I Always Almost Forget A Title

Aaahhh... I hope all of you who celebrate Christmas had a very very merry one filled with lots of friends and family and enough down time :) Sweets and presents and maybe even a little snow. Laughter and joy and minimal bickering and running late. Kindness and thankfulness and hugs (even if you're not a "huggy" person). Well wishes and fond memories of those who you are not with.

A few of the fantastic pictures you guys sent me :)

and check out the genius here   and the cuteness here. and here.

I had a very happy very busy day. Drew and I didn't want to do BIG gifts this year. My favorite gift is the current book I'm reading (look to your left). See? Apparently, I ask Drew a question about squirrels everyday. I was shocked to discover this. But when I thought about it..yeah I do. In addition to them being part of a very formative childhood experience there are millions of them in my neighborhood and my cat and I spend a lot of time just staring at them. I feel a kinship to them because the are so nervous and anxious by nature and I can completely relate to that.

The experience I mentioned a moment ago (I thought for sure I told this before on the blog...but then again why would I?) goes as follows. I always always always tried to lure animals into being my "friend" and I just could not understand why they didn't understand that I would obviously not hurt them. So one day my sister, Hillary, and I were on my swing set eating fudgesicles when a tiny tiny baby squirrel appeared. I decided to offer it my fudgesicle but it ran away (of course) but then to my complete surprise it came back from the bushes and ran straight over to the swing set and started climbing on us and letting us pet it. Looking back  on this I KNOW this wasn't a good idea but when you're 6 or 7 it's a dream come true. But this is the best part. Not only did the squirrel play with us that day, it came down from it's tree everyday at 3:40 when we came home from school and played with us until 5:30 or 6:30 (I can't remember which) but it was the same time everyday. I just imagined it's mom calling it home to dinner. And it ran up it's little tree until we saw it the next day. We had friends over to prove we had this squirrel. It all ended when we had to go to our dad's for a weekend and we never saw the squirrel again. I was so upset that I thought it thought we had abandoned it. We had a similar experience with a baby deer that thought it was a dog when we were camping. And EVERY animal I found I named "Baby". deer, squirrel, kitten, snake. They were all "Baby" to me.  Seriously, it was just one of those things that has stuck with me and seems to be this thread that has carried through into so many areas, even this little illustration.

which of course is here. Tomorrow I will share the rest of the very fun stuff. And I can't wait to read all your blogs to find out how you spent your holiday:)

Comments

[melly and rosie]

We loved your story about the daily visit from the "baby" squirrel. We had less luck as little girls as we used to wish our smurf figurines would come to life! We so wanted smurfette to have a baby! We dont have squirrels in Australia, though we have possums a plenty.

[risa]

i love this post. i'm sure all of the squirrels in your past actually adored you. they were just too shy to show it. :)

[tonya]

That was a fun read. More like that please, you squirrely girl.

[Jessica]

I had no idea you had such an affinity for squirrels. Maybe that is why we get along so well.

Fellow Squirrel lovers unite!

[Rachael]

Oh MAN! When I read this: "I always always always tried to lure animals into being my "friend" and I just could not understand why they didn't understand that I would obviously not hurt them." I said "oh man that's me!" I did the SAME when I was little....oh o.k and still try to now that I have my own house. You were lucky to have one actually befriend you!

[geek+nerd]

Hehe, I love your little illustration and the squirrel story!

[Scoutj]

Do you still want some pictures? Both of my kids immediately took their tags and taped them to their bedroom doors! I'm not kidding. They loved them!

[Beth]

I had similar experiences with birds. I'd always try to get the birds to land on me and let me pet them. This happened once... well it did not let me pet it, but it landed on me and watched me for a bit. We had a moment.

[jen]

i just realized, your paintings remind me SO much of the Lost Boys from peter pan... love it!

[Stephanie D]

I think I would have died and gone to heaven if that had been me when I was little.I think that's fantastic. I used to "make-friends" with the bunnies we had in our yard.

[Mandy]

Your post took me on a flashback to being young, I think that's why I love your art and connect with it - I was quite the same when I was young, I was certain that I had a special connection with the animal world that no other living human had (I guess I was wrong, there was you too). One day when I was about 6 I witnessed a squirrel getting hit by a car. I wept for days and my parents didn't know what to do with me. One day I came home from school, and my folks had a little tiny wind-up squirrel sitting on the kitchen table for me...lol, I cherished that little toy squirrel as if it were real. Another thought (sorry to go on for so long) was that I was going to be a big wildlife photographer, like Marty Stouffer "This is your Wild America", hide in a little camo tent and take pictures of dangerous animals. heh heh. Thanks so much for such a great blog, we really enjoy reading it.

[Tiffany Harvey]

Your lovely story inspired one of my new drawings. I don't like it too much & will probably re-do it, but for now...
http://pmthreads.livejournal.com/52911.html

[holly]

I love this little squirrel girl! Your work is so cute!!! I have never seen a squirrel.. :( very sad indeed..they are my fave. I have had loads of tiny friends like this. all started by befriending them when they were young. we had a possum, sugar glider (really cute) & a baby kangaroo. x