Dorsia is not a fan

We have a Halloween household, but apparently not everyone is on the same page. To bring a little Halloween cheer, I got a small pumpkin to put in Dorsia's cage.

Cute, right?

If you've ever known a bird you realize they're not super thrilled with novel objects in their cage. They usually snub them for a while before getting anywhere near it. Dorsia snubbed her rope toy for days and day and now it's practically her boyfriend.

This was Dorsia's reaction to the pumpkin:

Hello up there!

She flew out of her cage and on to the deer skull hanging above the porch door. She's since been back in the cage, and while she isn't interested in the pumpkins she's not scared of it either. Maybe in a couple days?

I could take this to mean that Dorsia hates Halloween but I am heartened by the fact that she landed on the skull. That's pretty Halloween, right? She did look rather nice on it. In fact, I half expected her to croak "Nevermore" while she was up there.

Cemeteries: Salem

Part three! A few photos I took while on the second half of our Honeymoon in Salem. The cemeteries are all lovely here, you basically can't visit a bad one. I remember this cemetery specifically from when I visited Salem the first time ever as a school girl. I found a lone tombstone and adopted it as my favorite. It belongs to Moses W. Lawrence (a name I emblazoned on my memory) who was 19 years-old when he died. On this visit I remember exactly where his grave was, and of course I had to say hi. While there are certainly some great designs on the tombstones here, I think the best part about this cemetery is its ambiance as a whole.

Cemeteries: Boston

Part two! A few photos I took while on our Honeymoon in Boston. The place is full of old graveyards and this one - on the Freedom Trail - was my favorite. Favorites: death dancing the with the maiden, and the metro hole that blew hot air, and creepy noises, up into the graveyard like some spooky gateway to the underworld.

Surprise!!!

Today I got a package! Totally unexpected. It's not even my birthday or ANYTHING. And it was huge. HUGE. I wish I had a picture. I pulled in to my parking spot at the apartment complex, and as I was coming out of the car I saw Sam walking the dog with a GIANT box in his arms. It was for me, from Hawaii! We couldn't wait to get it inside.


It said mom's mushrooms on the box. "I want some mushrooms!" Sam declared. "It's probably just the box, buddy. There probably won't be any mushrooms." I said.


I grabbed a pair of scissors and set to work. The tape was a nightmare to cut through. It seriously must have been SUPER TAPE. Tape made with titanium threads or something! I got one flap free and noticed a note with RANSOM LETTERS on it. So I pulled it out:


Oo what fun! I grabbed the camera and started cutting in to the rest of the tape again.


Locksley had shown immediate interest in the box, and as soon as the flaps were free he buried his nose right in it.


There was a LOT of packing paper in there.



I carefully removed each crumpled wad - feeling to make sure there was nothing inside them. "There'd BETTER be mushrooms in there!" Sam hollered.


Suddenly! A wad heavier than the others! I unfurled it:


It was the CAP to a mushroom. With no stem. We removed more paper but no little correlative stem! Instead a HUGE MASS of bubble wrap!


"I don't think this is a mushroom! Maybe that was left over? or put there to throw us off?" I conjectured.

I heaved the bubble wrapped item out of the box. It was pretty heavy!
"What *is* it?!" I wondered.


"You are taking TOO LONG to open it!!" Sam cried. Back to opening!

I removed the first piece of tape. The bubble wrap peepshow had begun! Carefully, I pulled the taped bubble wrap off, starting with the loosest piece on the left.


It unveiled a textured, jutting structure.


By this time my hypothesis was that it was a bone of some kind. Was it a REAL bone? It must be. There was some dirt, or maybe sand? at the bottom of the bubble wrap.


Pulling back more of the tape, I saw an eye socket. A skull of some kind! But what? It was from Hawaii - maybe it was a sea creature of some sort? Locksley gave it a discerning lick.


I started at the other end of the bubble wrap. If the left side was the back of the skull, the right side must be the nose. And if I could see the nose, I'd be able to tell if it was a sea creature, I was pretty certain!

The nose! There was a tag attached. Should I look at it and ruin the surprise?


I pulled apart the last remaining bubble wrap piece. The anticipation!!


A SKULL! A BIG SKULL. Could it be my most coveted bone OF ALL TIME? Maybe it was just a cow or something?

Locksley thoroughly examined the eye socket, resting his nose right inside. If he knew what it was, he wasn't saying anything.


I had to check the tag:


IT WAS! HORRAY! HORRAY! A horse skull!

Not just a horse skull, but a beautiful one. Textured, textured, textured - the perfect blend of white bone and grey and green. It had such character! It was like a sculpture, or a painting!


"Where are we going to put it?" husband and I machinated. The best spot in the house, of course! On top of the bookcase! And, being the art kids that we are - we had to compose the arrangement.


Brilliant!! What an amazing gift and an exceptional surprise! Who could be the clever individual(s) responsible? I suspect the origin of the package is the biggest clue...