Monday, December 29, 2008

We Have the Cat Gene

The cat gene runs in my family. I suppose we get it from my mother but I am not really sure about that. All I know for certain is that everyone in my family is crazy about cats. This is my niece, Andrea with her two cats, Whiskey and Sake.



Claude Gets a New Chapeau!

Claude received a new hat for Christmas. He does not like it very much.


What is worse, Nigel is afraid he may receive a hat.

A friend commiserating with a friend...


Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas 2008

Yesterday, I was thinking about all the Christmas days in the past and it seemed they had somehow run together in my mind. Therefore, I wanted to create a pictorial journal of a few scenes from Christmas 2008. Here we go down memory lane...



My great nieces, Victoria and Elizabeth.

My niece, Andrea.

Elizabeth, again...

Delicious appetizer made by Andrea...

Even though we had all kinds of delicious treats and snacks, Mom chooses to eat beef jerky, don't ask me why...

Two snowmen guarding the door...

Snowman on the stairs...

Obviously, the Christmas tree...

And again...

Someone gave my sister this 'dark snow' colored snowman. He scares us a little bit. I mean we have all heard the admonitions about not eating the dark colored snow, etc. We began to refer to him as DirtMan. He started 'following' us too. We thought maybe he was feeling left out, so Andrea posed with him.


Posing must have worn her out...

No post would be complete without mentioning one of my cats...Nige caught a glimpse of Sirius Black. Man, that scares him! I hope everyone out there in Blog Land had a wonderful Christmas 2008!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Long Time, No Post

I have so been neglecting my blog lately. I have been so busy. In fact, I should not even take the time to write this post but hey, a girl has to take a break every once in a while, right? I have oodles and oodles of work, oodles and oodles of school work and oodles and oodles of all other kinds of chores. That is not to say though that lots has not been on my mind! I have been thinking much! One thing that has really bothered me...uh, it is NOT supposed to snow in Las Vegas!! This is just wrong! I mean, this is the desert. Those poor palm trees! What a sad site.


Monday, November 24, 2008

Cats and Dogs

I just have no time to post these days. At these times that I am too busy to post, I just post my 'wonderings', 'ponderins', or as some would call my 'ruminations'. Many times I 'wonder' things and often mean to take notes about my 'wonderings' but forget to or do not have time or something like that. ANYWAY, tonight as I was driving home, I had one of these 'wonderings' and here it is. Why are there cars named after cats but not dogs? For example, there was the Buick Wildcat (I passed one and that is what got me to thinking about this.). There still is the Mercury Cougar and the Jaguar. Why isn't there a Chevy Beagle, or a Ford Poodle, or a Pontiac Retriever? Just me wondering...again.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What Happened to the Glamourous Miss Kitty?


As I was cleaning house, I noticed Miss Kitty had gone tipsy! She was fine only yesterday. Do you think Nigel met Miss Kitty and did not appreciate this glamour-puss? Her location is not easily accessible (at least by me) but maybe easier for those with climbing skills. At any rate, she is upright again...for now. ;)





Friday, November 7, 2008

God Bless Us, Every One!

This is a really fun post! Lisa asked me if I had my "jingles on" with some instructions regarding how to keep the search for early signs of Christmas going. I would like to ask Lisa M. if she has her jingles on. (I know she does because I have seen 'crafty' evidence of it on her site.)

So, just how Christmasy am I feeling??? I hope everyone that reads this post gets as much pleasure in reading it as I did in writing it.

Where should I begin? At the beginning, I suppose. Have you ever read this book?


Have you seen this movie?
This is one of my favorite all time books and not just because it was written by my favorite author. Now, I know literary scholars do not fail to point up the fact that Dickens wrote during a time when writers were paid by the word and not by the substance of their content. However, that does not mean that Dickens did not have something important to say. He did and I understand it. As he says in the preface to this book, "I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea..". In my family, this book and this movie rate a cult following. I must admit that I read this book several times throughout the year. (It is short!) I never know when I will take a notion to watch this movie. I might decide to watch it in the middle of summer. I may watch it tonight! The reason being, Christmas is a feeling that lives in one's heart. Christmas is giving something of yourself to someone else that needs it. In a nutshell, Christmas is giving to others not because it is expected of you but because you want to. It can happen at anytime! That is the beauty and the magic of it.

Here is the funniest part...I keep some elements of Christmas out all year! Sometimes I just like to look at them, appreciate them and be reminded that Christmas is a feeling in a person's heart.
(And maybe to remind me that I should be ever watchful regarding the generosity of my giving to others less fortunate.) Plus, I love snow people! Every one of these little trinkets mean something special to me. See the little kitten on the left holding the bunny? My niece, Andrea gave me that for Christmas when she was so small she could barely toddle over to hand it to me; just knee-high to a grasshopper as they say. Its a small thing but I LOVE IT. It has meaning behind it. Therefore, it is in my "perpetual Christmas parade" that resides on my armoire 365 days of the year! Now, just how Christmasy will things get around here? That is a touchy situation which begs an explanation. I really appreciate other homes decorations. I love to go driving just to appreciate them. I would love to decorate my own house in true "Griswold" fashion but there have been many, shall we say, 'issues' with this in the past. For example, scrutinize the top of this music box...see what I mean?


A tiny thing like that can mean a major surgery for one of my furry children. (Disaster almost struck once with the tassle off of a bookmarker.) Therefore, I have to be very cautious as to what I can put out, when and where. I have a very small tree that can fit in the closet because it cannot be out when I am not at home. If I left it out...well, I shudder to think of the repercussions. Okay, enough of those scarey thoughts!

Again in my family, all grown-up Andrea started a family tradition called "The Ugly Sweater Contest". Anyone who wants to participate gets herself a sweater or sweatshirt and decorates it as gaudily as they wish in a Christmas theme. If one can get music on their sweater, they will likely be the winner! I say 'gets herself' a sweater because to date we have not had any men-folk participants. Hmmm...can't understand why, really. ;)

I would like to leave you friends with these wonderful words regarding Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, "...and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!" ~Charles Dickens


PS. Remember it lives in your heart. Yeah, you.

Blue Japanese Sea English Cherry Blossom Lavender Wave Spray

Lisa at Simple Journeys sponsored another pennant swap and I might add, it is waaay fun to participate. It is fun to make your own pennants, sure. However, the best part is when you get one of someone elses! That is just too cool for school! I am going to parade them here. First of all, Amy's pennant, Cherry Blossom. The aspect I really love about this one is the face. From a distance, it has an ethereal quality almost ghostly. Love that! Can you see the spiritual quality of the face looking out from the blossoms?
Second up is Lisa M. with Japanese Cherry Blossom. Same theme but totally different because of the oriental quality. My favorite aspect of this pennant is the combination of turquoise and red. Now who would know those are two of my fave colors to put together? Plus, the back of this pennant is beautiful.

Isn't this fun? Next up, Blue Wave by Ruby. This banner speaks happiness and sunshine to me. I love the little sea horsey and the wave about to tackle him is awesome. That wave will not tackle him; he is too fast!

I am not sure where to begin with the next pennant. This is SeaSpray by Linda. There is so much going on here that I almost cannot pick a favorite aspect but I really do love the sea glass and those are real sea shells. This took some effort and what you cannot see is the back where she described her day at the beach.

Finally, my own contribution is English Lavender. Anything I create is probably going to pertain one of three notions: England, cats or books.

I love this banner! I love each of these pennants for their individualism. Honestly, I could not tell you which pennant I like best. Each pennant was created by a different individual and each one has a particular aspect that I find most captivating. The best part is when you put them all together you achieve a beautiful artwork banner. I attached the pennants to a ribbon with the flowers and brads to create the banner. I love it and will keep Nigel and Oliver away from it.

This is a banner from a previous swap. They are great to decorate with.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Jacob's Ladder



I love reading about the dream of Jacob's Ladder because I find dreams to be personally meaningful. The ladder linking Heaven to Earth...talk about advanced foreshadowing used in story telling. This is the perfect example of it. I hope you enjoy my rendition of Jacob's Ladder. More and more, I am finding my own style as I work on my two altered books.

Here Comes the Sun


Since I am a neophyte when it comes to altered books, I am discovering aspects about myself coming out in my pages. It seems almost every one of my pages is titled after a song. That is not surprising as I often find myself lost in one of those trains of thought where one thing leads to the next, you know the kind I am talking about. For example, just yesterday I was trying to pin-point the aspect about Autumn that casts a sadness about it when the words occurred to me "Because the sky is blue, it makes me cry" from the Beatles, "Because". That is just me. Words stick and when they are with music, they stick even better. Having said all of that just to say this, I hope you enjoy "Here Comes the Sun".

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Saturday, October 25, 2008

How Wonderful Life Is...


Can you recall the happiest day of your life? I can. I can tell you exactly when it was and where it was and who I was with. It was like the stars aligned and everything I had ever done in my life lead to that day. I could not put a foot wrong wrong that day. I had the Midas touch. While you are living it, it is fab! In retrospect, it makes for a wonderful memory tinged with sadness. It is in the past afterall. Well, there is always hope for another future "complete perfect alignment of the stars". And it will happen again...just hope I will not have to wait another large track of years more for it. The clock is ticking and time is drawing shorter. When it will happen is left up to Divinity. However, I do know this about those moments that are perfect or approach perfection...they never happen twice in exactly the same way. That moment will never be in Vegas again. Next time, it will be in London or New York or maybe here at home but never again in Vegas. That is not to say that Vegas will not be fun and wonderful again for me. It has been already.

I tried to capture the happiness of my perfect day in this piece but no way. It cannot be done. I just cannot even begin. There is not enough real estate on these two pages to fit it the fullness of my happiness. Therefore, I just had to try for a couple of concepts instead; the simple beauty of the stark desert and the over-the-top bling of it all. The title of this piece is "How Wonderful Life Is" which is a lyric to a song..."Your Song"...my song. Yes, it was truly a beautiful day.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Nigel Gets Sirius...Black


Have you ever watched one of those National Geographic type programs where a pride of lions attack a poor, loner gazelle? Then later, it shows a lion feeding off of the gazelle kind of like how Nigel looks with Sirius in this picture? Well, actually, he has not hurt Sirius and his motives are completely harmless. He is using Sirius like a 'bunker' and he is lying in wait for Oliver to walk by so he can leap out and scare the bejeepers out of him. Those crazy cats! I love 'em.

The Comforter


I am learning my way around an altered book. My skill level is still quite elementary. In these early days, I am trying different techniques to see what I like and what I do not like, what I might be good at and what I obviously have no knack for. I made several, shall we say, poor choices with the design of this layout. However, a certainty is that there is no question about the awesomeness of the verse itself. Nothing can detract from John 14:16. The Comforter is with us. I am looking forward to finding the Comforter today. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. ~John 14:17

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