Stalking the Giant Pumpkin

You might or might not have noticed over on the Starlight Bakery blog that one of the Starlight mice joined us in our visit to the Padaro Floral Pumpkin Patch in Carpinteria this week.

The pumpkin patch is located on Via Real to around behind and to the right of the Padaro Floral building. We got off at the Santa Claus exit, turned left over the freeway and right onto Via Real. Then headed toward the large pumpkin balloon floating above the patch.

The patch is run by Michelle Van Wingerden (owner of Padaro Floral) and her parents. The guy on the left is a representation of her dad, who has sold pumpkins, gourds, and Indian corn from the patch for over 10 years. (If you click on the photo, you'll see our fearless little mouse sitting in his hand.)

Taking a closer look at some Indian corn still on the stalks, I found my mouse friend had gotten there before me and scurried up the stalk to see if he could peak at the colorful kernels inside the husk.

A few minutes later I found him gazing at some nearby egg-shaped squash or gourds, still attached to the vine.


He suggested that this gourd when dried, could be made into a boat just his size.


And this turban squash would make a lovely home with a few windows and a tiny door. Romantic, but not really very practical. However, these squash do make lovely pumpkin pies.

Aha! There it was, just as he had expected... the giant pumpkin he had hoped to find.

We were quite glad we'd invited him because he helped us see the pumpkin patch in a whole new way.

Belgian Cat Meets Starlight Mouse

One of Lucy's Starlight mice, the most adventurous one, decided to explore the house Lucy and Bill were visiting in Belgium. Lucy forgot to warn him about her friend Debbie's cat, Jolie.

Jolie obviously had never met such a brave little mouse before and wasn't quite sure where he had come from or why he was sharing her chair. I suppose Belgian mice are more hesitant to greet a cat face to face.

Within moments, however, Jolie recognized that a smart little mouse like this could make a good friend. Plus she found his American accent to be quite adorable.

An American Mouse in Belgium

My friends Lucy and Bill were leaving for Belgium last week so I went over to visit with them before they left and give them a few challah mice. I guess I should have reminded them to check the freezer before they left to be sure that all the mice were accounted for.

They had two stopovers on their way to Belgium. The discovery of the first Starlight mouse came in Denver when they were checking on their flight to Washington DC.

This little stowaway apparently hid in one of their carry-on bags. Starlight mice like to travel, so it is best not to leave your suitcase unattended while packing for your flight. I have to admit, if I was small enough to get into a carry-on, I would have been on that flight with them too. But I guess the next best thing is to enjoy the trip through the eyes of a Starlight mouse.

Oops, make that two Starlight mice.

Already a bit fatigued from travel and waiting between flights, these two mice rest together, people watching in the waiting area before they board the plane for the long trip over the ocean. I'm curious how they made it past security. I think it helps to be cute.

So Lucy emailed me that they all made it safely to Belgium. She says it's raining quite a bit, but that isn't stopping them from exploring.

Here's Bill taking a photo. Note the little alcove to the lower left of the large wooden doors. Looks like a good place for a Starlight mouse to get out of the rain. Unless you are a mouse, you probably wouldn't have noticed this. We would have just been looking at the size of those gigantic doors and wondering if a giant lived there.

I'm anxiously awaiting more photos from Belgium. I've also heard that there have been Starlight mouse sightings in Portland Oregon and Columbus Ohio, and possibly Berlin Germany, but I have yet to see actual documentation of them. I'll post it as soon as I do.

Making Friends

I made a crop of salt dough mice this week to send off to distant places. I put them on a plastic nursery tray to dry. My golden retriever, discovered them this morning. She has a fascination for small animals. She will sit for long periods watching the my fish swim around the fish tank. (She also likes to follow the cursor as it moves around a large computer screen.)

On her way through my office this morning she bumped into the drying tray (retrievers are especially good at bumping into things). When she saw the mice, she must have realized that the mice were staring back at her. So she sat down to study them.

Big Sur

The drive up the coast from Cayucos to Big Sur was foggy in places so we couldn't see the drop from the edge of the road to the ocean... a good thing. At least we could see the yellow line between lanes.

However the sun was out at Big Sur. The recent fire had burned down to the edge of the road on both sides, but it is still a beautiful place with some huge redwoods. Many of the trails are closed while they evaluate and clean up after the fire. The rangers sent us down to Andrew Molero State Park to walk the trail to the ocean, which is still open.

The beach is full of rocks being polished by the waves. As the waves recede, the rumble of the rocks sounds like an audience applauding. We made a couple of announcements about our hopes for the upcoming Presidential election and waited for the applause, which came on cue.

After our 2-mile walk, we were hungry for lunch, so we consulted with Henry to see if he'd join us. We needed to find a restaurant that would welcome mice. As we approached the River Inn Restaurant, we noted that the sign read "Country Food." That sounded hopeful.

Turns out it they had excellent food. Dave had an Angus burger on a delicious ciabatta bun with sweet potato fries on the side. I had a carrot ginger soup that was absolutely the best balance of those flavors I've ever tasted. We were too full to try their famous apple pie (made there since the 1930s). Later we were sorry we hadn't tried it. Oh well, next time we'll eat fewer fries so we can try the pie.

After lunch we went for a walk in the redwood part of the forest. Henry came along thinking maybe he would find Rosemary. We tried not to dash his hopes but we didn't think there was much chance that she'd show up.

Okay, what do I know about the ability of Starlight mice to communicate over long distances. This was a very exciting moment for both Henry and Rosemary!

As Rosemary shared the stories of her adventures with Henry, we could see that he was meant to stay in the forest with her. So we said goodbye to them and headed back down Highway 1 with an empty glove compartment, but the sun was out and we were happy to know that we'd done our part to help re-populate the forest.

I am no stranger to the reproductive power of mice... ever since my purchase of two pregnant mice back when Michelann and Shaun were young. That experience turned into a marvelous lesson in exponential mathematics. Within months our laundry room was filled with aquariums containing baby, adolescent, and adult mice. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get the boy babies separated from the girl babies fast enough to prevent new litters of happy healthy baby mice. Eventually we found homes for all of them in the wild hills of the San Marcos Pass.

So I was not terribly surprised when I arrived back at the condo and opened the freezer the next morning to get some challah for breakfast.

Looks like we'd brought along a pregnant challah mouse without realizing it. I expect more Starlight mouse adventures lie ahead.

Waiting for Updates

A Hitchhiker

You can imagine my surprise when I opened the glove compartment of our rented car to find a Starlight mouse sitting on my map to the condo we are staying in. We were almost to the turn-off so I needed to think quickly.

I used our cherry tomato basket to keep this little guy in the glove compartment while we found our way to the condo. He doesn't look too happy about this.

However, once we got to the condo, he cheered up a bit. His name is Henry. He was particularly fond of Rosemary, the mouse who jumped from John's plane into the Big Sur Forest. He didn't want to be left behind on our visit to Big Sur so we agreed to take him with us.

The next morning when I opened the curtains, I found him resting on the balcony railing. We decided to take him with us on our visit to Cambria that day. We are staying in Cayucos, which is very close to Cambria.

In Cambria, we visited my favorite herb garden and shop called Heart's Ease.


I was barely out of the car when I spotted Henry sitting on an ornamental garden swing... just his size.

He insisted that the Welcome sign was meant for Starlight mice because otherwise why would they have a swing just his size?

I tried to explain that this was a whimsical garden ornament... but then what is more whimsical than a Starlight mouse sitting on a garden swing?

It was easier to let him stay on the swing than to try to convince him not to come into the shop.

The shop is filled with dried herbs for seasoning as well as fragrant potpourri mixes you can buy by the ounce, cosmetics, books, seeds, and lots of lovely gifts.


Behind the shop is the garden with winding paths, butterflies and flowering plants and herbs for sale. It takes at least an hour or two to visit this shop. All purchases packaged and tied with sprigs of a fresh fragrant herbs.

Luckily it was lunch time when we finished and right across the street is Robin's Restaurant. Robin's offers a changing selection of deli salads as well as healthy tasty entrees. I chose a selection of three salads: Asian calamari, eggplant, and snowpeas with asparagas. Fortunately for Henry, I couldn't eat it all myself.



After a stop at Harmony (population 18) to buy some pottery, we went back to spend the rest of our day in Cayucos.