It’s December 23rd and for me, it feels like the Christmas holiday is over and done with. This year, we celebrated Winter Solstice instead.

Number 2 Son Mike was here for a week on his way back to Ottawa after his 3 month stint in Cambridge Bay in the Arctic. He left on Sunday, Solstice Day and we decided that since he was here we would celebrate early. We had our usual Christmas Eve bubbly and nibble buffet the night before the night before Solstice, present opening the morning of the day before, and the roast feast the night before (not turkey). Following that? All that to say, by the 21st, stuffed and lazy, it felt totally like Boxing Day, like everything was over, so much so that when I went out to the grocery store, I was surprised to see the pre-Christmas crowds.

I kind of liked celebrating Winter Solstice – I’ve already got Summer Solstice covered – it felt somehow right to be celebrating something earth natural, marking the time when he days will start to get longer, rather than a quasi-religious shop fest. Of course any day is a celebration when one of my sons appears on the doorstep.

Last week we visited the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre, a ten minute drive away in rural Errington. So near yet so far – I’ve been meaning to visit for some time now. It was a drizzly day, the day before the Centre was closing to the public for the holidays and we practically had the place to ourselves. We got up close to raven, eagles, vultures, owls, falcons and hawks, most of whom are permanent residents who can’t be released back into the wild because of permanently damaged wings or eyes or because of human “imprinting”. Two bear cubs are staying there until they are fully grown, when they will be released – I think these are the same ones I heard about last year. Their mother had been hit by a car and was found with paws removed. You can only view them through a television monitor, restricting contact with humans. Good idea for more than one reason.

I was particularly stoked to see the owls. For over three years I have been walking in the forest at the end of our road and for over three years I have been looking, in vain, for the owls. I know they are there. A local nature photographer, Randy Hall, told me about being in the forest one day hoping to find an owl to capture (the image, I mean). Finding nothing he was just about to leave the woods when he turned his head and saw a Great Horned Owl. He got a wonderful shot which you can see here (don’t miss this) and the kicker to the story is that it happened on International Day of the Owl day. I have yet to find that luck.

The real stars of the day were the turkeys. What a riot. They were running around, scrapping, yelling – when one shouts, the rest of them follow and the sound is like nothing else. It reminds me of when I was a kid staying at my friend’s farm in the Eastern Townships. We used to get up really early in the morning and go for bike rides on the empty roads through the farmland. There was a turkey farm nearby with hundreds and hundreds of turkeys out in the field and we used to stop and harass them. (What can I say?) We’d yell once and they’d all started yelling back, this huge wave of sound. Eventually, the sound diminished and they’d all settle down to quiet, at which time we’d yell once more and they’d all start up again. These two little idiots thought it was great fun. Lucky for us the farmer didn’t come after us with a shotgun.

I don’t know why these particular turkeys are at the Centre but it was a wonderful sight to be up close and personal. They are gorgeous! The colors in their feathers and the blues, violets, magentas of the heads are amazing. I’ll go back some day to soak it in and to try to get some better shots. The few I took do not do justice to how truly beautiful these birds are.

Hmmm. Maybe not a great post for pre-Turkey Day.

So for those of you who have your feast day, whatever it is, yet to come, Happy Christmas – and for the rest of us, Happy Festivus.