A Haunting

Sometimes it's hard to come to reason why things happen the way they do. For me & mine 2013 has been riddled with news that's hard to take. I've been just sorta floating along taking it, but these past few weeks have been hard. It's like I had hit my limit of sadness & just shut down. 

I'd flown to Kansas in a tornado & instead of trying to get home I just wanted to crawl under the house & leave the shiny red shoes just where they were. Which is what I did.

I found this transferred image of a person in a Victorian album. 
Something about someone taking all the photographs from this book, only to have one picture be left behind permanently on the opposite page...it's haunting and fantastic. A fleeting moment in time, hoped to be forever remembered by a photo. 

It reminded me of the Victorian post mortem photos that got a pretty big thrill earlier this year in the news. Can you imagine having photography be so new & expensive that the only photo you have of your loved one was one where he or she was dead?

Now, photos are everywhere. We have the luxury of taking so many pictures of ourselves & our loved ones that we can discard hundreds of "bad" ones & in only minutes.  

Anyways, clearly the person above was alive just getting a portrait. I've never seen a post mortem photo in real life, but it's interesting to think about how people mourn.

I included this really poor quality shot of another Victorian album,
 just for it's stunning detail. 

I hope you are all well & happy.
-Kait

Yes, I Do Have A Funover

I spent the past week with a dear old friend. 

She's the kind of person who has overcome huge obstacles in her life, yet she's always laughing!

She's the kind of person who would drop everything to help a loved one.

She's a nut & I'm lucky to have met her.

Now that she's on her way back to North Carolina, I'm feeling really funover. 

I have what seems like a thousand things to list. I haven't posted here in over a month. And do you know what I spent my day doing? 

Editing pictures of my cats....so I can make a bumper sticker. 
Based on an actual facebook conversation.

For my car. Which I'm totally going to rock. 

In other news of procrastinating: 

Now off to do some real work.

Cardinal: The Winter Bird

I realize there must be hundreds of better pictures of cardinals on Google. 

Fire engine red looking angry (always...always looking angry) on fluffy fresh snow.

Clearly this isn't one of those.

But! 

To begin with, I was at work, hence the "fire" red. 

B, These two are the only decent pictures I took....out of  121.

And finally, all of my oohing & awwing, while crouching on a chair (& even a brief kneeling on a desk) wasn't noticed by the boss.

Success!

Cardinals have always reminded me of my grandma. She hoarded pictures of them. She had several that lived & darted around the bay window & a feeder that sat directly under the cushioned seat there.

I've never seen a female cardinal in real life. The whole experience was quite awesome. 

She was beautiful in her own right, 

but different...

acutely aware of every thing happening around her.

It was quite magical.

The Laziest of Saturdays

Spent the day playing cat games and sleeping late. It was heavenly.
We went to get something to eat and to see the new skating rink.
We walked. The snowstorm came. Just a few flurries...then huge pinwheeled heptagons came down.
We were wet as rats. Frozen to the bone. Icicles everywhere.
We loved every second. The wine helped :)

Last Day

Merry Christmas!

Day 23

"Morning Conversations" 

 tree light reflection

The only pastel painting that I did, 

that didn't look like a five year old did it.

A Freakish Little Bunch

They don't tell you to store bulbs in a cool dry place for nothing.

emphasis on cool:

which is nowhere 5 flights up from the pavement

 when heat is included 

& the sun shines strong all day.

This is Freesia

the greatest scent on earth.

Guess I'll be getting my fingernails dirty tomorrow :)

Day 21

Spent the day making cat presents. 

10 catnip filled toys: 6 mice 4 fish

Also finished the cat house. 

Every year I make one from extra cardboard found at work. It's recycling!

Every year I spend days working on it & 

every year they find it interesting 

for roughly 2 days. 

Life with cats.

This year will be different.

 Two stories with an Observation Deck. 

Lol.

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Day 20

I love the feeling of this picture

Messy & cozy.

It could almost be a page from an I Spy book.

Ha! My whole house is like that.

A hollogram man, A home for a feathered pet, Paisley & Flowers.

And Awesome snow.

Day 19

Nothing better than a handmade quilt, a pot of tea & some furry babies

This cold doesn't stand a chance!

Day 18

Today my studio looked like this. Madly in love. 

Nature makes for such happy people. 

{p.s. the two on the left are already in my etsy shop, the blue beauty is on its way, but I'm not pushing}

Day 17

Ran out of lights. 

Home alone & eggnog.

All was good.

Day 16

Dark & stormy here.

Cuddle-bugging all day.

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Day 15

First time this beast has bloomed in December, rather than May.

I did my homework and found that in order to bloom around Christmas they need to feel the coolness of autumn. So I stuck them on a windowsill that didn't get full sun all day, and sure enough, buds started to sprout!

I know, I know, it makes complete sense. Sometimes I lack that.

Day 14

Another busy day here. A dear friend is in a play called Parfumerie later today. It's the screenplay that Shop Around the Corner (or You've Got Mail) were based on so I'm quite curious to see how different all three are! The Shop Around the Corner is an awesome movie. You could watch it 30 times and notice something different every time. And Jimmy Stewart!

 I thought this little blue dream fit the bill perfectly! 

Guilty Tail

My little sister just getting to the American Girl phase...yippee! So I thought I would take a chance and order  a Carpatina doll off of eBay.

This is exactly how she came. 

I am so so so glad I took her out of the box to inspect before gifting her.

The tail belongs to Cali. This is about as photogenic as she gets.

The doll itself is absolutely gorgeous, I would recommend them highly.

They also sell patterns that work for both American Girl & Carpatina

Day 12

Meet Jinglebell. He's most likely the distant cousin of your Elf on the Shelf, although he doesn't talk much so I can't be sure. He enjoys long soaks in the Jadeite teacup, pretzel sticks, and sneaking up on the cats to spook them. 

Born in Japan by the company Yuletide of Japan in the late 1950s and 60's, these cute little guys are called "knee-hugger elves". If you could time travel (or if you lived thru the 60's & 70's, you would see these little creepers hanging right alongside the tinsel....and creepy some of them really were!

  

Making the Best of it

I love this time of year; I feel its magic and wonderment...I also feel its stress and its hostility brought on by others. 

The tree has been up since Saturday, but most of our decorations are still in storage. So here we are with these snowflake ornaments I got from the Antique Shop. They aren't old, but gosh are they beautiful!

Day 9

Loose buttons....like chips everyone has 'em and you can't have just one. These mother of pearl, rhinestone, and glass are my favorites.

The handsome plastic guy is a gem I found while dogging around in my moms garden left by my brother. I don't know what happened to his leg, but I love everything he symbolizes.

Day 8. Tree shopping.

We went to look for a tree today. A rainy, foggy, dark day. Nothing like the perfect photo-opportunity-with-the-fluffy-snow-and-rosy-cheeks that always happens in movies.

But, hey, what can you do but look on the bright side?

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