A Quokka Dreeds its Weird

Some of you were lucky enough to receive maniacal emails from me yesterday with headlines like I AM AT A BOOK SIGNING WITH A HEDGEHOG and photo proof.

Yes! My friend Halle, of the Jim Henson Company, co-wrote a book, Jim Henson's Enchanted Sisters: Spring's Sparkle Sleepover, in a series of adorable books on seasons personified as diverse and adorable little girls, all of whom have cute pets including a fox, a hedgehog, an armadillo, and a Pegasus. The company decided to make their book signing truly memorable by including a Pegasus fox, hedgehog, and armadillo, courtesy of a company that provides animals and handlers for movie and TV shoots.

The handler discussed the animals' lifestyle and kept them in nice traveling cages in a quiet back room except for the brief period she showed them off. They were former pets, given up due to the owners thinking twice about having exotic pets, so were used to being handled.



The armadillo squirmed a lot, so this was the only picture I managed to get that wasn't too blurry to keep. It is Armando.



This was the part where I started emailing my friends.



The hedgehog was literally the cutest thing I have EVER seen. Its wee paddling legs! Its little twitching nose! Unreal. Sadly you cannot have them as pets in California without a special permit. It is Brutus. No idea why.



I PETTED THE HEDGEHOG. The spikes are bristly, not sharp. So cute! SO CUTE. (We also had people making flower crowns.)



This is a fennec fox named Jasper. It bites, so we did not get to pet its undoubtedly soft and fluffy fur. This photo was taken thirty seconds before the handler packed up and left. You can see how done she and Jasper are with the whole thing, contrasting to my demeanor of "WHEEEE!"

I am home sick AGAIN. I am taking Naomi's advice to prophylactically use the steroid inhaler from when I was sick for two months with bronchitis, in the hope of avoiding that happening again.

However, in between being sick, I recently managed to go hiking in Malibu and go to an exchange party where everyone brings things they don't want any more and takes what they want. I obtained three gorgeous dresses, one silk, and two skirts. The skirts are not shown as I went to the party in a dress, so I had nothing to wear on top.

Cut for pretty pictures.

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This post is for egelantier, somebraveapollo, and wordsofastory, to lure them to LA some day.

Pretty pictures of LA below cut. Yes, really. Also food and mysterious shoes. ( Read more... )

sartorias and I drove up to Mariposa last week, to stay at my parents' house and write. We all went to Yosemite, and had a picnic by a river. It was gorgeous. Photos behind cut.

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I kept three kimono jackets for myself.

Me and Sherwood at her booksigning for "Banner of the Damned," modeling our haoris.

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homasse and I went to Osaka's Den-Den Town. To our surprise, we found the streets completely full of cosplayers. I focused my camera... and the memory card died. So I didn't get that many shots. But I did get myself hugging Mr. Donut!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Identify who the characters are and what show or game they're from. I only recognized Naruto, Spiderman, and Pon De Ring.

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...into Fushimi Inari, a shrine for the God/Goddess of rice (and so material success) and fertility. And foxes.

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Take a walk with me. And a ferry ride. And eat an innovative gourmet dinner...



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