Photo by Rachel Oakes A few weeks ago, I was browsing through my friend Rachel Oakes' photos she had taken on a recent jaunt to a small British village, and I paused when I came across one photo. "Is that a peacock on the roof??" I asked, surprised. She explained that it was actually a straw sculpture on the thatched roof, known as a straw finial. We continued in conversation as she explained that such things were quite common in the villages around her. Meanwhile I was positively glowing...
