Whooo's there?

  With the old body still not cooperating in full, I have decided to postpone hikes to the far back corner of the property.  It seems too tiring to even make the attempt.  So, instead of whiling away the time outside, I am getting caught up on indoor chores.  While doing a bit of dusting in the dining room, I had to smile at the china cabinet.  Inside there is a wild assortment of fall and Halloween decorations.  Yeah, very rarely do I have china in my china cabinet. It just seems to be a waste of a good display area so it is usually filled to the brim with whatever seasonal decorations are on hand.  This time, owls seem to have taken roost in there!

  Mingled in with everything else is an odd assortment of owls none of which could be confused with a real owl.  Nope, those "realistically hand painted" owl decoys are left outside in hopes that they will scare away a few of the squirrels.  (That effort has proved futile, by the way.)  The owls in the china cabinet range anywhere from bright aqua to glittery black. They are just fun things that I have collected over the years.  I pull them out in the fall and leave them until the Christmas decorations force them back into storage.

   My smile broadened as a memory of Friend Owl wormed its way into the thoughts.  Friend Owl, if you recall, is the small Screech Owl that seems to have befriended me over the summer.  The little critter still hangs around the edge of the woods and will make a cackling noise when I am out hiking.  If I follow that sound, it is not hard to find the bird in amongst the branches.  It is as if the bird is calling for me.  Over the course of a few months, our friendship went from me first spotting the unsure bird to our being within inches of each other.   Not seeing the bird is one my regrets about feeling poorly.  Hopefully soon, I will be out and about once again.  Friend Owl and I can make up for lost time!  In the meantime, I will have to be happy with the owls in the cabinet.