Hoot Hoot.

Have you ever seen a real live owl? Not in a cage. Not at the zoo. Not in captivity. Not on tv. But in REAL LIFE.

Well, we were lucky enough to have this experience on Sunday evening. We were leaving our community group meeting and as we were coming up on the exit to the development I thought I saw a cat in the middle of the road. As Josh slowed to a stop we saw it was not a cat but an owl. It was beautiful. It was eeriely still though. I sat there for a moment very still and then realized, I have to take a picture! I struggled to quickly get my "everyday" camera out of my pocketbook, zoomed in and took a picture. The picture turned out to be crap. Then somebody pulled up behind us and the owl looked at us one more time and then flew away. It was one of the most breathtaking things I have ever seen. I've seen birds take off before but the grace of this mysterious creature was nothing like I'd ever seen before. As Josh drove off he told me I should call Joe and Lauren and tell them Harry Potter was in their neighborhood (only some people will find that funny).

The picture didn't take very well because I got a little flustered when Josh told me there was a car behind us. I did find a picture on the internet that resembles our owl even though I haven't found a picture that actually does the beauty of this bird justice. I also found by researching that it was a "barred owl" or a "hoot owl". Teagan and I decided to call the owl "Owly" after her new favorite book from her baby pen pal Eva.

Picture via.