Owls

I remember Mom painting and Dad creating frames for her work so they could be displayed around the house. I have some definite favorites - the one with Dad and my brother RJ fishing off the end of a dock and another of a basket of apples. Mom also painted one for my bedroom - Raggedy Ann and Andy and a basket of yarn. I also seem to remember one of an owl - but that could just be a compilation of childhood memories. You see, Mom had this thing with owls - ceramic, carved, wooden, cross-stitched, etc... As far as I remember there weren't any owls in attack mode; they were all mostly standing tall, with their wings wrapped around them like a blanket - sort of peaceful. I'm glad about this as I think owls in attack mode might have freaked me out. Owls were such a big part of my surroundings that, in fifth grade when told we had to pick an animal to write a report on, I wrote about - yep, you guessed it - owls. I'm surprised that with all this attention to owls, I wasn't aware of the children's book by Jane Yolen, "Owl Moon." It's a classic - one I often read aloud to my preservice teachers in January because of its wonderful lanugage that captures a crisp winter night. Maybe it's one of my favorites now because of the childhood memories of owls... who knows.
Well, this post started off as a tribute to my children's artwork, but quickly turned into a meandering down memory lane. I guess you'll get to see some of their artwork tomorrow. :)