ast week,

while carving mugs for the upcoming show, I looked out the back of the barn to see a magnificent pileated woodpecker.  I promptly decided to add him/her to a mug.   I was delighted to see it because there is usually a pair that  shows up each spring, and I was afraid removing the dying box-elders from the back yard might mean they wouldn’t come back.

A few days later, I thought I heard its call, grabbed my camera, and tracked it to a tree, only to find a flicker in it.

So this morning when I saw it through the window happily eating bugs out of one of the new stumps, I quickly snatched the top shot.  I enjoy adding animals and plants that I share the farm with to my pots.

Kitsutsuki (pronounced kee-tzu-tzu-kee, is the Japanese word for woodpecker), gotta love the Japanese penchant for onomatopoeia🙂