Friday, October 30, 2009

Postcard Friendship Friday

Postcard Friendship Friday is hosted every week by our lovely postmistress, Marie.

I wanted to come up with something special for Halloween.
I found a collection of postcards called
Famous Painted Cats.
It was published by Ten Speed Press in 2004
and has 24 postcards.

I picked three of my favorites that said Halloween to me.



This is Bone Voyage, 2000, vegetable dye and neutralized bleach on Bruno, tabby and white shorthair moggy. T. Yates, SanFrancisco.

The back of the postcard reads: "Zeno Baron's work conforms to Braque's requirement that art should disturb, to say nothing of making you jump out of your skin. It was once described by a critic as being "...on the teasing edge of macabre with an increasing tendency to fall right off." But Baron refutes such detractors by saying they're "shallow," and "afraid to engage with the inner message."



Miss Chatreuse, 2001, Vegetable dye on Stella, white moggy. P. Knight, Toledo.

The back of the postcard reads: "Robert Geldzahlor's cats are designed to be a celebration of female night sports with all the glitzy jewelry, makeup, and weapons of mass seduction beautifully painted on their silken attire. They preen, they gossip, they stalk their prey, and provide a vivid reminder of the animal that lurks within us all."


Heavenly Bodies, 2001. Organic peroxide on Blackie and Patch, black and white moggies. D. McGill, Edinburgh.

The back of the postcard reads: "Kate Bishop works quickly using stencils and an electrostatic airbrush, to position images at the correct height so they can interact with images on other cats. As the cats move about in a confined, space, the images merge, becoming partially obscured and transformed in a vast orchestration of rapidly changing random forms, each one representing the sum of its infinite possibilities. This work has been described as representing a significant advance in the celestial-bestial chromosphere."

From the back of the book: "Cat painting, once the preserve of a few Midwest American artists, is becoming so mainstream that it's possible to see a cat being styled and painted in a specialized beauty salon or competing for "Best Painted Cat" at a pet show. In other cultures it's not so new. people paint their cats in India and Japan and if you traveled to Ayuba, an independent territry of Botswana in the Okavango Delta, you would find the local Bayeyi people using bark dyes to paaint butterflies on their cats' faces."

The one thing I know for sure, I've never lived with a cat who would stand for being painted. Having a portrait done is one thing, but actually being painted -- NO WAY!

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween.
Happy PFF!


Thursday, October 29, 2009

There's a Mystery for Every Interest


(From fotosearch.com)


There are mysteries of all kinds, covering all sorts of interests, for all different readers. There are hard-boiled mysteries, Noir, urban fantasy, cozy mysteries and all sorts of combinations. There are mysteries for readers who like to cook, who like to read, who like scrap booking, tea drinking, falconry, needlepoint, collecting antiques. You get the idea. How about for collectors of teddy bears and knitters? You bet!

DIED IN THE WOOL: A Knitting Mystery by Mary Kruger is the first in a series of cozy myteries. Ariadne Evans is the proud owner of her very own knitting shop. She enters her store one day to find longtime customer Edith Perry strangled to death with homespun yarn. Now Edith wasn’t the easiest person to get along with so there is a long list of suspects. Detective Joshua Pierce, may or may not have designs on Ariadne (a little romance never hurts in a cozy mystery). Ariadne decides to do some sleuthing of her own. Hopefully, the killer isn’t as crafty as she.

I’m behind the times as this book was first published as a paperback in 2007. I thought it was well done and I like the characters -- something that is very important in cozy mysteries -- and I’d like to visit Ariadne in her shop. I do love yarn and the description of the purple heather hand spun, hand dyed yarn used to kill Edith really sounds lovely! There are several more books in this series and I’m looking forward to getting to know Ariadne and her friends better.

THE CRAFTY TEDDY: A Bear Collector’s Mystery by John J. Lamb is the third book in this “sort of cozy” police procedural. I say sort of because Mr. Lamb is a retired homicide detective and hostage negotiator. He has all the police procedural part of the books down to a science. He and his wife collect teddy bears (at last count had over 600), so he also knows the teddy bear business. Definitely an interesting combination and one I have really enjoyed.

From the back of the book:

“Retired San Francisco cop Brad Lyon is settling into a quieter life with his wife, Ashleigh, in Virginia’s mountain country, where they collect and create teddy bears. But even here, stuff happens...

The peace of the Shenandoah Valley is shattered when an intruder breaks into the Lyon home and makes off with the antique Farnell Alpha teddy bear -- one of the most celebrated stuffed animals in history, and also Brad’s gift to Ash on their twentieth wedding anniversary.

Afterward, life seems to be getting back to normal -- until a trio of Japanese gangsters inexplicably shows up in town, and then the local museum director is found dead. Even though it all seems a bit fur-fetched, Brad knows he’s got a 187 on his hands -- that’s California penal code for murder ...”

These are fun books. Well written and fast paced. Not too cozy or too hard-boiled. Brad and Ash, Tina Barron the County Sheriff and Sergei Zubatov (Brad’s best friend and the owner of Pinckney’s Brick Pit barbecue restaurant and former Soviet military attache -- or, in other words, spy) are all wonderful characters. Add the great information about bears (there are always ideas about where to buy bears and usually a bear artist or two are featured in the books) and a well written mystery -- well -- it’s the perfect brain candy for a rainy afternoon. I’m glad I have two more in my stack!

Even a rainy day brings JOY!


Monday, October 26, 2009

My World

Be sure to visit My World to see more of our world or to participate yourself!

It's back to the Houston International Quilt Festival.
I'm a fantasy lover and a dragon lover.
These quilts sang to me!



Medea Escaping by Marilyn Belford from Chenango Forks, New York
Beautiful!
But it was the critter in the bottom left corner who waved to me.




I'd like you to meet Lizzie!
At least that is what a friend of the quilt maker told me -
the dragon's name is Lizzie.
Wonderful!



Words of Wisdom by Elizabeth Dillinger of Ajax, Ontario, Canada
I fell madly in love with this wise old dragon.
Dillinger based this quilt on the amazing needle work of Teresa Wentzler.



Lastly, this is Pandora
made by Vicki David and Terry Breazeale of
Santa Rosa, California.
Inspiration for this quilt came from a stylized Elizabethan
Christmas card.

More quilts next week!

Joy!

Click here to view all participants of My World Tuesday.



Sunday, October 25, 2009

Do You Remember?

Do you remember these from Christmas past?



The tin harmonic top hums as it spins.




Raggedy Ann and Andy with their button eyes
and embroidered heart mouths.



The silver tinsel tree that looks like
the aluminum trees you knew and loved
complete with a color wheel light!





The gumdrop tree.
(I still have my Mother's tree.)




Santa Light Pin
Pull on the string and his nose lights up!

All these wonderful, nostalgic goodies from Vermont Country Store.

***

It has been several Mondays since I last did any mulling. I guess Rocky's death and THE grandson's visit *threw me for a loop* (as Granny would have said). So, I'm back today. Mulling a little about nostalgia and words. Did you pick a word for last year? I've visited many blogs this last week, and many were busy picking their word for 2010. My word for 2009 was LISTEN. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. LISTEN -- to the earth, to my heart, to the universe, to those I love, to those I don't love ... a real lesson this last year in listening. So, I'm thinking about the word for 2010 and I've made a list. Here are a few in no particular order -
  • comfort, change, abundance
  • renew, rejoice, energize, fresh
  • balance, wisdom, stimulate, stretch, transform
  • start, discover, explore, teach, test, relax
  • seek, practice, transform, dream, reach,
  • boost, imagination, intuition, visualize, communication
  • adventure, challenge, heal, revitalize
What do you think? I tried very hard to come up with words (except for dream) that were a little different. I have favorites -- adventure, boost and seek. I have a few more months before I make a decision.

That's enough mulling for today. Have a wonderful week.

Joy to You!