We loved the mural Mario Alfaro did for the bridge, and we loved that it made people pay attention to the beavers again. We have a habit of having morning tea on the porch and staring at this one narrow wall near our front door and thinking, gosh a beaver would be lovely there. So when Mario was finished painting we asked 
him to consider a smaller job for friendly beaver loving folk and showed him the space. Monday he went to work marking off the space. I’m fond of the location because its really not visible from the street, and just for us or our guests!
After he drew the oval he primed it for painting. I can’t wait to see how’s its going to look today, but here’s what we have so far. Doesn’t it remind you of an old fashioned country story front saying ‘eggs 12 cents a dozen?’ Down the block used to be an old store that children would flock to after school to drop a penny or two. This would have fit right in!
The plan is to fill it with my favorite beaver kit photo, a beaver dam and a great blue heron. And if you were going to say, ‘hey Martinez doesn’t have those’ you’d be wrong. We’ve never had them very often but we have had them. I believe this was snapped on the morning of a beaver festival lo these many years ago. This silly young bird is not likely to catch much from the footbridge, but he obviously didn’t know that.
Yesterday we shared some tea with Mario and talked about our vision. We found out he’s from El Salvador and not Mexico like I had assumed. Also he has four children in college! (One in pre-med!) He obviously can’t make enoug on murals to pay for their tuition and as a contracting business on the side. Here’s a mock-up of what we’re shooting for in the mural approximately. You know I’ll keep you posted.
The Olympic Village Beavers in Vancouver are currently enjoying some well-deserved fame and sport their own twitter account. You can follow along here, but this made me smile this morning.
Brought in a hockey stick to add to my lodge. Always thinking of my beloved @VanCanucks pic.twitter.com/onIVToTmYh
— OlympicVillageBeaver (@VancouverBeaver) May 19, 2016
