The owls, episode 3. In which hoots are heard from all over.

I didn't start out as an elementary Catholic school student who one day decided to become an owl collector. WeatherOwl and his bonus twin inhabited my childhood home and then my adult home for quite some time before announcing their desire for companionship.  Like most collections, you'll just know.  My lowly little childhood collectibles have made some wonderful friends over the years (decades!) since they first flew into my little hands back in the mid Seventies.  While owls were a popular decorating item during that groovy decade, they migrated away for quite a while before becoming cool again.  It's only been about five years now that the symmetrically friendly figure emerged resplendent from its formerly fashionable hibernation in a wide variety of decor-friendly forms, but I've managed (mostly) to restrict the collection to the floating shelf.
I admit there are a few (maybe more than a few) glass owl Christmas tree ornaments tucked away for an extended nocturnal (off-season) rest, but those don't really count, do they?

This little guy started out as a bulbous 2-inch gourd in Peru. Some clever local artisan saw promise in that pinguid shape and transformed the dried vegetable into the humble but delicately detailed beauty you see before you.  My little flightless FolkOwl has traveled many miles to join my collection.  From Paddington's Peru to the gift shop at New York's Museum of American Folk Art and then on to his permanent home in South Texas, FolkOwl has flown!

He started his crafty life as a Christmas ornament, but a simple untwisting of his temporary metal ornament cap has afforded FolkOwl freedom from holiday hibernation and I think we're both happy about that.

Similar in size and stature, my little Japanese owl crossed a different ocean to find his way into his South Texas home.  First, however, he made a quick stop at the museum gift shop at the Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida.

Polished to a bright golden glow, Mr. Fukurō reminds me daily of the universal appreciation for one of my favorite creatures and also reminds me of a beautiful and peaceful fall afternoon spent a few years ago walking the colorful and magnificently maintained grounds of the Morikami Museum.

Visit the inviting site.

morikami.org

An impromptu trip south of our local border released this festively colorful friend into my growing collection.  I'm intrigued especially by the simplicity of his shape.

It is really only the artist's imagination that created an owl from this simple form.  With little but mesmerizingly saucery dark eyes to give his simple round stoneware shape its unmistakable owl identity, my little Mexican owl holds his own among his more full-figured brethren.

Among the international brother- hood is this final owl treasure I wanted to share.  He makes his home with the myriad figures I have recollected from a wide variety of locations even though his figure shares only two dimensions with the others.

I wasn't looking to collect an owl plate and I'm not planning on it in the future, but something about this 3-inch diameter souvenir plate (you guessed it) caught my collector's gaze and just wouldn't let go.

Owls' big round eyes

are especially vulnerable

to collector's gaze.

The provenance of this bitty bird is also fairly stunning.  Made in Japan.  Sold (or a giveaway) by Owl's Nest Books in Calgary. Purchased by this New Yorker at the Wellington Goodwill Boutique near West Palm Beach for all of 99 cents.  And finally (you guessed it again!), migrated to South Texas in a simple little used and reused bubble wrap pouch.  I'm unclear about CalgaryOwl's past life for my two-dimensional friend has offered few fruitful clues since taking up residence over 2,000 miles away from his intended Canadian perch.  Multiple google searches since his last migration 10 years ago have revealed only a bookstore site, a beautiful bookstore site, actually, which has earned it a place on a work-in-progress travel list should a trip to Calgary or nearby Idaho-Montana ever materialize.

The tempting bookstore site boasts beautifully photographed owls.

owlsnestbooks.com

In the meantime, I am ever appreciative for that former Florida Snowbird with the discriminatingly wise good taste, and am ever overjoyed to take the treasured emblem under my wing.

More stories and secondhand travels next time.