I'm teaching at the Oregon Coast Children's Book Writing Workshop this week. Another writer and an agent and I were walking back to our place around 8 in the evening last night, when we saw something in the road ahead of us. Too big to be a cat, not the right color to be a dog.
I've lived in Oregon my whole life, but I've never seen a living porcupine in the wild. I so wanted to get a picture, but I forgot how to make the camera on my cheap phone zoom in, so I had to get within about ten feet, while my compatriots wisely hung back.
The picture is too blurry to see this, but he had a sad and dignified expression. And yes, I know I'm projecting.