Hello, December

A savage boar hunt in Central Park?  Nope, this was painted sometime between 1412 and 1416 by the Limbourg brothers for their fabulously rich patron Jean, Duc de Berry.  The monthly calendar illustrations all show the Duke’s various castles, estates, mansions and towers in the background, in this case the Château de Vincennes in the suburbs of Paris.  Golf resorts hadn't been invented yet.

We're on final countdown to the darkest days of the year, doing whatever small things we can to keep spirits bright. It has been a year of such heavy losses.

I put my winter bird feeder up again under the plum tree, and they blow through a tube of sunflower seed in a day.  Mostly chickadees and juncos, but last week we had a single bright yellow visitor.  It was a female American Goldfinch, and she stood out like the sun against all the other LBB's. 

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.
We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,
I heard a bird sing 
In the heart of December.

Oliver Herford