a long way from camping it up

Coming to school early this morning I encountered the expected grey squirrels dashing across the lawn.  What I had not expected, but was delighted to see, was a pair of cardinals...on the ground.

The female cardinal is my favorite visitor to our winter bird feeder so I was especially delighted to spy one today. (The one in the photo is not the one that I saw.)

Contemplating her in the context of the semester's conversations I was struck by the subtlety of her coloring.  It seemed, to me on the morning of the first frost or few snow flakes, that she was attired in the very opposite of a camped up, dramatic costume.  I read her grey with accents of red as confident and stylish.