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)

By The Sea 🐚

Painting of the day by Gilles Leroux

                             By The Sea  🐚

When I bought this beautiful seascape painted on a conk, Ganoderma applanatum, I intended to paint over it: only, I fell in love with it.

I had never thought of using conks as a canvas for painting until I was introduced to them by my mother-in-law. I remember one, in particular, she had painted with a forest scene. It was two conks attached by a stick which she cleverly transformed into a fallen tree lying across a stream connecting the two sides of the forest floor. Her husband skillfully created a mama raccoon and her two babies out of Teasle seed and placed them on the log crossing the stream below. I thought it was such a genius idea creating a 3 - d painting from quirky fungi: ever since then, I have been on the lookout for one just like it.

When I do get the opportunity to work on one of these lovely fungi, I love to smell their heady fragrance when I use my wood-burning pen in creating the design: Autumn enters the room, and its as if I'm still out in the woods, walking on musty fallen leaves, collecting fungi.




If you haven't tried painting on a conk, maybe, now is the time to try. Take an autumn walk, collect a few shelf mushrooms, and bring back a little of fall into your home.

The conk with the beautiful sea shall remain in its original embodiment, and I will take another walk into the woods, maybe get lucky and find the one.




"By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea.

You and me, you and me, oh how happy will be.

I like to be beside, beside, beside the sea,

beside the seaside with you."




Some Like It Hot (1959) M M IN BEACH SCENE

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!

HEART AND SOUL ♥️

                              Heart & Soul ♥️

HEART AND SOUL ♥️

The treasures that I keep, a Peltoceras, and a deep, dark, red heart; behind their secret walls enclosed series of chambers are hidden but necessitous to their existence. Perhaps, you might say, they had, at one time, a heart and a soul.

Heart and Soul ♥️

Heart and soul, I fell in love with you
Heart and soul, the way a fool would do, madly
Because you held me tight
And stole a kiss in the night
Heart and soul, I begged to be adored
Lost control, and tumbled overboard, gladly
That magic night we kissed
There in the moon mist
Oh! but your lips were thrilling, much too thrilling
Never before were mine so strangely willing
But now I see, what one embrace can do
Look at me, it's got me loving you madly
That little kiss you stole
Held all my heart and soul

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Heart And Soul - Hoagy Carmichael - 'Big' Theme Tune

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.

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

"Come September " ~ 1961 🛵🛵🛵🛵🛵🇮🇹

"Come September " ~ 1961 

One of my all-time favorite movies of the sixties " It's September 1st, 2020, wish I was back in 1961, well maybe, a little later since I didn't see this movie until I immigrated to Canada in 64, but Italy was always on my mind. This movie brings back so many sentimental, happy memories.

" I don't *have* to make sense! I'm *Italian*!" 🇮🇹🍕🍝😊


Love Grows ♥️🌱Autumn Clematis covered in buds is just about to bloom. Do you see the heart? I didn't plant it this way.🍀💚

" COME SEPTEMBER "~ 1961 

STARRING ~  ROCK HUDSON, GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA, SANDRA DEE, AND BOBBY DARIN

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.

The Little Sunflower's Wish 🌱🌻🧡🌻🌱🧡🌻🧡🌱

The Little Sunflower's Wish  🌱🌻🧡🌻🌱🧡🌻🧡🌱

Magic in a Tangled Garden

I glanced up to look at the sunny heads looking down from the towering stalks of the giant sunflowers. A little sunflower was looking up too. This tangled garden of ours keeps creating magic.

Nature tells us many things, and this little guy, I believe, is telling us where there is love life grows.

Ah! Sun-Flower
By William Blake

Ah, Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the traveler's journey is done.

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:

Arise from their graves and aspire,

Where my Sunflower wishes to go.

THE SPOOKS ARE COMING FOR YOU, LITTLE BAT! 🎃👀🎃👀👀👀🎃🎃👀🎃👀🎃👀👀🎃👀

The Spooks are coming for you, Little Bat!🎃👀🎃👀 🎃👀

~ Oil on wood panel

I should have thought of this earlier but its never too late. A neat way to see where the stars would look good before painting them in. I still need to paint a shooting star and some tiny stars around the little white ghostly pumpkins. 

"By pumpkins fat and witches lean
 By coal black cats
 With eyes of green
 By all the magic ever seen
 The ghosts will rise on
 Halloween" ~ author unknown

I shared this oil painting yesterday but, I got better pictures this morning so, sharing once more. Also, wondering what to do with the pumpkin patch, any suggestions? 

Last night's moon was a waxing crescent, and I tried to capture an image with my phone, only I got this. Sometimes, pictures lie. lol 

I did, however, paint it in my spooky Halloween painting. 

Now, I am thinking, what I need to do with the haunted pumpkin patch being very careful not disturb the little spooks.
Of course, you might have guessed if you read about our pumpkin patch how I got the idea for this painting. And did you notice the pet rock? Nature sure presents inspiration: one only needs to put on their glasses and take a closer look. Well, at least I know I do, reading glasses and an early morning coffee helps me to see more clearly.