Vintage Blue and Green Star

I was playing around in PSE not intending to make anything really and just mindlessly started putting odds and ends together. Look what happened? Mindlessly, I selected blue. Mindlessly, I selected green. Blue and green my favorite colors! I have to tell you another combination I love is blue and purple. I have some vintage jewelry with dark blue and dark purple stones. I just love it. I have noticed that I often put blue and purple together for backgrounds in PSE.

Old Mother Westwind's Uncle Billy Possum Knock Off

Do you remember those Old Mother Westwind stories? I loved them as a kid. I still love them! I am kind of like an old mother westwind myself.. in a way... in a sense... if you think of me with your eyes squinted and maybe have had one or two drinks.

First, I have the 'old' thing down pat. I can claim that for my own without any qualms or hesitation. Check that one off.

Secondly, I am not a mother but I am an aunt. Okay, I will use that. Check that one off too.

As far as the wind is concerned, I used to work with an old, cantankerous man that insisted on calling me "Wendy" not "Cindy". Almost daily he would say "Wendy, I need to ask you something." and I would correct him with "Cindy" and he would always retort "Whatever". Okay, so I will go with Wendy or rather Windy.

Okay, that is my name, "Old Aunt Windy". And here is the character, Skanky Possum.



Skanky Possum



I realize the quality of the picture is very poor but it is amazing that I got a picture at all considering that it was dark and I only had my phone with me. I lightened it up using PSE.

It is one thing to feed cats but look, I am not going to start feeding every possum in the neighborhood. The profound thing that I was unable to capture in this picture is that Shoog, Petrie, Bella and Bodie were all just huddled up to the side in a tightly knitted pack staring at this skanky possum while he ate up all of their food. If I had yelled 'boo', they would have all jumped 6 feet off of the ground. I did manage to run off the possum unlike some times when they choose to sull and play dead. I know how to beat them at their own tricks though. When one of the possums chooses to use that sulling tactic, I just pick up all of the cat food and go back in the house. When they realize all of the food is gone, they suddenly awake from the "dead" and go back to the trees. And that my friends concludes this episode of possum hunting in the city.

Fireworks All Around

I don't like to rant. I don't like to espouse my unsolicited opinions. But sometimes situations really get my goat! (By the way, why do I always use animal euphemisms?) How do people get on television as 'experts' in their field? Are any qualifications required? Must they submit a resume? Are their credentials verified?

I am referring to a program that I was casually listening to earlier as I was working on something else that required more of my attention. These 'legal experts' were bantering around the topic of presumption of innocence. One of these 'experts' that I had already and quickly developed a dislike for said "This is America! In America, we are innocent until proven guilty! This is NOT England where you are guilty until proven innocent!" Uh oh. I immediately looked up at the television so I could glare at this woman who made this statement  and I could forever identify her in my mind as someone that knows NOT what she is talking about. And I hate to say it but I was angry. I was angry that a person can get on television and spout untruths. Someone that might not know any better might have heard her say that and made the mistake of thinking that in England people are guilty until proven innocent. England has a much older civilization than we have here and most of these ideas that we have adopted along the way such as 'presumption of innocence' came from them. Anyway, I just had to get that out of my system. I just wish that before making a statement especially when many people are watching that people would research their subjects more thoroughly. (Like who was Paul Revere?) As I asked in the beginning, are NO credentials required in any field these days? Okay, rant over. 'Nuff said.

Full of Spit and Vinegar

Please watch my little Petrie. He is feeling gooooood.

In the Heart of the Milky Way with Petrie

I have been busy lately because well...uh...yeah...a new baby has arrived in the backyard animal sanctuary. I do not know where he came from but methinks Shoog had something to do with him. I honestly think Shoog might have 'catnapped' him. Anyway, Petrie is very small but just as cute as a button and wild as a deer. So far, I have gotten many hours of entertainment out of him. He was scraggeldy and thin when he first appeared but he is looking fine now. I got him some kitten food and his own fresh watering station. All of these things are very important for the little ones. Their little systems are fragile. I am going to help him grow up into a big, strong boy. I see him outside climbing a tall tree right now. More about Petrie later though...

I love the stars. I love the moon. I love the Earth. I guess you could say that I love all of creation. I am not that crazy about snakes but hey, they even have their place...as long as they stay in their place, I am cool with them. I was just thinking about the Milky Way tonight so I created this little piece as if it is in the heart of the Milky Way.

Happy July 4 and other things

I had to change the background of my blog as I found the pink too busy. I liked it for awhile but it got old very quickly. I would not describe myself as pink person. I would describe myself as a blue-green person or earthy colored person. I am more of a forest creature with a pulse on nature.

It is the 4th day of July yet my mind wanders to royalty. Perhaps that is natural. It is the day we achieved our Independence after all. I love my country. I love my ancestral country too. I have NO idea why I find such a fascination with British history yet there is no denying that I do. It is part of my DNA. I believe there are many aspects of ourselves that we have no control over because they are part of our DNA so to speak. For example, I hate eggs. I loathe eggs. Often depending on how my stomach is feeling, I cannot stand the smell of eggs. I must remove myself from an 'egg' situation. I learned by speaking to a friend of my father's family that this was a familial trait. I had no idea that is where this loathing of eggs originated. I mean I so badly hate eggs that I will often not eat a cake if I 'see' someone put an egg in it. That ruins it for me. Any good cake is going to have an egg or two or three. I can eat it if I am certain of the quality of those eggs but if there is any doubt, no, I cannot go there. So long story short, perhaps this fascination with all things British is another factor of my ancestry. I do know it is not anything I picked up from my mom. My mom had many interests while she was young but British history and British literature was not part of them.

Another reason I believe that I may have a fascination with royalty is that I can confine it in a picture and I have trouble envisioning large concepts. One such concept that I continually grapple with trying to get my hands around is the passage of time. Time is so very fleeting. We are here one moment, gone the next. Is this really life? Is life something that lasts a brief second in the vastness of all time? These royals were as big as life can get during their brief moment on planet Earth yet they are gone. They are dust. The sadness of life is that my beautiful Kate and Will are youthful now but tomorrow, their young lives will be past them. Such is the nature of life as I know it. That is with what I am continually reckoning. I will not reckon long though because in seconds it seems, it will all be over. I will be a memory for a short time, forgotten completely for a very long time. Is that life? I am not smart enough to know.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The Duke and Duchess of York and baby Lilibet

My Adoptive Children

Do you want to know something particularly funny? I sort of think of these two as 'my kids'. I am very protective of them in my mind's eye. As in always being interested in their welfare and searching for signs of continued happiness. I want them to be happy...forever...just like I would my own kids. This may seem odd yet I am betting I am not the only woman out there that feels this way. Catherine is particularly lovely in blue.

Gecko Bath Salts

You know how they say things happen in 'threes'? Oh, dear. I am worried already. Remember how I said I always keep the bathroom door closed? That also includes when I am in there. Okay, where to begin? The beginning, I suppose.

Often when it is stifling hot as it is, I take a bath in the evening to cool myself down some. Tonight, I did just that. After returning home late tonight from visiting my mom, I went in and drew up a nice, cool bath. I was in there relaxing and enjoying the cool water applying some body scrubs, putting a mask on my face. The bathroom door was almost closed but not quite. The catch was not completely in the lock. A slight push would have flung it wide. As I said, I was relaxing, enjoying the coolness when suddenly I hear some cat(s) barreling down the hallway like a run-a-way train. With a major shove, the door flies open and in tears Ollie as if he was running to a fire! He had something in his mouth. Oh no, on closer inspection I see he has caught one of those geckos!! He runs up to the bath tub and throws it in on me as if he is attempting to drown it! His plan must have worked because it was just lying there in the water lifeless and floating upside down. Ollie with his front paws up on the edge of the tub stared at me as if he was saying "Close call but fast thinking was the answer." Needless to say, my relaxing bath was over. Let's hope things do not really happen in 'threes'. I say that is just an old wives tale.

Ollie Wants a Toothbrush

Usually I keep my bathroom door shut all of the time because there are too many tempting baubles in there for little curious paws to confiscate. For example, I had a beautiful, plush make up brush that was almost brand new only having used it a few times. Once, I forgot to close the bathroom door and went off to work. I came home to find my beautiful make up brush all spit covered and extremely dirty with lots of hair torn out of it. I washed it and still use it but not for its original, intended purpose.

The other day, I came out of the bathroom and left the door open...again. I was planning on going back in there shortly so I thought it might be safe to leave the door open for a short time. Wrong! In no time at all, I heard 'goings on' in there...little, tinkling sounds, moving, scraping...something falling. I had left a pair of earrings in there that I am particularly fond of so I immediately went to check on them thinking I would probably find them missing perhaps permanently. When I arrived into the bathroom, my earrings were right where I had left them. Good. But what was that noise I had heard? What was missing? I saw my toothbrush laying on the base of the toilet. Ooogey!!! No way was I going to use that again. Fortunately, I always keep a spare. (Note to self: buy another spare toothbrush.)

There have been times when the vet has told me that I needed to brush my cats teeth. I have tried and well, to say it is not an easy thing is a bit of an under statement. I suppose there is hope they can brush their own teeth now.Apparently, there is at least an interest in the possibility.

Fool on the Hill

This reminds me of the Beatle song, "Fool on the Hill". That song has an odd lyric in it that I have always wondered about. "And nobody seems to like him. They can tell what he wants to do." What did he want to do?

Nowhere Woman

Maybe I can do better with my posts this week than I did last week. Folks, I am telling you that Summer + Me = Complete Lethargy. I just do not do well with it. Summer just began though so I have a good three months of this ahead of me and more than that, really. Along about mid-October, it will begin to feel cooler again. Someday (two years and 4 days), I will no longer have to post this type complaint because I will be someplace cooler. Yippee!

Don't you wish some decisions were as easy as the one depicted here? A directional sign pointing to the obvious choice?

A Man and his little Hippo

It is Father's Day. Maybe that is why the last dream I had before I awoke this morning was of my dad. My dad is no longer of this life. He has been gone from it for 10 years now. He is in another life now one I cannot  begin to comprehend.

My dad speaks to me a lot via dreams. At least, that is what I believe. In this dream I had this morning, I was sitting all alone in a big stadium. I was up high in the stands. I could have been sitting in the front row after all, all of the other seats were empty. But no, for some reason I preferred the midway up the stadium seats. I knew a rodeo had just ended at this stadium. I do not think I was at the rodeo. I had no memory of it yet I knew a rodeo had just concluded. Then, I see a man coming out one of the gates ambling along in a manner slowly. He was leading a baby hippo. They slowly walked to the middle of the arena and the man lead his little hippo around in some circles and was speaking to it in a kind and soft way. I realized the man was my dad and this hippo was his new pet. I tried to call to him. "Daddy, hey, I am up here!!" He did not look up. I yelled louder. "Hey, daddy, did you get a hippo???" He did not respond. Suddenly, I hear a voice over the public announcement speaker. It is the voice of my mom. My mom says "Cindy, he cannot hear you where he is." I can't see her but I talk back to her "Yes, he can mom. He hears me. Look, he is looking at me." and he was. Again, I call down to him "Daddy, did you get a hippo?" and he said "Yes, he is my new pet." I call down, "Ah...I love him!! Daddy, I always knew you loved animals just like me." then, he called up to me "I named him Trap." Then, in the dream, I thought to myself "There is just nothing cuter than a man and his pet baby hippo."