Fall is in the air, but we’re still feeling like summer @piedmontpark @ajc– http://t.co/uyumBYKNnW #atlanta

— Robert Payne (@rpayne) September 23, 2013

A Pawleys Island past time.

As a boy I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying a local ornithologist on bird banding adventures where we would string fine nets across the marshes and forests of Charleston, SC. Sometimes a Grosbeak or a Sharpshin would punish my hands as I tried to free them, but it was always worth it to hold them for an instance, band and weigh their fragile bodies, and hope to see them and their brethren the next year.

Now as an adult and living in the big city of Atlanta, I wake up every morning to the intricate songs of birds that I can’t believe are able to navigate the incessant dangers of the modern world.

I cringe when I hear stories of southern hunters taking out hawks and owls because they prey on their precious quail and doves. Or watching a not-so-innocent house cat scope out my bird feeders.

Reading this article on migrating birds was the equivalent of waking up on one future morning and the air being filled with nothing but silence.

Quick trip to New York for a visit with friends.

I would be remiss without a trip to the MOMA in Manhattan, but it was nice to spend a little more time in Brooklyn checking out Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Park Slope. Watching Beck perform “Billy Jean” at Prospect Park was also a nice addition.

Brooklyn is blowing up…along with the real estate. But such a cool and eclectic mix of people and places. The fact that Jay Z launched his new album in a warehouse in Red Hook should tell you something.

Check out Hibino for some awesome sushi, and momofuku’s Milk Bar for an amazing espresso shake.

Feel free to click any of the images for a larger view.

Paid a long overdue visit to my old alma mater. The trip was a little bittersweet, for it was to see my old mountaineering teacher off to his new position as headmaster of the College School in St. Louis. Nevertheless, it gave me a chance to see some old teachers and heft the Mountaineering Award for the first time in 21 years.