One black and white owl, perched on the screen door.
The month of September came to an end and the Mystery of The Toilet Roll Owls was solved. The crafty maker and donor of the little cardboard avian critters was Sarah’s friend Beatrice. I haven’t met Beatrice, but we’ve now corresponded and I think I can categorically say she is a Top Notch Friend.
The inspiration for the owls came from the design website Swiss Miss. Knowing that Sarah liked owls, at first Beatrice was just going to forward the link to her. This is how Beatrice explained what followed:
I was feeling crafty and decided instead to keep the picture for myself and start making owls. I really just thought it was a little giggle and, as I’m sure you know, Sarah appreciates little giggles. I made about 10 I think before September started and I figured she would catch me out in the first couple of days. She wasn’t home until the third so I had left 3 and her cleaner had put them inside but she sent me a text on the 3rd or 4th I think to ask if it was me. If she had called me I would have laughed and given it away because everything about these owls makes me giggle. Making them, leaving them at the house and photographing them. ‘But she didn’t call me, so I could lie. Not something I’m usually comfortable with but by then I was hooked. I really think I got so much more out of this than anyone else. I wish I had someone else to do it for. I miss it. ‘You can do it with cats too – I mean draw cats instead of owls, I tried it but couldn’t leave a cat – owl and the pussycat went to sea etc. ‘As you may have noticed I think things through a great deal. But I am far more grateful to Sarah for having a birthday and liking owls and living where she lives than she could ever be to me for leaving them.’
This grey owl is my favourite.
Eventually, after her birthday came and a photo book of all the owls in situ arrived, Sarah asked Beatrice again if she was responsible. This time Beatrice fessed up. Isn’t that lovely? Everyone should have a friend like Beatrice. Surprise gifts are the best thing ever. And mysterious, surprise, homemade owl-shaped gifts, well, they are pretty hard to beat.
What’s the best present a friend has ever given you? Mine was an Invisible Hug Jumper from my best friend. I was eighteen and about to go overseas. She told me if I ever needed a hug from her I should just put on the Invisible Hug Jumper and I would feel her hugging me. It worked. Eventually, like all my jumpers, I shrank it in the wash. The moral of that story is that I was not then and am not now grown up enough to look after nice things, even invisible ones, and that it’s important for me to live near that friend so I can have real hugs from her.