A new friend on the windowsill...........

I can honestly say with a straight face that Bren's favorite animal is a snail.

She's always been intrigued by them and has stopped many times during our walks to inspect one. But she's never grown so attached that she's inisited on making one a part of our family.

At least not until she met Anika.

We ran across this friendly little snail during a recent photo shoot. She was making her way across a weathered windowsill in downtown Newport off of Thames Street.

Madison and Bren stopped long enough to admire her and then we moved on up the street for more of the shoot and a wardrobe change. On our way back down the street, Bren was so excited that Anika was still there. She helped Bren (created a distraction suitable to the level of DONE that Bren was at the time!) to get through the rest of an exhausting shoot and wiggled her way into Bren's heart.

After lending so much inspiration, how could we possibly leave her behind?

Anika is now a full fledged member of our family. She is the most personable little snail I have ever seen. She has her own little aquarium, but tends to spend alot of the day hanging out on Bren's arm. Bren is fiercely protective of her new little friend.

When Anika is in her own space, she's usually in her shell, but when Bren picks her up she comes to life, bringing her body out of the shell as far as she can and lifting her head high, little antenneas waving as if to try to communicate her appreciation for being so cared for.

Now if you know Bren, you know what a strange combination of creatures this is. But slow moving, doscile anika and the ever in motion, bouncy Bren get along just fine.

Below are photos which chronicle the discovery, fascination and adoption of Anika the snail.......

The discovery.................

The fascination..............

Returning after continueing the photoshoot up the street...................

She's STILL here!!!!!


The adoption.........................

Anika's new home........................