We have a window in our living room which must become a magic mirror at a certain time of day, because, when we hear a certain kind of bump, we know that a bird, who thought he was flying into a clear blue sky has had a head-on collision.  Some of the birds will stay very still for a minute.  We think they are thinking, “Wow, that is NOT the sky.” Then, they will fly away to a nearby branch to recuperate or, sadly, for a few, it is the final flight, as they enter bird heaven.

Recently, when we heard a small bump on the glass, we ran to check and saw a tiny little hummingbird that I was certain had passed into the bird heaven realm.  I ran to get a ziploc to protect his remains from our new puppy’s curiosity.  However, when I returned, Margaret had perched the little fella on the window sill with its own little floral life support system and she was softly massaging his little neck.  I assured her that he had passed away and really she should come in and finish her homework.  She reluctantly came in, but made me promise that I would not ziploc him–she was still adamant that he would live with just a little time to gather his wits.  And, guess what?!  She was right.  About an hour later, he flapped his tiny wings and flew into the wild blue yonder.  I guess, sometimes, you just have to believe.

We’ve all seen it before:

Boy meets geese. Boy likes geese, and approaches…maybe a bit too quickly…

Geese fly away.

But happily, our studio geese like little kids, and they turn out to be much better playmates anyway.

(These guys keep using our local baseball diamond as a rest stop on their way down south – much to the joy of the local little leaguers.)

Just a bit of seasonal news from the California office. Have a great day!

Max, this is Neville.  Neville, this is Max.  I am happy to report that Neville survived his first introduction to the species, dog, of which he is a member.  I am also happy to say that he loved every minute of it.  After lots of sniffing and running and running and sniffing, Neville realized that he wasn’t a people afterall, but rather a real dog.  Although Max was much bigger and extremely lean and fit, Neville was very brave, and exceptionally cordial.

Okay … well, there was one moment during which Neville had to take cover between two chairs to regroup.  But, he returned to the pouncing exchange with all his puppy heart.  It was also a little hard for him to share his water bowl.  But, since he is 5 months old (I guess, in dog years, he’s actually in his terrible twos) it was time for him to have his first sharing lesson … one small raised lip and a tiny growl from Max … and he got it!  You might suggest that tactic to your little ones!  It really works.
So that was Neville’s first playdate, and now he is taking a very long nap.

We had some time to spare before our lovely dinner at Chez Panisse (more on that later), so we poked around an area of Berkeley called the Gourmet Ghetto. Here are just a few of our favorite stops:
The Holistic Hound is a doggy boutique worthy of the fanciest of canines, so we felt it necessary to procure Neville’s first collar here. Our prerequisite was that it had to match the carolina-blue tag that Margaret had picked out for him. Happily, we found a fashionable argyle collar, which seemed to be the perfect coordinate. The minute we arrived home from California, we dressed him in his new collar. Since he has been living in his birthday suit for four months, he was not very pleased and found the new accessory extremely bothersome. But, once he realized how handsome he was, he posed for us wearing his new bling!

Twig & Fig Ellen and I are lovers of letterpress, so just peeking through this window was like looking into a candy shop. We had to go in and appreciate all things printed, admiring the deep indentations that the letterpress images make into the soft-press papers. Before we left, we happily bought this fun fat book called The Printmaking Bible. The pages are filled with every tool, technique and tip for printmaking today … well, maybe not potato prints, but still.

Love At First Bite was a delightful shop full of tasty baked goods and some nifty gifts for chefs young and old. We loved these cute aprons for little epicureans. (You can read more about Love At First Bite in our Cupcakery Study.)

Then it was time for dinner, so we will have to visit this delicious neighborhood next trip for Gourmet Ghetto, Part 2. And, next time, we’ll try to do a better job sampling the many foodie finds for you since there are approximately 40 restaurants and purveyors of fine foods in this 3-4 block neighborhood! Tough job but we’re happy to oblige.

Look what our new puppy grew … some new specs (!) … and just in time for the new Harry Potter movie. (well, okay, I did add a little eyeglass embellishment, but the markings around his eyes are all his! Since he is a rescue pup, we have no idea what his ancestral makeup is, but we are now thinking he might come from a long line of professor pups.

Above: Look who we found on our new roses! I think this guy has gathered a Texas-sized pile of flower stamens for his family dinner tonight!

Below: Some more busy bugs who live in the studio. They already ate.

So, here is how it happened. After our beloved lab of 11 years, Mocha, went to doggy heaven right before Christmas, I had promised that we could get a puppy this summer. But, I had meant something like July. Approximately 30 minutes after Margaret’s last final on May 29th, the official start of summer, I received a call from the two sisters which started like this: “Mom, now don’t say no until you hear us out.” (I should have known better that very moment!) On their way home, they had happened to stop by PetSmart where there just happened to be several puppies! So, with much pleading, promises to feed, wash, and clean up after the puppy, a picture was sent to me via cell phone–how unfair is that?! Long story short, we now have a new puppy. He is a rescue puppy and according to his rescuer, he is part border collie and part lab … but we think he is 100% cute. ( … well, except at about 3:00 in the morning, when he is so ready for a playdate!)

He also has excellent puppy breath, which smells a little bit like a coffee shop!

Lately, every time I have been taking my “get the mail” break, I have been hearing a little rustling in the leaves near our studio. Believe it or not, I thought it was our armadillo friend (really, and that’s another story), but after much searching, I spied these little fellas (or maybe it’s a loving couple) hiding in the drain pipe. It was so Beatrix Potter!

And, they reminded me of these little characters who adorned the page for Baby’s First Teeth in one of my baby books several years ago. I might have to revisit these little guys!

Ellen has started our blog, so here we go!

New Year’s Day: What better way is there to start the year than getting big kisses from Henry between bowls of good-luck black-eyed peas at our dear friend, Pat’s house. Pat is an old friend from our New York days, who has c’mon back to Texas, and Henry is her gigantic poodle. (Really, no kidding, my girls are pretty tall … He’s BIG!)

Pat is also an amazing art director.  Here is her very cool site.