Of a Feather

I'm suffering from anticyclonic gloom, apparently. It must have been a good week for people selling SAD lamps. A steady stream of grandson pictures helps us keep our equanimity. So does the imminent prospect of some time by the sea

This picture (and the weather) brought van Gough's Wheatfield with Crows to mind. But it's false equivalence - his picture, disturbing though it is, is full of colour; mine is grey (but it's not mono)

The notes in the link are based on van Gough's own words: he himself says in a letter that he's trying to express sadness and extreme loneliness, but also what he considers healthy and fortifying about the countryside. In the same letter he says "I often think of the little one [his niece or nephew, I think], I believe that certainly it’s better to bring up children than to expend all one’s nervous energy in making paintings". That's quite something, coming from him, isn't it. I'll drift off into a dream of talking to van Gough about the restorative power of the countryside and young children

I took my picture, not to express sadness or lonliness, but astonishment. If you are on a large screen, you have probably already realised these are not crows nor rooks, they are red kites! Of course, they do not form flocks, so I assume someone is feeding them (we have seen them aggregating here before, but never this many - and there were more than I caught in the picture). As far as I know, this is not a public display or done for profit of any kind. Kites are wonderful birds but I don't think I'd welcome this many circling my home, however fortifying