Meeting a Real Owl That Inspired the Secret Treehouse

He was sitting quietly on our mango tree just as dusk arrived. His amber eyes didn't blink once, and I knew right away he had a story he wanted painted.

We watched him for almost twenty minutes without saying a word, worried that even a whisper would send him flying off. Papa took one photo on his phone, but I already had the shapes memorized — the round face, the tufted crown of feathers that looked almost like a tiny gold headband.

That's how the owls in my treehouse painting got their little crowns. They aren't royalty in a fairytale — they're just owls who happen to look like kings and queens of the branch.