Monday, December 25, 2023
Sunday, December 24, 2023
Friday, December 22, 2023
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Friday, December 8, 2023
Fairytale of New York: Singing and dancing inside Shane MacGowan's funeral
"Don't be sad because they've gone, be happy because they lived" - Sky Blue Neil
A Beautiful Send off to Shane MacGowan ☘️🇮🇪
Saturday, December 2, 2023
The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York (Official Video)
Fairytale Of New York
Shane MacGowan's wife hopes Fairytale of New York will be Christmas number one in his memory
Monday, November 20, 2023
Tanita Tikaram - Twist In My Sobriety (Official Video)
Drive your problems from here
All good people read good books
Now your conscience is clear
I hear you talk girl
Now your conscience is clear
In the morning when I wipe my brow
Wipe the miles away
I like to think I can be so willed
And never do what you say
I'll never hear you
And never do what you say
Look my eyes are just holograms
Look your love has drawn red from my hands
From my hands you know you'll never be
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
We've just poked a little empty pie
For the fun that people had at night
Late at night don't need hostility
The timid smile and pause to free
I don't care about their different thoughts
Different thoughts are good for me
Up in arms and chaste and whole
All God's children took their toll
Look my eyes are just holograms
Look your love has drawn red from my hands
From my hands you know you'll never be
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
Cup of tea, takes time to think, yeah
Time to risk a life, a life, a life
Sweet and handsome
Soft and porky
You pig out 'til you've seen the light
Pig out 'til you've seen the light
Half the people read the papers
Read them good and well
Pretty people, nervous people
People have got to sell
News you have to sell
Look my eyes are just holograms
Look your love has drawn red from my hands
From my hands you know you'll never be
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
Look my eyes are just holograms
Look your love has drawn red from my hands
From my hands you know you'll never be
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
TANITA TIKARAM - TWIST IN MY SOBRIETY 1988
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Saturday, October 14, 2023
SALEM ~ A HALLOWEEN PAINTING
★★★★SALEM ★★★★ 2023
Handmade Original
Measures 10 x 8
Material : Acrylic Painting
Signed and Dated
~Artist retains copyright ownership and all reproduction rights to the artwork.
©AnnabelleandM
I couldn't sleep but I remembered my dream... Salem returned.
Here is a spooky cute poem by
Ian Serraillier,
"Ian Serraillier was an English novelist and poet. He retold legends from England, Greece and Rome and was best known for his children's books, especially The Silver Sword, a wartime adventure story that the BBC adapted for television in 1957 and again in 1971." ~ Wikipedia
‘The Visitor’, by Ian Serraillier
A crumbling churchyard, the sea, and the moon; The waves had gouged out grave and bone;
A man was walking, late and alone...
He saw a skeleton on the ground; A ring on a bony finger he found.
He ran home to his wife and gave her the ring. “Oh, where did you get it?” He said not a thing.
“It’s the loveliest ring in the world,” she said,
As it glowed on her finger. They slipped off to bed.
At midnight they woke. In the dark outside, “Give me my ring!” a chill voice cried.
“What was that, William? What did it say?” “Don’t’ worry, my dear. It’ll soon go away.”
“I’m coming!” A skeleton opened the door. “Give me my ring!” It was crossing the floor.
“What was that, William? What did it say?” “Don’t’ worry, my dear. It’ll soon go away.”
“I’m reaching you now! I’m climbing the bed.” The wife pulled the sheet right over her head.
It was torn from her grasp and tossed in the air: “I’ll drag you out of bed by the hair!”
“What was that, William? What did it say?”
“Throw the ring through the window! THROW IT AWAY!”
She threw it. The skeleton leapt from the sill, Scooped up the ring and clattered downhill, Fainter... and fainter... Then all was still.
★★★★Salem was one of our rescues, a very special cat who had a sixth sense I'm sure.★★★★
ORIGINAL PAINTING ON SALE HERE:
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
HEART'S EASE
HEART'S EASE
I dream of a house in the country surrounded by a wildflower field and a forest beyond. The quietness and tranquility of the countryside, the absence of mental stress and anxiety, is my happy pill.
Heart's Ease is such a place I seek.
My Joy Within.
Florence has lived at Heart's Ease with his cats for a long time.
The outside world is far and away.
Monday, September 18, 2023
A GHOST'S GARDEN @ MIDNIGHT
A Ghost's garden at midnight: unkept, purposely, for a garden planted by human, supernatural, the birds and the bees was the best garden to have. Its wild beauty was unmatched by any other properly maintained garden specimen. Florence loved it that way, and so did his visitors who came.
On hot summer nights, Florence's favorite thing to do was to stroll barefoot in the garden and breathe in the flower's sweet perfume. Every once in a while, clover magically appears between his toes. Florence was amused by how the clover always wanted to dress his feet.
Monday, August 21, 2023
FLORENCE BLUME THE GHOST , BAT AND MAGGIE, OSGOODE AND PUDDING
"I look around me, and, lo! On every visage, a black veil! Pleasant is a rainy winter's day, within doors! The best study for such a day, or the best amusement,---call it which you will,--- is a book... "
The pitter-pattering of the rain on the window pane had made Florence fall asleep. It only had been a minute, although it felt like hours to Florence.
Waking in a clouded daze, he found all four cats still in the Spirit room. Osgoode was climbing up his lap while Pudding snuggled under his chin. They had come for a sleepover with Bat and Maggie. Florence had promised them some spooky stories before bedtime. Unfortunately, the little kittens had given Florence such a workout he fell asleep during Perry Mason in The Case of The Wary Wildcatter" and missed the ending. Now Florence was awake, he couldn't wait to read them the stories. Bedtime would follow and Florence could catch the ending he missed.
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin - Je t'aime... moi non plus/Original vide...
Jane Birkin 1946 - 2023.
A. timeless classic back from 1968 - Always loved it.
Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin - Je t'aime... moi non plus 1968
Je t’aime je t’aime
Oh oui je t’aime
Moi non plus
Oh mon amour
Comme la vague irrésolue
Je vais, je vais et je viens
Entre tes reins
Je vais et je viens
Entre tes reins
Et je me retiens
Je t’aime je t’aime
Oh oui je t’aime
Moi non plus
Oh mon amour
Tu es la vague, moi l’île nue
Tu vas, tu vas et tu viens
Entre mes reins
Tu vas et tu viens
Entre mes reins
Et je te rejoins
Je t’aime je t’aime
Oh oui je t’aime
Moi non plus
Oh mon amour
L’amour physique est sans issue
Je vais je vais et je viens
Entre tes reins
Je vais et je viens
Je me retiens
Non, maintenant viens
The below quote explains why it's such a beautiful song.♥️♥️♥️♥️
chocolatnoir1108
2 years ago (edited)
" this is a masterpiece that will last forever🖤 its simplicity, drums, bass, strings, organ, rhythm guitar, the male voice that’s so manly and deep - with somekindda the lowest octave of the song has while on the opposite - the female voice takes the highest octave. just brilliant, combining poets and singing. ahh,, I cant stop loving this💯✅"
Monday, June 12, 2023
NIGHT GALLERY
NIGHT GALLERY
NIGHT GALLERY on Etsy Original Painting
Rod Serling's Night Gallery, The Art of Darkness. Back in the late 1960s, one of my favorite shows I loved watching was Night Gallery. Rod Serling would start the show by presenting each horror tale in a painting he had in an Art Gallery. Artist Thomas J. Wright was the artist behind all of the spooky artwork. Rod Serling would introduce each story of every episode with one of Wright's eerie paintings. The Cemetery was one of my very favorites. I painted over a painting I did some time ago inspired by Night Gallery's The Cemetery. Adding Florence the Ghost and Bat to The Cemetery just seemed perfectly haunting. This Original Painting, Night Gallery will soon be available on Etsy. Mixed Media ORIGINAL PAINTING "Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost ♥️ Annabelle & M ♥️ © 2023
a Mixed Media ORIGINAL PAINTING
"Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost
♥️ Annabelle & M ♥️
© 2023 @batandmaggie
Monday, May 22, 2023
Saturday, May 6, 2023
ANNABELLE and M - NEW ETSY SHOP NAME
Sunday, April 23, 2023
VISITING THE ANCESTORS
Florence and Bat went on a little trip to Genova, Italy, to visit Florence's family at Cimitero di Staglieno: one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world.
Thursday, April 13, 2023
RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM - BLACK CAT PRODUCTIONS 🐾🐾🐾 -
Black Cat Productions🐾🐾🐾 Spring fever has put a stop to creativity- for now. We need a break. Still Runnin' Down a Dream
"Runnin' Down A Dream"
It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'
Trees went by, me and Del were singin'
Little runaway
I was flyin'
Yeah, runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
I felt so good, like anything was possible
Hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes
The last three days the rain was unstoppable
It was always cold, no sunshine
Yeah, runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
I rolled on, the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There's something good waitin' down this road
I'm pickin' up whatever's mine
I'm runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
Yeah, I'm runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
I'm runnin' down a dream
Saturday, April 8, 2023
HAPPY EASTER 🐣🐇
Well, I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it.
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
SWEPT AWAY TO ANOTHER WORLD - IS THERE LIFE ON MARS?
LIFE ON MARS
It's a God-awful small affairTo the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling, "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
- DAVID BOWIE **** "HE IS NOT DEAD HE IS LIVING ON MARS" @niallooo
Sunday, April 2, 2023
ANOTHER GHOST OF A CAT - GENTLEMAN X 👀🐾🐾🐾🐾🖤
ANOTHER GHOST OF A CAT - GENTLEMAN X 👀🐾🐾🐾🐾🖤
He felt someone's eyes on his face. He looked up, across the room, on the top of the picture shelf; the portrait of a gentleman cat in a smoking jacket, wearing an Ascot around his neck, looked back at him. Immediately, Florence didn't waste time and headed straight for the cat. Another painting for his collection he wanted: that's what an art collector does and doesn't worry about where it will hang. When a cat dressed in human clothing, especially when wearing an ascot, becomes available, you don't let it escape you, very rare indeed! It's what you call Anthropomorphism, animals wearing people's clothes, and in Victorian times, it was very much in fashion. Florence grabbed the painting and checked the artist's mark: as he'd suspected, a Neuville, a Mitsou Neuville.
The gentleman cat had no name, for now. There was something mysterious and captivating about the tabby cat with the pronounced M on its forehead, and the more Florence looked at him, the more he couldn't look away. It's his eyes he thought.They want to speak to me.
Another little share from the book - FLORENCE BLUME👀🖤
*ALL OUR VISITORS BRING HAPPINESS
SOME BY COMING AND OTHERS BY GOING *
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see."
A mother/daughter Ghostly Adventure, writing together for the first time about their favorite subject, the supernatural.
♥️ Annabelle & M ♥️ FLORENCE BLUME -MERRICKVILLE
© 2023
Saturday, April 1, 2023
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK - FLORENCE BLUME - 👀🖤
Florence didn't have a wife keeping count of his ever-growing collection of old things. However, it did come at a cost. He had successfully filled his house to the rafters, in the attic, in the basement, in the garage, and in the small cottage at the back of the property.
The other day, Florence found an old book at the thrift store someone had painted inside of.
One of the paintings was of a woman sitting with a cat on her lap: I wonder who she was, Florence uttered out loud, no one there to hear him.
Excerpt from the book - FLORENCE BLUME👀🖤
*ALL OUR VISITORS BRING HAPPINESS
SOME BY COMING AND OTHERS BY GOING *
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." - Happy April 1st
And A Happy Caturday🐾🐾🐾🐾
A mother/daughter Ghostly Adventure, writing together for the first time about their favorite subject, the supernatural.
♥️ Annabelle & M ♥️ © 2023
Friday, March 31, 2023
A GHOST OF A CAT🐾🐾🐾🐾
Maggie and Bats' mom, Shy, came for her dinner and then left.
How's that for gratitude?
She was never a mom; she hated her job and chose to abandon her three kittens in our backyard. After all, she was just a cat! A cat who was overwhelmed by the enormity of parenthood to three kittens.
Maggie was left to take care of her little brother, Bat. A sister and now his mother; she protected him and did a good job.
After all, she was just a cat - with a heart!
Good thing Maggie turned out right. Bat certainly, would not have faired well outdoors.
I wish we had done more to keep Shy and tame her: maybe she would have cared more for her babies. She is only a memory now and a screen saver.
Early mornings always remind me my cat Maggie has never forgotten. She will come and sit on my lap, snuggle, and purr, and the minute I open my computer and the screensaver comes on, she perks up and stares. She remembers.
“Mother is a verb as well as a noun. We all, male and female, have the capacity to mother others.
And we can each, always, mother ourselves.”
― Orna Ross
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
DO NOT STAND BY MY GRAVE , AND WEEP
Florence Blume - A Ghost Story {Merrickville} Annabelle&M © 2023
Do not stand
By my grave, and weep.
I am not there,
I do not sleep—
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
Do not stand
By my grave, and cry—
I am not there,
I did not die.
-Clare Harner 1934
@batandmaggie @hauntedwalk @rideau_walkingtours @painteral613 @writerswarmth
#painting #blackandwhite #catart #spooky #halloween #storypainting #bookstagram #instagood #beauty#beautiful#merrickville #haunted #afterlife #supernatural #cemetery #graveyard #Annabelle&m #love #moon#moonlight#florenceblume #trees #ghostadventures #spookyseason #blackcat #picoftheday #instadaily #art #poem#donotstandatmygraveandweep
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Friday, March 17, 2023
Happy Saint Patrick's Day! ☘️
Happy Saint Patrick's Day! ☘️
Sometimes, you have to believe in ghosts, fairies, and the luck of the Irish.
This little black pussy cat was rescued early this morning on Saint Patty's Day. Florence picked up the tiny creature who wasn't quite ready for upstairs with some help from the fairies. They lent Florence their Fairy's ladder made of Lily of the Valley. The fragrance was heavenly. Now, Florence had a new kitten to name.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day! ☘️
This is a very old Irish poem written by a monk in the 8th or 9th century.
"Pangur was a common name for cats at that place and time and the word “Ban” means white in Gaelic."
Pangur Ban - THE IRISH CAT POEM (vulpeslibris.wordpress.com)
I and Pangur Ban, my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at;
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will;
He, too, plies his simple skill.
'Tis a merry thing to see
At our task how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.
Oftentimes a mouse will stray
Into the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.
'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.
When a mouse darts from its den.
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!
So in peace our tasks we ply,
Pangur Ban, my cat and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine, and he has his.
Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade ;
I get wisdom day and night,
Turning Darkness into light.'
Translation by Robin Flowers
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
FLORENCE BLUME
The isle of green was an easy place to fall in love with flowers. Florence knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
He was a professor at the nearby college and taught Botany.
All his free time was spent tending the gardens surrounding his home, always in the company of his two cats, Maggie and Bat.
Florence had a favorite flower, The Lily of the Valley, and his favorite season was Spring. One night, after dinner, while listening to his classical music and reading poetry, he came across a poem by Tchaikovsky, 'Lilies of the Valley '- He had discovered a kindred spirit who loved the same season and flower as he. The two souls had the same thought, after death, darkness, or light? Florence knew the joys of the earth; before and after his death.
LILIES OF THE VALLEY -TCHAIKOVSKY
"I wait for spring. And now the enchantress appears,
The wood has cast off its shroud
And prepares for us shade,
And the rivers start to flow, and the grove is filled with sound,
And at last, the long-looked-for day is here!
Quick to the woods!—I race along the familiar path.
Can my dreams have come true, my longings be fulfilled?—
There he is! Bending to the earth, with trembling hand
I pluck the wondrous gift of the enchantress Spring.
O lily of the valley, why do you so please the eye?
Other flowers there are more sumptuous and grand,
With brighter colours and livelier patterns,
Yet they have not your mysterious fascination.
Where lies the secret of your charms? What do you prophesy to the soul?
With what do you attract me, with what gladden my heart?
Is it that you revive the ghost of former pleasures,
Or is it future bliss that you promise us?" excerpt from Lilies of The Valley was written by Tchaikovsky in December 1878 while he was in Florence.
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Return To Happiness
Sunday, March 12, 2023
AN AFTERLIFE TO LOVE
An Afterlife To Love
What's not to love? A quiet wild where your home is a little cottage secluded in the wood no one knows exists. Alone, with your cats and your books.
In life on earth, I was never one for being a social butterfly. I found it such a chore and so exhausting being in company. I preferred retiring home with my cats; they were my favored companions. Don't get me wrong, I do like, some people. I like some ghosts: they never really change when they die. But living quietly with the sound of my cat's purr on my lap, a good book to read, my 8th cup of coffee, and the birds singing in the garden makes an afterlife to love.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see."
As I mentioned before, these paintings are almost complete. If I feel something I've missed in the process, I will return to it and add in hopefully, removing nothing else from the illustration. Editing not only the writing but the illustrations as well. Some may never make it into the book.
A mother/daughter Ghostly Adventure, writing together for the first time about their favorite subject, the supernatural.
♥️ Annabelle & M ♥️
© 2023