Side Story: One Last Thing About the Weekend…

Granville, OH

One last thing to say about Granville: I’m in love with it.

 

There are multiple reasons why. For instance:

Pies!

Spices!

Fresh flowers!

Dried flowers!

Pumpkin trucks!

The library!

The Buxton Inn

Haunted hotels!

Candy!

Stickers of candy!

Pretty sidewalks!

And my dream home, where my family will live one day—as soon as I find $998,000 in my pocketbook.

 

The streets are languid and familiar, like the cool side of a pillow—which should be strange, since I’ve driven through Granville only a handful of times. It’s just that it looks and sounds and smells like the tiny suburb where I grew up. It has the soft and lovely sleepiness of home.

 

There’s so much of the world to see, and I want to see it all. But at the end of the day, just give me this.

 

~*~ Find me on Twitter @36×37
~*~ Visit the 36×37 facebook page

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Side Stories: O and the World’s Smallest Apple

Every October, we go apple picking at Lynd’s Fruit Farm. The kids love it, and it’s one of my favorite family traditions. 

When the weather is nice, like it was this weekend, the orchards are packed. It doesn’t really matter, because the branches look like this:

As you can see, there are more than enough Fuji apples to go around.

I like that the branches are low. That way, it’s easy for the boys to pick their share.

Occasionally, however, they need to exert themselves.

It’s a lot of hard work. And in this case, hard work should be rewarded with pumpkins.

But, as big and orange and beautiful as the pumpkins are, I think O is more impressed with this:

It’s the smallest apple in the world, and it’s a gift for Special Kitty.

~*~ Find me on Twitter @36×37
~*~ Visit the 36×37 facebook page 

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Mini-assignment: Skunk/Squirrel!

Well first, this is not a full-blown 36×37 assignment. I guess I should make that clear. This mini-assignment is more “personal goal” than anything else, and I have no idea how long it will take to accomplish.

But first, the back-story:

google image: cryptomundo.com

There’s an albino squirrel in our neighborhood. Q-tip white, tricked-out red eyes—the real deal. And even though he’s one of the freakiest things I’ve ever seen, I can only assume he’s a bit of a Don Juan because it seems he’s been making time with all the lady squirrels.

Suddenly, crazy looking baby squirrels are popping up everywhere. They’re light gray with brown spots. They’re light brown with white spots. Some have tails, some don’t have tails. It’s really getting out of hand.

I took a picture of one last fall. I was in the middle of a run when I saw him, so naturally I tried to take his picture with my crappy iPhone camera. Even standing 15 feet away from him, I couldn’t get the shot. He ended up looking like a very small but normal squirrel clinging to a Douglas-fir tree.

I deleted the shot, and I’m kicking myself for that now. That’s because we have a skunk/squirrel in our yard, and it would be nice to have a collection of photos of messed up squirrels, amiright?

At first glance, Skunk/Squirrel looks totally normal. Except he’s not. He’s tar-black, which is rare around here. And also? His feet are white, and so is the very tip of his tail—like he just stepped in a pan of primer and is too lazy to wash it off.

Suddenly, I’m obsessed with Skunk/Squirrel. I see him almost every day, but only for a flash-second, while I’m on my way to the car, or I happen to look out the living room window as he’s hopping down the driveway. Every single time, I don’t have my camera…or I do have my camera and the battery is dead…or I grab the shot and all I get is a tiny speck in a pile of leaves.

I think he’s taunting me.

Take this morning, for instance. I needed to grab something from the front seat of my car, so I threw on my shoes, charged out the door and almost stepped on Skunk/Squirrel. “YOOOOOOU!” I said, pulling my iPhone from my back pocket. I thought I was quick to the draw, but it was too late.

Skunk/Squirrel disappeared behind the fire pit, like I’d never seen him at all.

I’ve realized: This hunt for Skunk/Squirrel has turned me into a codgery old lady who wants to shake her fist and scream to the sky: “I’ll get you, Skunk/Squirrel! You can run but you can’t hide.”

But that’s not the craziest part. The craziest part is that Skunk/Squirrel is not alone. There are others of his kind, and they’re on Google images, like this guy:

google image: fwchelle.com

Do you know what this means? It means I’m not alone! Somebody else out there is obsessed enough with his or her skunk/squirrel to take a picture and post it online. (!!!)

So, my assignment is this: See Skunk/Squirrel, take picture, post picture. Join the ranks of those who came, saw and conquered squirrels of the skunk variety. Or skunks of the squirrel variety. i’m not sure which is correct.

Please wish me luck. Skunk/Squirrel is crafty.

~*~ Find me on Twitter @36×37
~*~ Visit the 36×37 facebook page

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