For the birds

Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor do they reap. 

Neither do they clean,  nor do they cook.  And nor do they spend half the morning dragging a nine foot Christmas tree out of the house, hoovering up the pine needles, taking the hoover apart to unclog it when it starts blowing pine needles out instead of sucking them in, then hoovering up all over again... 

No, all the birds of the air have to do is hang around in a tree and wait for us to fill the feeder. 

Mind you, they do have to hang around out there even when, like this morning, it's minus 4F (-20C). 

And another thing, they probably don't get to entertain visitors from the Hudson Valley whom they've not seen for twelve years and who come bringing interesting conversation and delicious homemade apple tart. 

OK, maybe there are some compensations for the human condition.