Even though we often enjoy unseasonably warm days from mid-August onwards, the signature call of the Egyptian geese throughout the winter serves as a constant reminder of the true season. On such a balmy day, their call travels across the pathless fields of La Pinède, echoing beneath a windless blue sky. But on my walk today, I saw a swallow gracefully drawing patterns in the sky as it swooped up high, then this way, then that. Although Aristotle, loosely translated, said, “O
