adorable, little, thanksgiving owls

With the increased popularity of owls over the past year, almost to the point of saturation, I've acquired dozens of little specimens. They are all incredibly cute and impossible to resist. Many of them are gifts and then others are purchased by guilty little me. Guilty, because I am spending a fortune on these unnecessary, but fun, little owl creatures.

A recent Birthday gift from my employers included a wee nest of Japanese-made cloth owls. They found this itty bitty owl family at a lovely store in New York and brought it back for me to enjoy. How lucky, lucky, lucky I am!


The little family all snug in their nest


Baby owl all alone in the nest.
Did mother and father owl go look for food?


Baby owl, out looking for his parents.
Oh dear! Baby owl, don't get lost!


Now, mother owl says, "stay in the nest!"

Just last week, I took a trip to my local hardware store and spotted a sweet little owl mug. Despite my cupboard overflowing with mugs, I brought him home. When I finally pulled it out to use it for my tea, I noticed a startling resemblance between the mug and the little paper clay owl that Matthew had just created the week before.





Hmmm...we suspect that they may have been separated at birth, although one is clearly the runt of the nest.



All-in-all, I'm thoroughly enjoying all these sweet little owls.



And Before I Forget, Happy Thanksgiving!

Images from an autumnal Birthday weekend

For the first time in four years, I spent my Birthday at home in Oregon amongst my family and the fall colors that I always expect to see around my Birthday. It still surprises me every year when November rolls around the San Diegan trees are still green or simply shriveled and brown, no bright color at all. This year I enjoyed having a true fall birthday at home.


My birthday cake- one of the best I've ever eaten


A stroll through the park after birthday shopping and lunch


A birthday Mother on the bridge


A sampling of the lovely trees in Ashland

Images from Pat's Autumn garden


Pretty little flowers



The Hawthorne berries before they darken for winter and lose their leaves


The Hops-still pretty, despite no longer being green



A strange little Orange berry tree that I've never noticed before


Not a garden picture, but still, very pretty little utensils. I should have posted it with my muffin recipe post.

Belgian fruit candies

While shopping for Chocolates in Brussels, Matthew came across these charming little fruit gels; he was so taken with them that we bought an entire bag to bring home. They are absolutely delicious, but, as expected, extremely sweet, almost unbearably so.



The sugary coating on these precious little fruits gives them such a sparkly, elegant look. I just couldn't resist photographing them on a sunny Sunday afternoon.



I started so late in the afternoon that I really didn't have enough time to take many good photos before the sun went behind the building, but out of the fifty or sixty photos that I did take, I was able to find a few that I liked.


Not sure why, but I really liked this little pear photo. It wasn't the best one out of the bunch but it just caught my eye.

We still haven't eaten the fruits, so I could still take the time to try again for some better photos. Perhaps when I'm feeling ambitious on one of these cool, fall, Sunday afternoons.