Three pics from today

[nightdog_barks]

So so blah; have not been sleeping well at all. At least it is overcast and not as hot as it has been, which is an excellent thing. Now if only it would rain. Anyway. First pic ...


The EVER-POPULAR LAYLA. :D




Yep, the Epsom salts seem to have worked. *g*


This is something I bought from an Etsy merchant. It arrived yesterday (from Billings, Montana). It's called a pie bird, and they were used in fruit and meat pies to vent steam while the pie is baking. This one is from the 1940s, by a small group called the California Cleminsons (specifically Betty Cleminson). There doesn't appear to be a Wikipedia page for the company, but a good description of the group can be found here. I wish now I had gotten a brighter pic, but the colors are green, yellow, and black on this little china bird. I'm not even a big fan of that color combination, but I loved this little guy. AND NOW HE'S MINE. :D

Comments

[nanila]

Oh, Layla! Look at those eyes!

Pie bird is also adorable. We have a pie bird that belonged to the bloke's grandparents. It's a penguin. :D

[nightdog_barks]

Doesn't she have beautiful eyes? They are such a lovely brown, almost like the brown in cat's eyes gems. :D

A PENGUIN! Omg I am delighted. It's funny -- I had thought either my grandmother and/or mom and/or Mister Nightdog_barks' family would've had a pie bird lurking about somewhere, but ... apparently not. Everyone just rolled up aluminum foil into a little funnel and made do. Or maybe the pie birds got broken and never replaced, there's a thought.

[pwcorgigirl]

Layla is such a beautiful girl. I know she's a huge goofball, but she has very soulful eyes.

Pie Bird is adorable! Makes you want to go bake pies! :-D

[nightdog_barks]

Corgigirl, I love my pie bird. :D

He's sitting on the mantel with my other little birds -- a couple of small Murano-glass birds, a fat little bronze bird, and a couple of other glass birds. I saw some other pie birds online that I might get later; I just find them terrifically charming. It amuses me that some companies like Pillsbury used to give them away as promotions in the 1950s in bags of flour. :D

[topaz_eyes]

Is it me, or is Layla getting more beautiful every day? Such a sweetheart.

That is one brilliantly yellow hibiscus. For some reason I always thought they were pink.

Pie bird, omg! How adorable! And also how clever -- I don't think I've ever had a pie not bubble over.

(And then the first thing I thought of on seeing this little cutie was Mrs. Tweedy's Chicken Pies from Chicken Run. Maybe it's time for a re-watch...)

[nightdog_barks]

TOPAZ IT IS NOT JUST YOU

:D

Seriously, she has grown into such a handsome big girl. She has the most lovely, expressive face. And sometimes she is still such a butt. :DDDDD

Hibiscus can be all kinds of different colors! The other one we have is orange; I just moved it today to get more sun, because not only are they total water hogs, they also crave sunlight. Honestly, I don't know if I would buy them again because they are so touchy -- water, Epsom salts, have to be in exactly the right space. But. Oh my god the flowers are so beautiful.

I had not even known there was such a thing as a pie bird until ... maybe a few years ago. Nobody I ever knew used them. Mister Nightdog_barks' mom used to roll up a little funnel of aluminum foil to vent her fruit pies, but she never used a pie bird. I just fell in love when I saw some online, and really, they're not terribly expensive as collectibles. The ones I liked ranged in price from about $10 to $40, with some outliers that were apparently super-rare (I saw one that a merchant wanted over $700 for, holy shit).