The Dream Love Strife of Polifio

is how you might translate the title of one of the oddest books ever published.
Hypneratomachia Poliphili was published at the end of the 15th century by an Italian, Francesco Colonna. Written may not be the right word–the engravings form a substantial portion of the book. The text is a melange of languages that include Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

A partial translation was produced in Elizabethan times, with only the first portion of the book and only some of the engravings. It’s now online in three forms, here, here, and here.

If your language skills are up to the challenge, the original version is available as online page images at the first link in this post.

Sumer is icumen in

Here in South Florida, the concept of seasons is much more abstract than it is in most other places. There’s no leaves to change color–although fallen leaves do tend to pile up dramatically in what other places call late autumn. But in a place where 40F may qualify as the lowest temperature of the year, the terms winter and summer, spring and fall, have at best an arbitrary meaning. They’re convenient points on the calendar, nothing more.