We are definitely getting into the craziest time of the year, and while there are numerous suggestions that a person should be feeling the "peace of the holiday season," I have to say, without the slightest hint of curmudgeonly-ness, that here on the ridge, there is no peace... and there won't be any until the 26th of this month. That's simply the way it is. My walking schedule has gone to hell in a handbasket. I'm hard-pressed to find the time to make any obviously blog-worthy natural history observations. And I'm less upset about the fact that I simply can't afford any new cameras or lenses because the old ones are, too often, gathering dust inside their cases. Still, I do occasionally get a chance to see something, and even if it's only White-breasted Nuthatches and other commoners on the suet feeder, well, the sighting calls to mind a quote I remember from an ancient article I wrote about birding: "It doesn't matter how many birds I've seen, as long as I've seen them well." And, I might add, photographed them well. In this season of insanity, it's good to remember the kindness of friends who have loaned me the tools that enable me to do the capturing. Every time I focus the Sigma supertelephoto, I have abundant reason to give thanks.