SEASONS OUT OF TIME - VELVET PUMPKINS

Velvet Pumpkins in blue velvet with tiny real pumpkin stems, vintage porcelain Forget-Get-Not flowers, german glass glitter, silver hearts and, dot confetti. 

 I'm living in the past in a season out of time, watching old film reels and creating old vintage souvenirs. Seasons out of time always seem to inspire me the most. I'm not sure if it's my longing for a season or just something from that time of year I miss. Maybe, there's good reason for my fanciful twists in the year. Maybe, I traveled here from somewhere out of time : ) Or maybe, it's just my way of living in my happy place.

 

TO CATCH A GHOST

Do Cats See Ghosts? 

Well, I think they do.

Bat and Maggies' New Year's Resolution: To Catch A Ghost and bring it to me. Be it, mouse, bird, bat, or human. : ) 

ANY FRIENDLY GHOST WILL DO, CASPER, GUS, OR MAYBE EVEN THE GHOST OF MR. CHICKEN : ) 🐾🐾.                🐾




👀Remember, these cats have Supernatural Spooktacular Senses: they can hunt anything down, even ghosts!




FOR JANUARY HAPPY CATURDAY THEME: YOUR CATS NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION




HAPPY CATURDAY ❤️🐾🐾          🐾  



Have you seen this movie?

THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN 

"MAPLE SPIRIT " -The bLUE aRTIST, A Moon, and Cloud Study, and Then Inspiration Strikes!

"MAPLE SPIRIT " 

The Blue Artist - I'm afraid I haven't grasped hold of color mixing skills, or, for that matter, painting clouds, water, trees or the flowers, the birds and the bees, cats and dogs, just about everything there is to paint, but that's ok, part of the journey is learning the art. 
A few weeks ago, I went for a country drive along the Rideau River to look for pussy willows. I make it a habit to take a particular route home passing through Burritts Rapids, a tiny hamlet I love. Right before I turned onto county road 2, I noticed a few of the maple trees at Christ Church had buckets placed on them to collect maple syrup. Not wanting my coffee to get any colder since I had already left it earlier while picking the pussy willows I found, I opted to skip taking their photo. It was only yesterday I told my husband and daughter of the maple trees at the church.
Stan chuckled at the thought of collecting maple syrup from maple trees surrounding the church. He asked me, " Is that the same church with the cemetery at the back where we went for a walk last year"? 
"Well, he had the name already picked out, and my daughter, the picture in her mind; I just had to paint it. 
"Maple Spirit"; sort of sounds like a brand of maple syrup. Don't you think? And so, the moon and cloud study I was working on got a landscape below. Love how inspiration strikes.

FRIED PUMPKIN BLOSSOMS 🎃🎃🎃🌼🌼🌼

Last night's frost killed our pumpkin patch.

Only spooky white ghosts peeked from beneath the black weepy leaves of the pumpkin patch, no Atlantic Orange, no Fairytales.

However, there were lots of beautiful orange pumpkin blossoms left that managed to survive, so I made Fried Pumpkin Blossoms.

RECIPE HERE: MAMA'S FRIED PUMPKIN BLOSSOMS

AND HOW TO FREEZE AND FRY:

FRESH PUMPKIN BLOSSOMS WITH INSTRUCTIONS VIDEO OF FREEZING & FRYING FROM LYLE HORNER'S KITCHEN 

 

SIXTY SECONDS TO WHAT? POOF, OUT LIKE A LIGHT! 💤 HAPPY CATURDAY! THE FELINE ART OF ZEN 🐱🐾🐾🐾

September 19th theme ~ The Feline art of Zen

SIXTY SECONDS TO WHAT? POOF, OUT LIKE A LIGHT! 💤

A hypnotic melody, say like, The El Indio Theme with music box included, sleep comes in seconds. At least it did for Bat.

Cats love art, cats love music, and cats love to sleep.
They sure know how to seize the moment. 

"Every second is of infinite value."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

For A Few Dollars More Soundtrack ~ El Indio Theme ( expanded)

In England 🇬🇧

It was in the summer of 1977, the year of HRH Queen's Silver Jubilee, and Queen was playing in London the night we arrived in England.
We never bothered with reserving a room at a hotel, and by the end of the evening, we still had not found an affordable place to sleep.
Finding something to eat tho, was less of a challenge: Fish and Chips wrapped in newsprint was perfect for our very first meal in the UK, and the unexpected extra that came with the dinner helped us find a place to sleep: under the park bench of where we earlier sat and ate our meal.
What we didn't expect was on company joining us that evening.
A young fellow who had attended the Queen concert earlier that night had missed the last train home and asked if we could share one of our sleeping bags with him: of course, we girls obliged.
Strangely, in the wee morning hours, he was gone.
England, already, was being spooky.


The following night we arrived in Scarborough, again with no reservations. It wasn't too long before someone spotted our Canadian flags on our backpacks, two fellows from a neighboring karate school who graciously offered us a room for the night but, that didn't turn out too well when their coach walked in with the rest of the class and canceled our room. So we resumed our search. Walking past a nightclub closing its doors for the night, Grace Jones singing La Vie En Rose drifting in the night air, I felt a hand pat my backpack: it was a policeman. We had finally found a place for the night, the local police station. They felt sorry for us Canadians and put us up for the night.
The morning came early with a hot cup of coffee; I took one last look into the large glass mirror in the room before heading out, paused, and then wondered. Naw!


Side notes:
I love keeping old things in small, glass cases reminding me of the past. I bought this pin of the Union Jack when I was in England and pinned it to what I believe to be a Royal Navy WW1 Petty Officers Cloth Bullion Cap Badge. Might be British or Canadian, either one, I love the fact that I now own one.


And this song was playing all over the airwaves in the late seventies. It always takes me back to the night we spent in Scarborough, England, the time of The Queen's Jubilee, and the room with a two-way mirror? lol


Grace Jones classic '77 track 

"Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose" Edith Piaf

Bat's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw~ Happy Caturday!

After retiring to bed late last night, my cell phone kept going off with text messages. My husband, annoyed by the numerous tinkling spells, asked me to hand him my phone and turned it off. Still drowned in sleep, it didn't occur to me until a few minutes later that it probably was my daughter, Emma texting me photos of Bat she had just taken earlier in the evening. I looked at the screen, sure enough, Bat was looking back at me.

So I got up and joined Emma in the living room, had some good laughs at all of the funny poses, picked a few we liked and went back to bed.

Of course, what came to mind looking at Bat hiding inside the old flowerpot was T.S. Eliot's story of 

'Macavity - The Mystery Cat.'

Used the filter here and made it a bit spookier

Original

PHOTO BY EMMA ( M )

"For he's the master criminal who can defy the law.

Bat, Bat, there's no one like Bat, There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity. He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare: And whatever time the deed took place - BAT WASN'T THERE!"

Only this time we caught you, Bat!

THE QUIET GARDEN ~ OIL PAINTING ON WOOD PLANK WIP 🖼

Abandoned and forgotten, this painting I started in April may yet see life.
I almost burned it on a few bonfire nights but, it somehow escaped.
And then, looking at the rough sketches of the painting, I took another look at the wood plank and was intrigued by the light and shading of the colors breaking through the Cyprus trees. I think it might be worth my time to finish what I started.

The Quiet Garden ~ Oil on wood plank WIP 🖼

Where did I get the inspiration for this painting? 

The Quiet Garden at The Saint John the Baptist Anglican Church in Richmond, Ontario. 

In times past, when my daughter was in school, Grace, our golden and I would go to Richmond, take a long walk in the park by the river until M finished her class.
Then, one day, Grace and I came across The Quiet Garden next to a beautiful cemetery behind the Anglican church.
The garden became our special place to retreat to after a long walk, Grace and I taking a little rest before picking up M.
These days, I don't go there often, but when I do, I see the golden girl sitting next to me by the garden bench. 😢🦮


"Today" ~ Mary Oliver


Today I’m flying low and I’m
not saying a word
I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.
The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little,
the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.
And so forth.
But I’m taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move though really I’m traveling
a terrific distance.
Stillness. One of the doors
into the temple.

The Little Prince 💜

Our little garden pet, Prince💜


“Always throw spilt salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Plant lavender for good luck. And fall in love whenever you can. 

Happiness is not about getting what we want.

It’s about appreciating what we have.”
Meet our little garden pet, Prince💜
Photo by@murtagh13@ghostales1957

Night Sun 🌻

Night Sun

The garden has become quiet and gone to sleep. The season in the sun is running out of time: yet, this little night sun tells me something else.

Just not ready for the end of summer.

A Mysterious Presence - Eyes of March March 7th 👀

Spooky old B & W flicks are great to watch and these two cats, Bat and sister Maggie adore watching them with us. They see things we don't see 👀 We believe in ghosts. Do you?

Photo by M Three Cats A Dog and A Camera 

Blue, Blue , My World Is Blue 💙

... in a room with no view

Maggie usually sits and watches me paint and when she tires of doing that she looks out the window of the room but these days, Emma has a cat video camera set up in front of the window. Nothin to see😿💙

PAUL MAURIAT ~ LOVE IS BLUE  

                 ~ L'amour e blu

                              

This song was #1 on February 28th, 1968 


Photo by M Three Cats A Dog and A Camera 

"Draw me like one of your french girls"

The eyes.😹

Emma comes up with such gorgeous and funny photos of her cats. Love the tag line she used for this photoshoot from the Titanic movie where Rose tells Jack,

 "Draw me like one of your french girls. "

Purrfect!

You can see more of her cat pictures on her  Instagram account~

Three Cats, A Dog, and A Camera

Our Lucky Charm 🤒🤧😷 Our Black Cat Can Charm All ill Away

Our Lucky Charm 🤒🤧😷

Here is an old Welsh Verse about Black Cats I think is cute

"A black cat, I’ve heard it said,
Can charm all ill away,
And keep the house wherein she dwells
From fever’s deadly sway."

Photo by M

Photo by M

We Found Halloween🎃

On our way home from soccer, last night
we found Halloween🎃
It was a dark and rainy Halloween this year but someone did some magic 🧙‍♀️🧹and gave us Halloween🎃👻🦇🕷🕸 

And I just have to share this🦇 Purrfect Spooky Halloween Photo of Bat taken by M. 🧙‍♀️
https://www.instagram.com/murtagh13/

Thumbelina Bat ~ How Bat 🦇 Got His Name

When we brought Bat home with us from The Ottawa Humane Society, the staff had covered him with a pink crochet blanket, only his face was showing. He looked like a tiny bat. Photograph by my daughter M

A Ghostly Pumpkin Brioche of Roast Beef for Supper 🎃

M baked us some Pumpkin Bread 🎃

No, it's not Brioche but maybe I can convince her to bake Brioche Buns next time.

HAUNTED FOOD? This never happened before when M baked Pumpkin Bread.🎃 Paranormal activity? I think the yeast is haunted 👀😂

I think these 🎃Pumpkin Bread buns are simply scrumptious with leftover roast beef!

Oh, and Bat thought so too.

 🎃  A Purrrrrrfect Ghostly Pumpkin Brioche of Roast Beef!🎃 

Happy Birthday, M🧡🎃🧡

Happy Birthday, M🧡🎃🧡 🎂

& 

Happy Birthday to Little Bat and Maggie, too 🧡🎃🧡🎂🎂🐱🐱


A year ago today your 2 little rescues🐱🐱showed up at the back door and chose you ❣️to be their mom 😂

Wishing you a wonderful Birthday filled with Magic🍀☘️🐱🐱🍀☘️


Lots of Love Mom, Dad & Ty❤️xxxoooxxxooo❤️❤️❤️ 

Just a little reminder of your special gifts you received last October 27th/2017 : )

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN ~ PIONEER NURSERY PUMPKIN PATCH

BROTHER & SISTER RESCUES, MAGGIE & LITTLE BAT 

ALWAYS BUSY LOOKING AT BIRDS, IN REAL TIME OR ON YOUTUBE, BOTH WORK AND ARE GREAT BABYSITTERS : )

LITTLE BAT & WITCH

LITTLE BAT

LITTLE BAT

LITTLE BAT ~ THE PRECIOUS LITTLE BUG🕷

MAGGIE

LITTLE BAT AND MAGGIE'S MOM AND DAD

THE DAD ~ "GREEN EYES" CAUGHT ON VIDEO

THE MOM ~ "SHY"

AND A MUCH NEEDED CAT NAP FOR THE OLD FELLOW, KARSON.

WISH WE COULD KEEP THEM ALL❤️🐱🐈

I ain't afraid of Friday the 13th !

I ain't afraid of Friday the 13th !

Little Bat hiding under the table but he insists he isn't afraid of Friday the 13th!

Photograph by M