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No one has commented on the insanely cute picture of a kitty in a jack-o'lantern I decorated the hatbox donation side panel with. I can't understand that. Don't you guys know how hard it is to find a picture like that? A public domain one that I can just use without worrying about it? It's not like you just find one in your email one morning. Well, you might if you subscribed to a clip-art service like I do. :)
I've always loved Halloween because it means that the holidays are beginning. Now it's also the anniversary of the day my Jeanne died, so it's sad but sweet because I love to think of Jeanne. And the day after Halloween is my parents' wedding anniversary, this year would have been their sixtieth, so I get to think of my dad, too, who died ten years ago July. The holidays are about family and I've lots of memories to enjoy, sweet and bittersweet.
My mom is still here, making me crazy sometimes but we also have a good time. Take a moment to look around and appreciate your friends and families for me today. I'd like that and I'll try to not be so disappointed that no one thinks my kitty-in-the-lantern is too cute to believe. :)
Hugs to all,
Erin
Comments
hey I'm Australian
We don't do Halloween..that's my excuse. But, um, well... I liked the other one better. Still, change, seasons.. or something. Good as a holiday... Ooooohh, it's luverrrllyy Erin. Looks a bit pensive though. Mind you if I'd been eaten by a pumpkin...
Kristina
I do think it's cute ;)
But then again, I think all kitties are cute. So I don't tend to comment on them too much. But just to say this, I agree with you. Holidays are great and the memories tend to be more good than bad.
Thanks for everything you do though Erin. I know I appreciate it.
Shannon
Samirah M. Johnstone
Of course it's cute...it goes without saying...
So I didn't :) Sorry!! Besides I'm still waiting for you to use a picture of one of my cats in a hatbox!! :)
Huggles!!
Alexis
Sweet kitty?
You're disappointed? I'm disappointed about the number of comments received about the stories I've written, so what makes you think that moggy in a squash should get preferential treatment?
It is cute, but it's easy enough to do with photopaint. Next time, give me a shout...
Kitties!
Yes, I love the happy little black kitty! I did mention the regular hatbox kitty, sitting in there with that dopey serious expression on her face, like this is the most important thing she could be doing, and especially since she's a dead-ringer for my Gojira, who I miss, being clear across town as I wrap up this 3-month house sitting gig, and who will greet me with a desperate need for reassurance, that I won't go away again, which makes me feel guilty that I'll be departing on a 4-day vacation on Sunday, leaving my precious to the ministrations of her churlish Ayn-Rand-quoting Aunt a while longer (who I've heard say things like "Oh, you want some attention, Baby? Deal with it!"); because I mean I've got a few good friends, but my cat is the one being on Earth who actually NEEDS me, is dependant on me, which is as close as I'm likely to ever get to being a Mommie, sublimating this abiding ache in my soul, which seems like a weird ache for me to have, considering that I'm not biologically equipped for it; but so anyway, the point of this whole disjointed ramble is that I try and cool it somewhat about kitties, because I can really get carried away, haranguing total strangers with interminable stories about hairballs, like some kinda crazy spinster cat kook...
Anyway Erin, nice picture, the whole layout & look of this site is a class act.
Glad you can enjoy holidays with your Mom, and that your memories
of those you've lost are a source of a kind of happiness...
~~~Hugs, Laika.
And remember...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifLqzLEB3E0
Don't be disappointed
Erin,
I am one of those that does not celebrate Halloween, ergo I usually do not pay attention to decorations of any sort regarding all Hallows Eve. I don't say anything to people about what they do or do not celebrate as each of us has our own preference.
I have seen Halloween as young children being taught to beg for candy. I know it is a prelude to All Saints day of November first.
I think that as a holiday it has been given bad revues, it is made to believe that evil abounds and that the more horrid the situation the more macabre it should be.
its all Saints Eve , Hallowed is what it is supposed to be not a ritual of gore and macabre.
After I saw your post, I then saw the decoration. It is not a thing of terror, but a thing saying no matter what I see goodness in the cat and pumpkin (my interpretation)
Jill Micayla
May you have a wonderful today and a better tomorrow
Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.
Celebrating Samhain?
It looks a bit like my co-author Bonzi cat, except his body has now grown to fit his ears.
Sorry I don't celebrate Samhain (pronounced Sou-wain)which was the start of the Celtic new year and feast of the dead. They believed that during the first week or so of what is now November, that the veil which separates the worlds of the living and the afterworld, was thinner and it was thus easier to communicate with your ancestors. It was eventually stolen by Christians along with most of the other major pagan feast days.
Angharad.
PS the moggie is cute, and your wonderful website is appreciated as is all the hardwork you put in.
Angharad
Less thinkin' & more sayin'
I just wanna say I think the kitty in the jack-o-lantern is really cute. Actually, I think this whole site is pretty amazin'. The way things have been set up makes it easy to explore so many neat ways of tellin' stories. Unfortunately, all this thinkin' about how much I appreciate all the work that goes into making TopShelf possible ain't the same thing as sayin', so let me say, from the bottom of my heart, thnak you.
{{{grateful huggs}}}
Heather Rose Brown :)
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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
Very Cute Kitty Erin
Yes Erin, I find your KITTY ICON to be very cute and adorable. I just wish that I could have a cat, but I am responsible for 2 puppies. I currently own 2 puppies. One is a black Peek-a-poo named Booger. she sits in my hand, and gives me nose sugar. Moo-Moo is a German Shepard-Poodle mix. She weighs about 10-15 pounds. She lets me know when anybody is at the door.
As you can tell, a kitty would be run ragged here, though I do love cats.
Creepier than cute
That kitty is fine although it seems a bit smug, but the Jack o' Lantern is a little too creepy for me.
The big round eyes look more like skeletal eye sockets than the traditional triangular eyes do.
And the pointy teeth remind me of a shark. I'd rather have a sparse set of squares than a perfect row of triangles.
On the plus side, the whole image is reminding me of an idea on my story pile inspired by the birth of Athena, who sprang fully grown burst from the head of Zeus.
Yucky cat.
I'm sorry but your cat gives me the willies, Erin. Nothing personal, and I'm sure it's a nice cat and all, but I have a long hair black cat that doesn't like to be brushed, and I've carved enough pumpkins to know you never get all the pulp out. So when I see that picture I have visions of the coming kitty torture, envolving great pain and anguish, most of it not the kitten's.
But if the picture has been shopped, then it is very cute!
Actually...
It's a painting from a turn of the last century magazine, not a photo at all. :) Something like Atlantic Monthly or Harper's, that's where my clip service gets public domain artwork. It's more obviously a painting before I shrank it to fit.
And where I grew up, leaving the pumpkin outside for a few hours "cured" the rind so it was firm and dry, inside and out; 6% humidity will do that. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Well I like it!
Sorry Erin, my bad I didn't even think to comment on the cute, itty biddy kitty in the pumpkin!
Now I feel like a heel, whom slipped on a banana peel...... when I reached for the electric eel....
I humbly apologize for my ignorance........I am not worthy (grovel, grovel)