....linen pencil rolls for young artists (also good for organizing knitting needles, crafting tools, sewing supplies, crayons, etc); simple all natural "teething carrots", and cuddle dolls made from the softest organic cotton, stufffed with wool (I'm finally using up that fleece I started carding more than a year ago!). My two-year old helped me to stuff the cuddle dolls with wool and sat beside me at the sewing machine into the late hours last night to see the dolls materialize. She gave them the snuggle approval, hugging each one as it was completed.
I believe that same hawk is becoming a neighbourhood legend. Last summer a young police officer was driving past the empty factory at Duke & Shanley St. and saw a hawk sitting at a downstairs window. The police called the humane society,and they came out, as well as several curious residents. In fact, since it took a few hours to locate keys for the building, people ended up having a nice little gathering. When the doors were finally opened, the animal control officers were in & out in a very short time with the bird, and all being very calm. We expected them to leave, but when they examined it, it seemed healthy,but a bit light. So the decision was made to release it right there. There was a short delay while some people got ready with their camera phones, and then while the bird got over its shock at sudden freedom.
ReplyDeleteThe sight of it soaring across the parking lot just a foot or two above the ground, and then flying almost magically straight up to the fence top was amazing. It looked at us for a moment, and then off it went.
I couldn't help remembering growing up in this neighbourhood,in the 1950's, when my grandmother kept a small flock of chickens, and the hawk would have been considered vermin and would not have come to a good end. Now we know that its main diet IS vermin, and if you live in an old house here, this is the time of the year when those critters like to try to move to the house from the woodpile. It is inspiring to know that now we guard our sweet but sometimes very silly chickens, and foster our magnificent wild neighbours too.