Swallows During Advent?

                      Cornish Swallows Concertina Card -- Angela Harding 

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

 My soul longs, indeed it faints, for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

 Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    my King and my God.

Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.

                                           Psalm 82:1-6 NRSVue 

During Advent I've been posting the "outside in" artwork in our home. Some of the pieces are original pieces from painters, printmakers, and photographers. Some are found objects from the natural world, although we are careful not to plunder. Others are bits and pieces which have delighted us, illustrations from magazines, posters, greeting cards, which may stay up for a while and then give way to the most recent arrivals.

I have a wonderful view out my study window to two birch trees which give me solace and delight through the seasons. The branches are bare now but this makes it easier to see the variety of hardy birds which are with us through the Winter. 

When our graphic designer daughter, Jocelyn sent me a birthday card by British artist Angela Harding I decided it couldn't be tucked away and forgotten. It's what Harding calls a concertina card, cleverly folding out to reveal a scene, in this case swallows in flight on a windy day. When we paddle in other seasons we see swallows over the water and they are astonishing aerialists. 

I think I described kayaking on a river one morning and seeing a swallow in hot pursuit of a dragonfly, a life-and-death dogfight immediately in front of me. Sadly, swallow populations in Canada are under threat because of loss of habitat and the decline of insect populations which are their food source. 

Advent Calendar -- Angela Harding 

The psalmist appreciated the "outside in" praise of the swallows in the temple of Jerusalem 3,000 years ago. Tomorrow as the COP15 biodiversity conference gets underway in Montreal we can hope and pray for a meaningful and binding international agreement on creating conditions which allow swallows and all other creatures, including humans, to flourish.Here is an excellent article from the Guardian about what COP15 is and what it at stake.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/05/making-sense-of-cop15-what-to-look-out-for-in-montreal

Negotiators need to agree a final package of measures on topics ranging from agricultural subsidies to invasive species. Illustration: Leon Edler/The Guardian

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