Happy Saint Patty's Day 🍀🍀🍀🍀

Happy Saint Patty's Day 🍀🍀🍀🍀

Happy Saint Patty's Day 🍀🍀🍀🍀

 Happy Saint Patty's Day 🍀🍀🍀🍀

HEART'S EASE

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.

MAKE A TINY SHEET GHOST FOR HALLOWEEN

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

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. 

When I was little, my aunt Virgina brought me to a beautiful garden. I remember the air being hot, dry, and infused with the smell of pine. We wandered through a maze of mysterious sculptured figures and monuments so elaborate in intricate detail, so life-like, I was sure the people were alive under the dusty marble facades. We were visiting our ancestors. The garden was a cemetery, and it was gorgeous. Ghosts of the past are here in their final resting place. And what a beautiful place to be in death. Cimitero Monumental di Staglieno; haunting and so beautiful. I was never to forget it. 

Below is an excerpt of what the American writer Mark Twain said after visiting Staglieno :

 “Our last sight was the cemetery (a burial place intended to accommodate 60,000 bodies), and we shall continue to remember it after we shall have forgotten the palaces. It is a vast marble colonnaded corridor extending around a great unoccupied square of ground; its broad floor is marble, and on every slab is an inscription - for every slab covers a corpse. On either side, as one walks down the middle of the passage, are monuments, tombs, and sculptured figures that are exquisitely wrought and are full of grace and beauty. They are new and snowy; every outline is perfect, every feature guiltless of mutilation, flaw, or blemish; and therefore, to us these far-reaching ranks of bewitching forms are a hundred fold more lovely than the damaged and dingy statuary they have saved from the wreck of ancient art and set up in the galleries of Paris for the worship of the world." 

"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." 

GENOA: Stunning sculptures 🏛️, Monumental Cemetery (Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno)

@batandmaggie @hauntedwalk @rideau_walkingtours @harpercollinsch@ottawabloggers #art #artgallery#ghost #bookstagram #book #booklover #catart #story #instagram #instagood#instadaily #insta #cimiteromonumentale#cimitero#cemetery #halloween #grave #beautiful #haunting

SWEPT AWAY TO ANOTHER WORLD - IS THERE LIFE ON MARS?

SWEPT AWAY TO ANOTHER WORLD - IS THERE LIFE ON MARS?

The crashing waves on a hot summer's day playfully mix with the crescendos of Life on Mars that's playing inside my head. Dreaming under a shy sun, we have been swept away: to another world. Is there life on Mars?

WIP  

★ LEFT SIDE OF PAINTING IN THE SAND SPELLS BOWIE ★

"HE IS NOT DEAD HE IS LIVING ON MARS"@niallooo

"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

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

 

BAT TUB

Bat, bathing in the moonlight, at midnight, in the dark, in the woods, alone. 

My daughter hijacked my painting; no stars, no flowers, no more cats, and no ghosts. Maybe, Halloween? She named it Bat Tub.




“The moon can never breathe, but it can take our breath away with the beauty of its cold, arid orb.” 

― Munia Khan




"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see."

MY HAUNTED HEART

Becoming old isn't all bad. There are perks like spending your retirement years searching the beyond and wondering about your next life. 👀Will we have a home like here on earth with a willow tree and a pond? A pet or two, maybe a cat and a dog or more? Will the afterlife be the heaven God promised us? One day will have the answers.

BAT @batandmaggie

MAGGIE @batandmaggie

When I was very young, I was unaware of death. And when I did discover the sad truth about life ending one day, that we didn't live forever, the afterlife started haunting my heart. Since then, I've fallen in love with ghosts and cats, the living ones. Of course, books about ghosts/ cats are a favorite. Why not write one of our own? So, here is the next installment of our Ghost Book illustrations. 

Bat, Maggie, and their ghost are in their Victorian cottage hidden in the secret woods no one knows.


"Maybe, we do go home, finally " - Anne Rice


"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

MOONSTRUCK ON CAT ISLAND AND HAPPY CATURDAY 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐈‍⬛

I HAVE LOVED AND ADMIRED SIDNEY POITIER ALL MY LIFE. THE FIRST TIME I SAW HIM ON FILM WAS "TO, SIR WITH LOVE" AND FROM THAT IST PERFORMANCE I KNEW HIS KIND SOUL. I COULD FEEL IT RADIATE THROUGH THE TELEVISION SCREEN.

SIDNEY POITIER WAS BORN ON AN ISLAND TUCKED FAR AWAY IN THE BLUE WATERS OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA. CAT ISLAND IN THE BAHAMAS WAS HIS HOME. WHAT A MAGICAL PLACE IT MUST HAVE BEEN. IT WAS HERE ON THE TINY ISLAND HE WAS TAUGHT BY HIS PARENTS THE VALUES AND MORALS TO KEEP CLOSE TO HIS HEART ON HIS LIFE'S JOURNEY.

"IN THE KIND OF PLACE I GREW UP, RECALLS POITIER, "WHAT'S COMING AT YOU IS THE SOUND OF THE SEA AND THE SMELL OF THE WIND AND MOMMA'S VOICE AND THE VOICE OF YOUR DAD AND THE CRAZINESS OF YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ... AND THAT'S IT"

I READ "THE MEASURE OF A MAN" BY SIDNEY POITIER, HIS SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY, AND FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM ALL OVER AGAIN. 

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BEAUTIFUL BOOK!♥️

THEN, JUST RECENTLY, I WATCHED OPRAH WINFREY'S DOCUMENTARY ON HIM, "SIDNEY". NATURALLY, I WAS LEFT THINKING OF HIM AND CAT ISLAND AND INSPIRED. 

BAT WEIGHING .8 OF A POUND THE NIGHT WE BROUGHT HIM INSIDE 

BAT ONE OF MY FAV PHOTOS OF HIM TAKEN BY MY DAUGHTER EMMA

BAT THIS MORNING LOL 

I PAINTED BAT, OUR BLACK CAT RESCUE WEIGHED A MERE .8 OF A POUND WHEN HE CAME TO US AND HAD LITTLE CHANCE OF SURVIVING, BUT HE WAS DETERMINED TO LIVE. HE WILL BE 6 YEARS OLD THIS OCTOBER 27TH. I DECIDED TO PAINT HIM IN MY REVIVED PAINTING OF "GHOSTS IN THE MOONLIGHT". WHAT BETTER PLACE FOR A CAT TO LIVE THAN ON CAT ISLAND IN THE BAHAMAS.

MIXED MEDIA OIL PAINTING ON WOOD 

MOONSTRUCK ON CAT ISLAND 2022 ANNABELLE ...I  FORGOT TO SIGN IT, LOL

THANK YOU SIR♥️

  HAPPY CATURDAY FROM CAT ISLAND 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐈‍⬛

INSTAGRAM POST WITH SOUNDTRACK FROM PRACTICAL MAGIC  - ALAN SILVESTRI

LOVE - HAPPY CATURDAY ❤️♥️🐾🐾🐾🐾❤️♥️

"Love" HAPPY CATURDAY❤️♥️🐾🐾🐾❤️♥️ for the March 26th Theme - "Favorites" 

Maggie and Bat, an archived photo of the two little rascals showing their brotherly/sisterly love.

In 1982 we married. I wanted the long veil that Princess Diana wore on her wedding day in 1981 and this song for our wedding. I didn't get either one. I gave the John Lennon record to my dad to give the DJ, unfortunately: he left it on the back dash of the car and warped. Not a purrfect wedding, a lot of things went wrong that day. After all these years, we are still married.


❤️♥️ LOVE ❤️♥️

Love is real, real is love

Love is feeling, feeling love

Love is wanting to be loved




Love is touch, touch is love

Love is reaching, reaching love

Love is asking to be loved




Love is you

You and me

Love is knowing

we can be




Love is free, free is love

Love is living, living love

Love is needing to be loved






LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE

❤️LOVE ❤️- JOHN LENNON 

PRIVATE EYES ARE WATCHING YOU👀👀👀🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾👀👀👀👀

HAPPY CATURDAY FOR THE MARCH 19TH THEME - SPYMASTERS 

MAGGIE WENT AHEAD AND OPENED THE DETECTIVE AGENCY ON HER OWN THIS WEEKEND. BAT HAD PREVIOUS OBLIGATIONS TO ATTEND.




👀👀🐾🐾🐾🐾👀👀 "MAGGIE CAT DETECTIVE AGENCY", 👀👀🐾🐾👀👀LOL! 

SHE COULDN'T WAIT FOR BAT AND WENT AHEAD AND PUT UP THE SIGN. I'M SURE BAT WOULDN'T BE TOO IMPRESSED.☺️👀👀


You can't escape my

Private eyes

They're watching you

They see your every move

Private eyes

They're watching you

Private eyes

They're watching you watching

You watching you watching you



PRIVATE EYES

HALL & OATS 1981

IF ONLY IT TOOK JUST A CAT IN A HAT TO CLEAN UP THE MESS! 🌍🌎🌏 MONDAY THOUGHTS

THE CAT IN THE HAT

MAGGIE MAY & BATMAN

Our sweethearts, Maggie May & Batman are all snuggled and cozy and ready for bed. Maggie May's nickname derives from the Rod Stewart song of the same name. Maggie is a little princess and loves human companionship. She loves to cuddle and kiss and can't be left alone.

And Batman, well, Little Bat and his sister were orphaned and left in the cold. The little cat that looked more like a tiny teeny bat fought the odds and lives today with a passion for studying the wildlife in our front yard.

Goodnight Sweehearts♥️❤️🐾🐾🐾🐾♥️❤️


For The February 5th Happy Caturday Theme - Nicknames

HAPPY CATURDAY♥️❤️🐾🐾🐾🐾❤️♥️



Goodnight Sweetheart - Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians , Carmen Lombardo Vocals 1931

Happy Caturday - October 23rd Theme - Heros

I, I will be Batman,

And you, you will be my Super Girl

"We can be heroes just for one day."

HEROS - David Bowie

STORY BOOK DAYS THE CRAZY CAT LADY COLORING BOOK

Story Book Days ☆★.٭•:*:•٭.★☆ ☆★.٭•:*:•٭

Every day is a lesson learned. I seriously need to keep a book on computer tech stuff because I tend to forget just about everything I have learned through the years. This morning I searched on creating a watermark and managed to make one in pink for M''s illustration of "E.T." the Cat from the coloring book we are presently working on, "The Crazy Cat Lady Coloring Book".©

We are busy adding coloring pages to our Etsy store every day, working on illustrations, paintings, and writing stories; of course, still working on my snowy quilt, 157 posies from one ball of yarn ( 454g )so far.
"Sleep Walk " ~ is one of several paintings which is part of a story  painted by me

Victorian Roses ~ Finally listed this set on Etsy 

GHOSTALES ~ ETSY SHOP
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GHOSTALES