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!

BETWEEN THE COVERS OF A BOOK 😽📕

“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”

~ E.B.WHITE

When,

at that moment, the secret charm of your cat appears before you: how human is he, reading a book, and in the company of his new friend, Charlotte.

HAPPY CATURDAY!😽

For September 5th/2020 Theme,

"Book Titles".


Charlotte's Web 🕷🕸🐖

~E.B.WHITE


“A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people - people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book."

Bat has a new friend, Charlotte the spider.

Bat, you are one TERRIFIC CAT!😻

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

A PUMPKIN FAIRYTALE 🎃

A PUMPKIN FAIRYTALE

"Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold."
~ John Greenleaf Whittier

When pumpkins give you Fairytales: The quiet garden, still and fragrant after the rain and then I spot from afar little orange golden suns. Its the Pumpkin Patch once again! The pumpkin flowers and the little pumpkins are reaching out coming towards our house: I think they are trying to tell us a fairytale. 


PUMPKIN CAT AND PUMPKIN BAT

A PUMPKIN FAIRYTALE

"Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold."
~ John Greenleaf Whittier

When pumpkins give you Fairytales: The quiet garden, still and fragrant after the rain and then I spot from afar little orange golden suns. Its the Pumpkin Patch once again! The pumpkin flowers and the little pumpkins are reaching out coming towards our house: I think they are trying to tell us a fairytale. 


PUMPKIN CAT AND PUMPKIN BAT

Pumpkin fairies and pumpkin pie, jack o' lanterns of pumpkin cats and pumpkin bats under the light of the silvery moon, oh so many ways the pumpkin patch gives to our imagination. I can't wait for the great pumpkin but, I don't think we have the time for one, not much summer left.

I love rain and so do pumpkins. After last night's rainfall, the garden grew and bloomed some more, and the fairytale pumpkin's bloom was the fairest of them all until this silly girl tried to kill the cucumber bug sitting in the center of the flower. I caught the bug: but I got the flower too. Delicate is the flower of the pumpkin so, beware, look, but don't touch. 

The quiet garden, still and fragrant after the rain and then I spot from afar little orange golden suns.

I think I'm in love with Pumpkin Flowers 🧡🧡🧡🧡🎃



 

And the little bug I guess did less harm than me. Don't touch the Pumpkin Flowers!

Have you noticed all the flowers look like stars? Magical!.

No matter in whose garden this little vine grows, and grows and grows and blooms and blooms and blooms

A whimsical garden another name for a messy garden. 

Nicotiana is one of my favorite, white, fragrant, and starry. A must-have in my garden.

I may never stop dreaming of a cottage by the sea or in the wood, and the stories my garden tells keeps me happy where I am, for now.

THE DREAM AND THE VISITOR

I couldn't sleep but I remembered my dream... Salem returned.

‘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.




THE VISITOR BY IAN SERRAILLIER

Home, for the moment, is our refuge...Rosebud🌹

The news this morning...stay at home.

Its a broken record on repeat, people sick of hearing it but the truth is its good advice for everyone. 

We are not the bird in a cage or the boy in the bubble we have the freedom to take a walk whenever the need should arise. 

I wrote a post ~ Rosebud 🌹 over a year ago when my husband and I were thinking of early retirement. 

Looking back now, I see we made the right choice.

Stay At Home 🏡

 “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” ~ Orson Welles

Pussycat Pussycat Where Have You Been?🍀☘️🌱🌿🌷

🌷🍀☘️🌱🌿

I sneaked into M's room to visit her flowers.

Oooh, and?

When I saw a plant with teeth open its mouth I ran under the chair.

Ask M if she can grow you some Cat Grass 🌱

image ~ Wiki How

 I think you guessed the plant that scared Bat under the chair to be the mysterious, meat-eating loving plant  The Venus Flytrap . A little reading and research might just be all you need to successfully grow one of these unusual plants.




Good Luck 🍀

The Secret of the Old Book 📖

The smell of old books. There's a word for that, Catsbibliosmia, 😹 but seriously, it's called Bibliosmia. I love the smell of old books and  Maggie loves it too. 

I love collecting old books, not because of their distinctive odor although it is one of their capturing attributes but because I love the stories, the illustrations and of course their covers that draw me into their worlds. 

The smell of old books derives from the Lignin content, the fibers, and chemicals used in the bookmaking of that particular book. Through time, the Lignin content breaks down to form compounds like vanillin and furfural, which are the elements that produce a smell much like vanilla and almond. Combine these scents with their environment they originated from, maybe from a house whose occupant loved coffee, loved plants and flowers, cats and dogs, all these components' odors play a part inoculating the book with its own beautiful and rare perfume.

So, I love sweets, especially ones made with vanilla, and almond and because I'm a diabetic the next best thing to the real sugar is the scent of an old book.

To be surrounded by volumes of old books, all keeping secrets. What a wonderful obsession!

Have you come to the scary part of Nancy Drew's The Secret Of The Old Clock, Mags? 😂

Here's a link to an oldie ~ Nancy Drew ... Reporter ( 1939 ) comedy/crime

PHOTOS BY M 

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine * Please Don't Eat The Daisies 🌼🌼🌼 Happy Caturday 😻

They say a stitch in time saves nine, in other words, deal with the problem right now before it gets out of hand. I love Spring, I love flowers and, I love cats and dogs but cats destroy the flowers 🌷🌷🌷 so before they could ( although some leaves already have little teeth marks) kill the daisies I covered them under a glass dome. 😂 Now, Bat is wondering what to do with his extra special day.

Follow the adventures of Bat and Maggie

Happiness is A Bat...Pipistrello🦇🐈

Happiness is A Bat...Pipistrello


I read a poem by D.H. Lawrence 'BAT', who unfortunately didn't like bats. I shared the same sentiments until my daughter got me to appreciate them on our bonfire nights. Although, I must admit I still do get a bit anxious when they fly a touch too low.

"Bats, and an uneasy creeping in one's scalp
As the bats swoop overhead!
Flying madly."


Lawrence also states in his poem that in China the Bat is a symbol of Happiness.Bat after all is a cat we must not forget but sometimes we do! I suppose half cat and half bat counts for all the happiness he's brought us 🦇🐈

Along came a bug on October 27th who almost didn't make it. The little bug though looked very much like a tiny bat and so he got the name Bat. Of course, we all have since gone batty ^..^


Couldn't wake up Bat but this other little witch-bird should be sleeping by now.

Love Bats, Cats, and Halloween 🦇🎃🧹🐈


The Bat by: Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943)


Airy-mouse, hairy mouse,
Keen-eared contrary mouse,
Come from your cavern--a star's in the sky!
Fluttering, flittering,
Eerily chittering,
Swoop on your quarry, the dusk-haunting fly.

Airy-mouse, wary mouse,
Witch-bird or fairy-mouse,
Soft through the shadow the dawn-glimmer steals;
Night's your carousing-time,
Day brings your drowsing-time;
Hence to your hollow and hang by your heels!

A Mostly, Ghostly Night 🐺🐺🐺 🎃 👀

"Listen to them,
Children of the Night. 
What music they make."

~ Bela Lugosi  Dracula 1931


PHOTOS BY M www.instagram.com/murtagh13/

Inspired by an old flick from 1931, 'Dracula', starring without a doubt the best Dracula ever, Bela Lugosi. I have always loved his line about his pet wolves so I thought why not make 3 little scary cats afraid of Dracula and his furry kids. 


 ' A Mostly, Ghostly Night ' is a  Halloween painting done in acrylic & ink on a wood slice and features a clowder of three ghostly cats, Ghost, Spooks, and Boo @ The Castle By the Sea.

When Ghost, Spooks, and Boo are invited out to the Castle for the October Halloween Ball their plans quickly change when they realize just who lives in the Castle by The Sea.

*****

~ They could hear a strange and haunting melody carried across the sea only soon realizing the music was the sound of howling wolves and they knew that only one could be their keeper, Count Dracula. 

And so, they sat on the mooring posts wondering if wolves and the vampire hunted Ghost Cats.

And when I went to paint the driftwood mooring post for 'Ghost' the cat,  I remembered a scene from my very favorite Ghost Movie, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" 1947. If you have seen the movie you know the scene I am referring to but if not, it is where 'Lucia's' daughter, 'Anna' played by Natalie Wood writes her name on the driftwood log. 

It is my name, after all, Anna. 

How could I not? Purrfect! 
I hope you like the painting and of course Bat.
Happy Halloween ~ 
🐺🐺🐺 🎃 👀 A Mostly, Ghostly Night 🐺🐺🐺 🎃 👀

Anna

“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that's gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” ~ Karl Lagerfeld

These are the memories we will never let go. It seems like it was just yesterday we were treasure hunting with Grace. We discovered Geocaching and M and I went on some wonderful outdoor adventures around our region like Merrickville and Kemptville searching for the secretly hidden geocaches. Grace helped us find them all. Although there are mixed views on the game and I understand the dangers associated with it, we still love playing the game. The clues, the puzzles, the mystery and stories, the thrill of the adventure of finding the cache in the most unexpected secret location are all part of the fun of geocaching and besides that its a wonderful excuse to take a walk in nature, breathe in the fresh air and bring your dog out for a walk, sadly we will miss having Grace on our next hunts.

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal***From an Irish Headstone” Richard Puz

And All Through The House, Not a Stir 💔

Karson will be 15 years old on May 3rd

Karson is the last surviving pet of

"The Three Amigos"

This morning, all through the house, not stir. All three cats were sound asleep and just looking at Karson sleeping it's very clear he knows Grace is gone.

KARSON

The little ones, they too know she is gone.

MAGGIE

LITTLE BAT

Grace and Karson

                    Grace

July 1st, 2005 ~ Feb 27th, 2019

              

Grace and Karson photographed by M

“And it is exceedingly short, his galloping life. Dogs die so soon. I have my stories of that grief, no doubt many of you do also. It is almost a failure of will, a failure of love, to let them grow old—or so it feels. We would do anything to keep them with us, and to keep them young. The one gift we cannot give. •”


Mary Oliver, Dog Songs

 

Above photos by M

The Dreaming Tree 🌳

The Dreaming Tree 🌳
The morning's temperature is -17.
Still icy in the lull of early morning.
I look out the window, a crystal stillness meets my eye; the form of a tree- A Dreaming Tree***** Nature's art is magnificent!