My two beautiful hens, Buffy and Lady, gave me a needed lesson in resilience today. Snow, rain, and frigid temperature. They looked remarkable in the bitter wet weather, at home, like chickadees in winter.

Built-in to birds is a survival mechanism to handle winter. Chickadees not only survive but enjoy the icy landscape. Sometimes you can here them singing on even the coldest days. Likewise, the hens enjoyed this glorious, damp and icy day with effortless grace.

I am having  the kaleidoscope experience again- seeing the brilliant colors in an infinite array. The world is alive and ever changing. If you have the courage to see it.

I wonder if Van Gogh had hens who led him on journeys of exploration? Or perhaps he had a nervous mother with Head Explosion Syndrome like me? That may explain his frantic way of painting. That is not criticism of Van Gogh’s work, rather a tribute. He may have been frantic- a word that sounds related to ‘panic.’ But I think Vincent was breathless by the beauty he was experiencing and shared it shamelessly. Like every muscle in his body strained with feverish excitement. Like Leonardo de Vinci tried to capture Mona Lisa. But he doesn’t capture her entirely.

Vincent’s love of beauty seems innocent, without any buffering agent of vanity to confine his work. Leonardo may not have been able to ‘see’ Mona Lisa as she really was, because he did not want to see any disapproval of him in her eyes. (The painting exposes himself as much as it does her.)

I think her look in the famous painting is she and de Vinci calling a truce. He must content himself within his human limitations, avoiding pride and vanity, her timeless gaze advises. Isn’t that what women have done for ages? In Old English, “wife” and “wise” look like the same word. A bit of wisdom lost in the revolution, perhaps.

I wonder if the world is really as beautiful as it seems to me today, in this chilling experience of light, color, cold and hens! Or is the frantic nature of my experience right now heightening my sensory perception?

Seems like human beings have a built-in survival mechanism, too. The ability to experience beauty as an antidote to chaos.