::This post is photo intensive, so please spare rib bear with.::

February 18, I guess that would be today, marks the first day of the Chinese New Year. The Year of the Pig.

On Friday, February 16, about two minutes after posting Friday's post and about three minutes before getting into the car to come north, the UPS man delivered me a package.

A package of pigs.
And stuff.
For Valentines Day and just because.
All the way from Idaho.
Gifts from my Not at All Imaginary Friend*, Kim.

Here's the primary pig who I have named Snorts, in honor of what The Cakers calls pigs snouts.



I'm really trying to spend a lot of time with Snorts right now, because I have a feeling that he will soon be stolen away from me by a younger woman. A blonde.

Here are the three other pigs from the package. From left to right, may I introduce
Drop-a-Load Pig, Illuminating Pig and a Pig Bar of Soap.



Oh, and here's one I call Natural Lighting Snow Pig. As soon as I had gotten the pigs lined up just right on the window sill, to bask in the natural light, the shadow of the Natural Lighting Snow Pig, stole it all away.



This is a demonstration of the unique skills of Illuminating Pig. When you push his button, his snorts light up and he makes a pig noise.



Here's a near-demonstration of Drops-a-Load Pig. You only need to load him up with brown-toned jelly beans, push his back...and there he goes! ::You really need to click it big for full impact.::



Well, he almost goes. Evidently, if the poo bean is lodged lodged sideways at the, er, hole, it can cause a bit of a strain. Notice how the Soap has managed put some distance between himself and the demo? And Illuminating Pig just fell over in a dead faint. They are both thinking "We rode in a box, all the way from Idaho, with THAT?" Even Natural Lighting Snow Pig, who had just witnessed her beloved labrador eating his own doo in the snow, was mesmerized.

And that wasn't all, folks. I also received these lovely items:



Some Shea Butter soap, Knitting Girl mints, Candy hearts, an Angel Food Cake scented air freshener, ::pigs need lots of good smells around them.:: and a tiny package of Earl Gray tea. And best of all, a skein of alpaca yarn from Toots LaBlanc, and Company.

Thanks Darlin'.
Somehow I get the feeling that the Year of the Pig is behooved to be a good one!

*Cakers asked who sent me the package. I said it was from a good friend. She then started naming my friends who she knows. When she exhausted the list, she started on categories, e.g. A school friend? A work friend?

No. No. I said. As I was thinking of a way to describe internet/knitting friends, she said "I know! It's from your Imaginary Friend!"

I guess she wasn't too far off. Some friends are almost too good to be true!

Labels: Cottage, Pig Booty