There’s something incredibly appealing about bistro seating.  Perhaps it’s the promise of spending time out of doors for a leisurely cup of coffee, a refreshing cold drink or a light meal.  Or perhaps it’s the memory of dining alfresco in the charmingly, compact space of a European sidewalk café.

We’re celebrating motherhood on the blog today.  This post is dedicated to caring, devoted mothers and their beloved lambs, crias, kids, foals, chicks, goslings, cygnets, piglets, cubs, calves and infants.  Get ready for a photo extravaganza!

Fine craftsmanship — manifested in attention to details and the creation of small objects — and appreciation of beauty invariably go hand in hand in Japan.”  writes Patricia Graham as she presents “beauty in miniaturization and detailed workmanship” as one of the ten key characteristics of design in Japanese culture in her book Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics and Culture.