BIRTHDAY PARTY- with a dark side.

last week was charlie's birthday.
our new friend kathryn gamble came to shoot the party :)
and our good friend donna charlton perrin wrote this LOVELY story to accompany it...



She smelled of organic apple sauce and vanilla beans when they found her. At first the animals were afraid. She made loud noises and unexpected movements. But where she smiled, they couldn't help but creep a little closer.

They named her "charlie". It was a named they'd heard called in the woods years ago. It suited her very well. It famed her beautiful face and wise eyes with a human word that belied her mysterious ancenstry.

The animals did not have human names, but they formed a family around charlie. A family very much like one might find in a neighborhood of chicago. Fox became charlie's woodland mother. She groomed her, found her yummy acorns to eat and wrapped her warm tail around the little girl when nights were cold. Bear becamed charlies's father. He built her a home high up in the trees where she could be safe high above the forest where she could dance + play and sing.

Days and weeks and month passed and all the animals of the woodlands grew to love charlie more as the flowers bloomed and the wind blew and the birds twittered. When the leaves began to fall, the animals began to plan a celebration in honor of charlies first year. They found an old wooden table outside a cabin at the edge of the forest. They crept, tiptoed, slinked it away to a clearing where the light shone just right and the breeze moved like a poem thru the trees. They collected leaves and berries and nuts to decorate. They asked nightinggale to sing charlies birthday song. At first he declined, being very shy, but eventually he came around.


The woods buzzed with activities every afternoon during charlie's naptime so the celebration could be a grand surprise. Finally,  the table was set, the fur was groomed and the time had come. Mama fox even wrapped presents even though she did not have opposable thumbs.

And charlie smiled.

And the animals smiled.

And all was right with the world

The end. Happy birthday Charlie :)