THERE'S A LION IN THE GARDEN

Walk in through the gate into the front courtyard and you may be greeted by a roar from my recently acquired lion. I have named him Harvey, because he came into my life on Saturday, the day that hurricane Harvey crossed the Texas coastline and to begin its devastation.

On that day we happened to be 1500 miles away, having flown up to Canada to attend a Golden Wedding celebration in Hamilton, Ontario. The day after the celebration we drove along the Lakeshore Rd as far as Oakville, where we lived in the mid 70s. The lakeshore has some beautiful houses and outside one we saw the inevitable Saturday sign 'Garage Sale'. How could we resist?

When I saw the lion I knew immediately he would look perfect among the grasses in the front garden. But then thought about the fact we were not checking baggage. David felt sure we could carry the lion on the plane, one way or another. I wondered if security might be a problem. He's quite heavy, being cast from some kind of metal and his patina needs a little touch up. But we had no problems and no-one even queried the lion as it went though the scanner.

But that wasn't the only critter I found. A sweet little ceramic gecko reminded me of the one in our Air B&B house in France. All I need is a piece of driftwood.

French gecko

I might even let him stay in the house which is where geckos like to live, if the number of ones in our house is anything to go by. I am always shooing them outside but they always come back.

To round out our shopping experience a nice ceramic owl hanging and two lovely Indian scarves. The total came to $10. Now, that's what I call real garage sale prices.