Well, it's almost here. The long-awaited follow up film to "A Knock at the Door." The film will debut next week and we couldn't be happier. This project has a loonng history. I started making it in 2005, obtained the music rights and got it pretty much finished in 2006. Then the project took a back seat as we began to shift focus, and much of our attention was placed on creating products for other publishers, a more-than-full time job. The good news was, in 2007, we had interest from a publisher who wanted to make a gift book and DVD set, like A Knock at the Door, then well, yanno what happened. The economy started tanking, Borders book stores filed for bankruptcy, all the big chains started slashing their orders and our book proposal went down with lots of other creative projects.

But this film is like a phoenix rising. It's been killed several times and rises again and again! This time, in triumph. We hope you love it as much as we do. It feels incredibly personal, as it captures the essence of what Duirwaigh is all about, and what I, personally, wish to contribute to the world at large and small. 

My wish is that the inner child in each of us would waken, take us by the hand, and lead us into the realms of imagination and believing, where dreams come true impossible things happen every day. And there we'd dwell. And here we'd dwell. Simultaneously embracing our possibilities and our practicalities. Living our legend, we embrace our once upon a time. Here and Now.

Thanks to those of you who've contributed names to our dearest new friend and mousecott. We celebrated all the love last night with our first piece of cheese! Yum!

Ok, so here's the deal. We've launched an official contest to NAME THAT MOUSECOTT! And we'd like to see all contributions on the forum, please. There's a thread post named "contests" and it's located there. (don't worry if you already submitted, we'll include all the suggestions in the blog comment field in our contest!)

Now, for the juicy bit. Aimee is going to take one of my photos of this little guy and create an art print for the winner. Should any of you doubt the adorableness of her creations, just check out this piece entitled "Dandemouselings." 

So now...read closely! The idea here is that this little guy is a mousecott for Duirwaigh, so we're looking for a name that is somehow associated with what we do: art, inspiration, musings, doorways, enchantment, fairy tales, etc. So while "Queso" is quite simply a smashing name, we'd prefer to name him something somehow related to our studio.

Ready? Set? GO! NAME THAT MOUSECOTT! I'd like to have enough names to finish by July 1. Aimee's already creating!

If you've been following Angi in Wonderland, you know I've been raising three blind mice. I think that officially makes me Mother Goose. Or maybe I'm Stepmother Goose? Two of the babies have died along the way, but the scrappiest little guy survived and is, today, going to Santa Fe with Silas and I to pick out a Pet Smart mousie condo.

 We've decided, that since he was born IN our design studio at a time when we were working 24/7 to bring about the "New Duirwaigh", that he must be intended to be our mascott. I mean our mousecott.

 I had temporarily named this guy Squiggle, to go with his brother Dot, as they seemed apt names for mice found in an art studio. But they kind of a duo, and with the passing of Dot, Squiggle just doesn't feel so much like Squiggle. He wants to stand on his own. Like the Cheese in Farmer in the Dell.

 So help us name him! Post your suggestions as comments to this blog entry. When we have a good bit to choose from, we'll run a poll of the top three choices and YOU GUYS can decide!

A little bit about him:

He was the runt of the family. The smallest, squirmiest and finikiest of the bunch.

As of today, he's 3.5 weeks old. He eats five times a day (still puppy milk). And last Thursday he opened his eyes to the world.

He's a bit of a daredevil. So far he's hiked through the forests of Taos Mountain,  dined at an Indian Restaurant, and taken a hot air balloon ride. He also is attendant on our daily walks: two humans, two chihuahas, a pack of wild dogs, and a mouse. Quite the sport.

He likes fairy tales. Desperaux is his favorite.