Zootopia

Some weeks you just see a ton of the same things, and well, last week it was our forest friends. It makes it easy to organize your thoughts.

Just an FYI that next week we are taking a break and won’t publish a new post. It’s the first time since we started, 13 years ago last month. No worries about anything bad going on, we are just taking a tiny break. If you are jonesing for a Second Hand Roses fix, take a wander through our archives. If you click on a word from the cloud of tags to the right of this week’s post you will be lead to a number of associated posts. The pictures below that are our most popular posts ever, which might be the best place for a newer reader to start.

Oh my goodness! My front yard is the sweetest smelling place in the neighborhood:

I absolutely love hyacinths in all their sizes and colors. I have white, purple, and pink, along with small grape hyacinths that come a little bit later. Hyacinth flowers are waxy and smell like heaven. I always enjoy the ones planted near my front door. They might not be all that visible from the street, but I’m selfish and want some just for my own!

This is actually an Easter leftover, but it fits better here:

This isn’t the happiest of bunnies, and “Baby” Williams must have not been that thrilled to have this painting in their room. I did have to laugh at the hairy chest; none of the varmints who chew up everything in my yard have a thatchy patch on their chests. I think he would be a bit more fun if you could tell what he is looking at. Those two patches of grass couldn’t be the reason for the confused expression.

I do a lot of jigsaw puzzles when visiting my mother and didn’t realize this was a finished puzzle until we got close:

This one is impressively huge and at least parts of it are 3-D. We were down an aisle looking at it and there was something weird about it—I mean weirder than the subject. Why is the cosmic white tiger who is floating out in space so big? Those paws will probably pack a punch if any intergalactic threat tries to attack Earth. We couldn’t quite figure out the relevant symbolism; I guess it could be related to the turtles holding up our planet. Anyways, it must have been a booger to finish so that’s why it’s framed.

This might have been owned by the white tiger lover:

Another huge, mysterious cat figure. You can judge its size for yourself by the 12 x 12 inch floor tiles below it. We aren’t quite sure what family to place this beast in—I’m leaning fantasy. He’s sort of spotty, so maybe a jaguar or leopard but there are also some squiggly lines, too, and he’s PURPLE. The stuff of nightmares with those demon eyes.

How about something silly?

It’s our old friend, shell crafts, but they’ve gotten super fancy with this one. They must have painted a boatload of tiny whelks, lacquered up a clam shell, and then carefully glued a conch on top. So far, so good if you’re a shell-craft aficionado. The possible fly in the ointment are the figures. Are they bears, are they cats? Bearcats? And what do they have to do with a beach or the tropics? Honestly, it’s always the last added thing that pushes it too far. Some kind person should buy this and liberate our furry friends.

Okay, we loved this when we saw it:

It was probably a kit or at least a pattern from days gone by. We stood in front of it smiling like a pair of loons because it made us happy. We were wondering if it was supposed to be a dodo bird, or a flamingo. Both were pretty popular in cartoons and animated movies when we were kids, and even before. We thought it was fun, but just took a picture and moved on. I hope someone buys this and gives it a home.

Oh goodness:

The crimes crafters commit against innocent stuffed bears! I know this is yarn, but from a distance they looked like bears dressed up with industrial mop heads. How does any of this enhance those bears? I have to plead guilty to making ballerina bears in the 1980s when it was a thing. My only defense is that I came to my senses pretty quickly and stopped the bear torture. This might be the same vintage, although I never saw a pattern for them. Honestly if you have lots of yarn, skip the this craft and make gloves, socks, hats, and scarves.

Last up isn’t an animal, but frankly, we could use a break:

There was a whole travel doll collection on the shelves one day, and we picked him out as the best. How could you not love that mustache? He is vintage and cute as could be, but alas, we don’t spend $6 on dolls that don’t fit our collections. But, he almost made the cut; thank goodness he wasn’t less than $4, or one of us might have crumbled!

Please check back in two weeks to find out what we’ve been up to. In the meantime, we hope there will be some sunny spring weather that you can enjoy!