Amanda In Bloom

california colorful 💕✨🌊🌸🌴🤍🌼

spring, girl, we are ready when you are 🌞🌷🌱🌸🫧🌼☁️🌂🌈

& a mani to match 💙💚💙

🍀✨🍌💚⭐️

cowprint casual ♠️

when the outfit is handmade, vintage, secondhand, and local 😮‍💨

red hot ❤️🌹💋

Squirrel Appreciation Day feels like a time as appropriate as any to brag about my sweet, late neighborhood friend. 🤍🐿️ If you’ve watched my stories at all over the past few years, you’ve likely seen this fluffy albino squirrel we lovingly named “Kevin.”

He (we later found out, she) would pop up all over our neighborhood in Clintonville and has been a staple of friendly conversation in person and online. This stark white squirrel, formally known as “Albi” by the neighborhood, is fearless, friendly, assumed to be over 10 years old according to our collective accounts—squirrels can live to be over 20!—and a ham for the camera. Knowing her angles and accepting many forms of compensation: peanut, almond, walnut, pecan. Taking photos of her has genuinely stepped up my photography knowledge and I ~know~ she has enjoyed my process as much as I have. 🥰🥜

I started posting these photos in my neighborhood Facebook group (I DO live in Clintonville, after all…I knew they’d be greatly appreciated) where I learned all the lore about Albi. In September, one of Albi’s biggest fans, Debbie, posted the message above and reached out to me personally to inform me of her presumed passing. I know it sounds dramatic (I can comfortably say we’re long past worrying about theatrics), but Abli was as much a neighbor as any of us! I cried when I read this and then looked at the last few photos I took of her—the last in this carousel. ☀️

If there’s a stairway to squirrel heaven, Albi surely scurried her way right up. I still look for her daily, or some lightly-colored offspring, just in case, but I’m so grateful for the special connection I had with this furry little friend. Consider this a reminder to stop and smell the roses, look up, and search for the bright spot amongst the mundane. You may find something beautiful. 🤍🐿️🥜