Dadoons

I was exploring the woods behind my apartment and literally stumbled upon a raccoons nest with three babies (really more like "young teens" I guess) all piled up on top of each other. It startled me a little, but they didn't scatter-- they just looked up at me. I fought the temptation to try to pet them and snapped these shots with my cell phone camera instead. Then I got to wondering where the mother was, and figured it would be better for me to go away in case she was not as calm about me being there.

Mom used to literally hand feed the raccoons in her back yard. She called them her "dadoons" and had names for them... Crazy. I have actually played around with a children's storybook called "The Legend of the Mysterious Raccoon Lady" based on it. It's about family and death, and attempts to put loss into a hopeful and uplifting light. One of these days I'll have to work it out and see if it goes anywhere.