of-prey along the highway, as they soar above adjacent farmfields and meadows; holding my breath as hummingbirds hover gemlike over sap-laden flowers in small, half-forgotten parks. Home, embodied by the flicker of wings in the dimness of woods or the great blue sky.

Anticipation draws out memories I'm not sure the reality of California will match.

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