Armadillo Christmas

Christmas markets some of the most wonderful places in existence.  This wasn't the best of Christmas markets, but it was pretty neat.  There were a lot of vendors with unusual wares... and one with a Wembley puppet.  Even though I spent no money here, I did get some vibrant photographs of the offerings, so I thought I'd share.  Saturday, I'll be sharing photos from another Austin Christmas fair, which was a little bit better.

Austin, Texas, USA

Armadillo Ambush

I have never actually seen an armadillo.  I've laughed about armadillos before- at pictures, at stuffed animals, at cartoons.  But I have not actually experienced one.  I feel like it's going to be very similar to when I saw my first possum.  It ran in front of the family car when we were stopped at an intersection.  For a couple minutes, I was completely convinced that the ROUSes from The Princess Bride were out to get me.  Yeek.  Possums are ugly mothas.  I have a feeling that armadillos are too, which kills my cartoon cuteness that lives in my brain, associated with armadillos.

Something like this:

See?  Look how cute that is!  Precious, right?  Like the ones on the statue above.  They are so adorable... little furry, shelled mammals coming out of the outer wall of an Austin restaurant just like the unicorns came out of the ocean in The Last Unicorn.  Like this:

 Alas.  I have a feeling that they will gross me out.

Austin, Texas, USA