Comment Update #2: I was so surprised to hear that some of you enjoy your blue jay visitors all winter long! I wonder where mine go? (Maybe to your houses!) Mine disappear in late fall and then show up when the robins do, usually late January or early February.
I don't usually do two posts in one day, but I just had to because I don't want any of you to miss out on this deal! (Spring must almost be here because LOVE is in the air!!)
(click any photos to enlarge)
Do you love birds?
Do you love lamps???
Then you are going to flip for the bird lamp I picked up last night!!! (I do love bird lamps... do you remember this post about the Urban Outfitters bird lamp my girls bought for me?)
About 17" tall and almost 8" across (from tip of tail on one bird to outstretched wings of the other) [insert drumroll...................] And only $9.99 - shade included - at The Christmas Tree Shops!!!!!
Just look at the sweet details on this little bird!!!
The first one I picked up happened to have an imperfection ... The bird on the left only had one eye (all the other lamps were fine)... Now I could have put it back and picked one that was perfect, but this one reminded me of our sweet Gizzy (who we lost last March), our little one-eyed terrier mix whose picture you've probably seen on my sidebar... So the lamp with the one-eyed bird is the one that came home with me (remember me saying the other day that I loved Rachel Ashwell's philosophy about perfection being daunting? ha ha)... Perfection is definitely over-rated, a lesson that has take me almost my whole life to learn (and that I continue to learn each and every day!)
Double your fun!!! You all know me and my love for robin's egg/cottage blue! But my daughter bought the green lamp for herself, and I have to admit I was torn... I have so much robin's egg already, and I do love that shade of green... but in the end the little "bluebird of happiness" lamp won out for me...
I really need to make a habit of going to The Christmas Tree Shop more often. Look at this adorable heart-shaped, wire-trimmed Valentine ornament I found! It was just laying near the bird lamps so I brought it to the customer service desk and asked where they were located in the store... I was told that was probably the last one because the section where they were located was now empty, and that they had sold very quickly... Well for 99 cents I can see why! They're huge and just shabby/cottage perfect! Doesn't it look cute on my dining room bird (another imperfect bird here at the cottage!). Shortly after purchasing this bird many years ago, Mr. B, my all black kitty, knocked it over. The bird now has a gaping hole in its chest (not visible at this angle) and the entire front of his face/beak broke off... So I got some kind of plaster type material and tried my best to form his face and beak (very visible if you enlarge the photo!). It definitely looks like a 'repair' job, but that's okay... He doesn't need to be perfect to live here...
So my advice to anyone living here in the Northeast near a Christmas Tree Shop is to RUN to your nearest CTS if you're interested in either the bird lamps or the hearts!!!!!!! They're obviously going fast (at least the hearts are), and for the $9.99, I doubt those bird lamps are going to be on the shelves for long...
And last, but not least (how perfect for a bird post)... While I was taking a photo of the heart ornament hanging from the bird in the corner of our dining room, who should show up at the feeder but Mr. Blue Jay! It's good to see the bluejays back after them being gone all winter. I suspect he's thinking, "What a nice buffet table! Where do I begin!!!"
"I think I'll try a peanut first, but I'll be back for the suet and sunflower seeds very soon!"
Enjoy your day! And let me know if you do go to the CTS and get one of the lamps - or find more hearts! (There may have been more bird lamp colors originally, but the store I went to only had them in green or blue)...
Donna