Go Hug a Tree!

Well.......maybe not this one! Here's another picture I took at the South Coast Botanical Gardens in California. For some reason, this tree makes me think of tree huggers. I don't think they'd want to get too cozy with this one! This is called a thorn tree, and I had never heard of one before. But I'm currently reading The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, and there is mention made of thorn trees in the book. This is not the first time I've come across something in real life, and then soon afterwards read about it in whatever book I happen to pick up.

Today, in addition to working on the pink sneakers (aka tennis shoes), I've been filling bird feeders and getting them rearranged in the yard. Several years ago, we purchased a gazebo for our backyard, and hubby got the home center to throw in a gazebo bird feeder with the deal. It's mounted on a 4" x 4" post, and we installed a squirrel baffle that works very well. We've only seen a couple of squirrels up there over the years, and we've wracked our brains trying to figure out how they managed it. Even though we're pretty good at Jeopardy and crossword puzzles, we have yet to figure out those squirrels.

I've always enjoyed feeding the birds. It may be genetic. My grandmother was a great bird feeder. She used to wire small tin cans to the fence behind her house and fill them with bread crumbs mostly. Back in those days, you couldn't go to the corner market and pick up a 10-lb. bag of wild bird seed. I remember my mother feeding birds in our yard. She used to buy peanuts in the shell and leave them along the brick wall in front of our house. This would attract the bluejays. We didn't have squirrels to worry about. They would have made quick work of those! The bluejays loved them, though, and each morning they would come earlier and earlier, looking for the peanuts. They would yell and squawk and make a horrible racket. Then they would start pecking on the side of our house, making even more noise. After that, the peanuts became my after-school snack.

So, as I mentioned, I'm working on the pink sneakers for the whimsical graduate doll. I drew a couple of patterns and made a prototype out of some orange fabric. I think they're going to make quite the fashion statement. Now......I wonder if Sheldon the Sheep would like some? Or, what about Santa? Now there's someone who could really use some nice foot comfort, not to mention....something with a little extra traction for walking around on the roof.....