Whichy Witchy Woman are You?

From Across the Pond a postcard that is Halloween~fancy, Postal Carrier Thomas (and my cookie still!) this morning did deliver! Gemmama, whose house I keep a home while she is making Far Aways to visit her dearest friend

Luella living a Welsh life,
sent this timely to me:

Tenth Month Greetings, Sweet E.!

When this message finds you, we will be gathering barely here-and-there Scabious (a teasel known to remedy Itchies, and that also answers to Devil's-bit because, as one "relic," an ancient crone whose name escapes me, once clued me,'The greater part of the root seemeth to be bitten away; old fantastick charmers report that the divel did bite it for envie, because it is an herbe that hath so many good vertues and it is so beneficial to mankinde.') and Red Dead Nettle (good to remove a jinx --or add to floor wash, afterwhich expect a mighty fine shine to look back at you. Go figure?! Tee-hee!) And when it's not about that, blackberries fill out buckets! Then we will bring home nice long necklaces of bright scarlet (Another tee-hee! truly is in order as this particular month inspires me to spell it "scare"let!) berries of the Black Bryony to herald in Autumn's crisp and the spookiful days and nights of October!

Eary BOO! to you!
Love, G. and L.

P.S. Yellow-Hammers are feeding in the stubble!

Quickly, I be putting postal note aside
and then immediately, and

naturally, I did bake a pie!

"Hello, October, full of merry glee!" I out loudly spoke to the sky outside my window, where it watched me watch it unfold into a brand new Season of the Witch! With the pie~point I'd forked from my blackberried slice held highly, I continued to give hail: "O Yellow Month, from the fading of the leaf,The wall calendar today announces that you finally belong to the world. Aah! This day, your first, is generous with warm and bright! Truly, you be the frosting on the cake we call "Today"!

And so begins the thirty days that lead up to the biggest thirty~oneth of the year: All~Hallows~Even! Yes, Hallowe'en approaches! How extraordinarily magickical the clock's tick~tocks are now sounding!

*offers warm~still piece of blackberry pie (and don't forget to first make a wish on its point before you make eats of it!)*
Have some bites and chews whilst Miss Danni
from The Whimsical Cottage extends this invitation:

"Time we got out our broomsticks and candlesticks and tell each other spooky stories around the fire. And, because so many of you played along and I had so much fun last year, I'm throwing another Countdown to Hallowe'en blog party this year! If you missed it last year, here's what you need to know to play along:

Do something Autumny or Halloweeny every day throughout the month of October, ending with the big event on the 31st. It need not be anything difficult or eleborate, just a little something to get you in the spirit. Share what you've been up to on your blogs either daily, every few days, weekly... whenever you're able! All I ask is you have a maniacally good time!"

You'll join us then, please say you will? Grand! I'm simply delighted, and I am certain that is what Miss Danni will be, soonly after you favorably RSVP!

My 1 October Countdown contribution is sort of kooky~spooky,

Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde~y
looksee, which is to say it is merely a fun~meme and lightly are the bumps in the night that are sprinkled upon it:

Scientists, be they mad or no, assert that within each and and every one of us our opposite side lurks! (Our personal antonyms may cheat while we remain faithful, spends the night dancing while we are home choring, curses at annoyers while we smile and hold our tongue, etcetera.)

On this day that starts October, then liberate, perhaps? About yourself give filler to the blanks in sentences below. (Feel free to add new descriptives as they occur to you.) Then complete the same statements in their opposite way, because you'd be surprised!

And please do, too, remember that "Evil Twin" need not be naughty words. Plenty are the times our opposite self (alter ego) isn't always worse in some way than we are. The "bad witch" is generally accomplished at the very things we think we are failures at. (If you are shy, she is a grandiose flirt. If you oversleep, she is Sunrise's alarm clock. If you are afraid--heaven forbid--of flying, she invented the broom, and so on.)

October's First Day asks:

Bangles by Jessica Kagan CushmanImage credit: Squidoo
Are you a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?

1. I am a (choose one:) night/morning owl. Hoo! Hoo!

2. I am as as happy as a little bird with a french fry when my life is (chose one:) settled/swirling.

3. My favorite kind of music is ____________.

4. I would describe my style of clothes as ____________ .

5. My idea of a perfect evening is ____________ .

6. My idea of a perfect job is ____________ .

7. If I found a wounded sparrow, I would ____________ .

8. The best place in the world to live is ____________ .

9. If I found a wallet with money in it, I would ____________ .

10. My relationship with my parents is/was ____________ .

(You're welcome to tell all how you turned out in my comment section. Thank you ahead! I soonly will do likewise.)

I Do Believe in Fairies! I Do! I Do!

The Lost~and~Finders

At this summer’s end, before Gemmama flew off for Across the Pond to pay visits to her dearest and oldest friend, Luella, she asked me (out loud and with eyes that I do love how they smile!), “Could you, oh, would you? Please say you will be my house’s custodian while I am far, faraway --and caretaker of my

Spit~Spotty, too?”

Without pause, I shouted, “Yes, a thousand times!“ because magical describes best what my grandmother’s “Home, Sweet Home” is --and her little kitty~catty, too!
My grandmama, the most cheering person in the land (and I imagine yours is, too, on the grounds that aren’t they all?! Lol!) and delightful Missy L do adventure so well together, and in that the time has been a plentiful much since they have played, my expects tell me it will be many, many days until Gemmama’s distant~elsewhere fun and frolic will cross the finish line! Clearly, then, I needn’t tell you all the various everythings and importants I did have to remember to bring with me for my lengthy stay at my new diggings. Except perhaps one, by reason of February Fairies, namely: my foil bin!

Because I tend to be a Misplacer, I have collected colorful tin foil ever since... ever since... Quite honestly, I can not recall an instance when I didn’t, it’s been that “forever”! There, there. Before the Confusion Bug can take yet another nibble of you, I shall kindly explain myself and this Tried~and~True that I look to on a regular basis.
Whenever I lose something, and no amount of searching and retracing of steps will turn it up, I call upon the fairies. Although I make cut fine lost~article announcement in my greetings to them, fairies always know ahead what has become invisible to human eyes. But unless they are assured that the “loser,” for lack of a better word (Undoubtedly, there is one, however, it escapes me now.) is a sincere person, and that they will receive something in return for retrieving a missing item, and

because they are reluctant to not be bashful, they will look the other way. Being that fairies are partial to sparkly, an offer of sparkly as the reward, makes for the ultimate enticement.

Put something shiny, like a bit of tin foil, crumpled (I prefer colorful sorts.), under a glass near where fairies would be. (At Gemmama’s, it is in the wax begonia “forest” growing in the big planting box on top of legs with the shelf at the bottom, where naps are taken by Spot, who keeps a cozy bed there. Fairies like flora and fauna!) Then, tapping into that part of your heart labeled “Humble,” ask the fairies to bring back the lost object in exchange for the all~that~glitters.

It may take a few days, sometimes seven, before LO AND BEHOLD! Your missing treasure will show itself in a place you’ve already looked for it umpteen times, or it will be deliberately placed somewhere absurdly silly! (As you know it, fairies are not opposed to fun and funny!) Next on your agenda: un~glass the foil ball to reward fairies as promised. Soon, and not unlike your once lost “something,” the crumpled shiny will disappear!

In closing, might I toss you a pearl of wisdom?
(Thank~you in advance!)
Catch!

Once upon a Yuletide , I misplaced the book of postage stamps necessary to send my written holiday cards on their Merry Christmas way. Caught without even the tiniest morsel of foil to encourage fairy helpers, I substituted a silver Santa bell under the glass. The very next day, the stamps surprised me from under

the puff~puff

in my dusting powder round! But for three nights that were in a row, I was [Jingle! Jingle!] wide awake!

. . . . .

Thank you ever so much, Miss Danni for this wonderful opportunity to share in your February Fairies jubilee! To my Readers: To make yours a truly magical Faeful February, please accept this invitation to read other participating guest bloggers’ entries. Simply click The Whimsical Cottage button, above.

May a joyful heart be yours!
Cellar Door

No Time Like the Presents!

Although yesterday’s Sun was being shiny, in chorus a softhearted, steady~down rain arrived –-a light-footed pouring, that of which all-at-once took me by surprise with its impulsive swings: this a way and that a way, then back into a quiescent state it did once more situate itself.

Meanstwhile, our Brightest Star had not taken leave of his senses and glowed he still did. In and out, his brilliance was now more akin to glitter. All of these together-weather bits put this wondering into my head: was I soon to stand under a rainbow?! A fabulously magical rainbow?!?! Lo and behold! Just like that, I was! Because my Thomas was on the front door knocker, turning it into all gentle brass poundings in order to deliver Gemmama and Luella’s cards to me with a parcel ever so carefully barnacled beneath them!

I think I’ve made before mentions of Thomas? He is my grandmother’s postal carrier and my intended Romeo, but, thusfar, only from afar! My feelings for him are unbeknowst to Thomas. Thence, a deadline I have set for myself to ask him, “Scotch Broth is a filling soup of which I am stove-simmering. Please do feast with me this night?’ or “A dessert of Molasses~Ginger cookies so nicely goes with my special receipt Chicken Barley Stew. Please, might I share both with you on an evening of your choosing?”

Too forward? “Heavens to Betsey” be my oath! My internal planning of such an event makes for tizzies and pretty, winged creatures who give me stomach ruffles during this time that the Nervousy Bug does take big bites of me! Courage, Cellar, courage! Deep, deep breaths be mine, and “All in good time” are words I speak to me for the calming. Secretly I do pine for dear, sweet, unaware Thomas. I long also for the day on which the “un” easily drops away from his descriptive.

Goodness! How my mouth is a dash-about! Tee~hees then be yours and mine, since this Cellar Door chapter is to be not about the whys, wheres and howfores of the romantic brew bubbling in my caldron. Here be the instead:

Two days after yesterday marks my being on this lovely Earth for twenty-six years in all! (“Nearly born on Halloween, was I,” my voice gives. “Wouldn’t you agree, that measures for something?” lol) And sweethearts are Gemmama and Luella to

for-get-me-not!

When Thomas handed me the birthday package (at which time, flutters hastily replaced the beating of my heart as his hand did brush mine!), I was profoundly green at the start, as the postmark divulged Gemmama and Luella’s corking whereabouts. Their Halloween holiday has taken them to Amsterdam (where, conceivably, they will conjure up the spirits of Vincent van Gogh, Johann Vameer, Jheronimus Bosch, and Rembrandt van Rijn. With both girls wearing a Master on each arm, because so very much do they enjoy the Arts (“The finer, the better,” claims Luella.) and are quite fond of accessorizing as well, they will go for the Dutch gusto, to be sure! Oops! Please not to disremember Gemmama’s funnyman Jan Steen, who is as gay and animated as any of the party~goers in his paintings! For that, Gemmama has nicknamed him The Carouser. What a fun ‘n frolic his spirit be! O how his humor ensorcels! Many are the times she has called upon Mr. Steen, which makes him a frequent ghosty guest in her home. Positive I am that she will enlist him whilst Netherlanding.

Upon opening my present box, instantly, my envy would turn into ear-to-ear smiling that crossed my face again and over and again! Luella had made for me one of her

signature “ variegateds”: a cozy, hand-knit scarf with an accompanying notecard on which was written:

“Dearest E. That Ever Be:
Best Birthday Wishes!
I love you in the ‘worsted’ way!
Smooches, L.”

(Not about to put into place a case of the Left-Outs, because “It makes for hurts that truly linger,” generously, Miss Luella did send Josiette one of the same, only in yellows!)

And great HUZZAHS to the sends
Gemmama lovingly full-chocked into

the carton’s bottom half:

(Second only to pie, Jimmies are my life!)
Dutch Chocolate Sprinkles!

(A custom of edible letters goes back to Germanic times when, at birth, children were given a runic letter.)
A Sinterklaas Chocolate Letter
molded to be an

the initial of my given name!

And last but not least (because it is best of all!):

(A Barbara Wiggins notebook)
A foiled amethyst Spellbook,
bearing a secret castable created by Gemmama especially for this Birthday Girl, penned in her delightful nervous-pigeon-walking scrawl!

By the by: most possibly
could I interest you in a hardy slab of

Pre-Birthday Cake???

Credit where credit is due: Birthday Cake: ColettesCakes.com

Gemmama Called! Gemmama Called!

Although this wasn’t THE actual postcard from Gemmama, given her message~intentions, it truly would have been the purrrfect “pick of the litter” to send!

One week ago this day, my grandmother, who remains Across the Pond where she pays visits to her dear friend Luella, jingled me! And, indeed, it was a wee wee early last Monday morning (It would be 6pm, their clock.), when Gemmama and her forever-let-the-good-times-roll partner put down their esscential doings to place a counted on call to me.

(The Esscential Doings: Neither my grandmother nor Luella have ever dealt gently with human deodorizers or Central Air, but that doesn’t mean they surrender their toilette. Instead they trust Lavender-Scented Full Moon Water Spritz before pressing their frocks and linens. (Yes and can you imagine?! These two hens still keep lively their ironing boards!) And nearly at the start, when her receipt called for witch hazel,

Gemmama deemed it necessary to substitute with vodka. Methinks it's much ado about the 100~proof, that of which these two concocters merrily sip before the readying, during the readying, after the makehay, and even while they same~day spritz! More about Lavender~Scented Full Moon Water in a while.)

After an overthewire, quick exchange of “Hellos” and “Oh, How I’ve Missed Yous," Gemmama joyously (and with happy tears in her eyes, I could just tell!) exclaimed, “A card large with importance from we to you has been full chisel sent!” Then she boldly underlined it with, “Be wide-awake of Thomas.” (Thomas being Gemmama’s mail carrier.)

The delivery arrived promptly the following day: a lovely postcard whose illustration expressed a picturesque Welsh countryside and whose backside, penned in Luella’s beautifancy (I'd know it anywhere!), read:

To Our Cherished Pet,

Inked to paper, then torn in half
And bubbled in a caldron bath,
By coalish cats with eyes: marine,
By all the Magick ever seen,
Your wish is granted and anointed–
Now make haste the time appointed!
Love, G. & L.

Beneath the charmed directive and written
in her signature nervous~pigeon~walking scrawl,
Gemmama added:

Off with you, then, in well-timed fashion to 1333, where your dream awaits you. NOW SCAT!
P.S. Bring with you a paper sack into which your hastened breaths in and out shall go, for surely the excitement will take you miles!

Ever since I can remember, my heart~want has been to call a Magickal cat my very own. But it just hadn’t happened yet. That is, not until Josiette and I, with small brown bags in hand, bee~lined to Miss Monica’s, two houses over.

Trumpet fanfare, please!
(But not too full~volume, as he is still a morsel-bit mousy.)

INTRODUCING:

Puddle!

Monica’s cat Boo mixed up a small batch of three kittens about seven weeks ago. Puddle is mine (all mine!) and his lookalike brother is now the latest family member of another neighbor, Ina, two houses the other way from Gemmama’s. And Josiette~~ahhh, my ever~patient Josiette! She has been promised the black cat sister (whom she’s already christened Clarinet), just as soon as the little scamp is finished hiding!

Hmm. Thinking backward in my head, I recall a weeks ago, stifling night at the top part of August, when a sleepy me flipped over my pillow in hopes of finding cool. Suddenly, the entire feathered pudding went sweetly warm and cozy! And I inexplicably smiled, as I am at this point, only this go ‘round, my inside~knowing tells me the exact answer (and so, too, did Miss Monica, verifying with her Kitty Birth Records): That mysterious calefacient had ocurred at the bull’s-eye moment that Puddle met the world!

Come this week’s Thursday, my very own pussycat and I (and positively Josiette and Clarinet) will celebrate our first full Moon together! I am so excited that I’d best be putting little paper bags at the top of the market list!

POSTSCRIPT:

Lavender-Scented
Full Moon Water Spritz
(low yield)

1 couple of small, sealable Masons (jars)
2 teaspoons lavender essential oil
5 tablespoons 100~proof vodka (or witch hazel, if that would be your preference)
1 cup Full Moon water
spritz bottle

Let oil an vodka cooperate by shaking vigorously together. Add Full Moon water and store in previously cleansed~of~negative~energies vessels. Keep in a dark place for fourteen days. When ready to use, shake jar ever so gently, so as not to bruise or bend the luna charge. TO USE: Lavender~Scented Full Moon water~fill a cleansed atomizer. Fine mist on clothing (including dailies, work clothes, romantics and other fine washables, or spray on bed dressings, curtains ~~any fabric items calling for fresh and crisp) before putting an iron to it.

lavender forest, lavender atomizer

If Nothing Else, There’s the Promise of Pie!

I like early and I like late because it is so quiet. So does my grandmother. Yesterday, Gemmama and I shared both times together sifting through a big box of snapshots, some of them curling and some of them colored and most of them of her holding me when I was just little. I looked like a happy, baby lapdog! And, isn’t “sifting” a simply lovely word?!

Between photographs, we nibbled away at one of her “secret formula” pies until it was gone completely! Whenever I’ve watched my grandmother mix together a pie, a good part of the time, Gemmama will follow a standard recipe, only to add several, unmeasured dips into the sugar cannister. (She’s all-butter crust, too!) As the pie bakes, she conjures up a long and fancy name for it. I can’t for the life of me remember yesterday’s label, but it doesn’t matter really, since each time she puts a tart in the oven, the name changes~~ even if it’s a recipe she’s used time again! And, then, as my grandmother sinks the knife to cut the first piece, she bows her head and says, “There’s probably 200 calories per syllable. Let’s thank the stars that none of them count!”

When I thought the day couldn’t be more wonderful, Gemmama surprised me with an invitation to be the custodian of her house while she is away! A dear friend of hers is “ailing” and is need of assistance for an undetermined amount of time. My grandmother, a good reader of all things between the lines, is rather certain that Luella just wants a little company. “Aye yi yi !” Gemmama happily chanted. “Likely, we’ll sip ‘embellished’ tea and never bother to get dressed as we talk till we're blue and sometimes pea-green in the face about all the good times we once let roll in!”

So, during the not so quiet part of yesterday, I did my “walks” and rearranged my schedule (I’m a professional dog walker), while my grandmother, who loves her housecoats and expensive perfumes, packed both for her adventure across the pond.


She flew out this morning, the conventional way, of course, leaving me to my own devices, namely: Gemmama’s vast collection of books! Her library, stacks and shelves to the ceiling with volumes as numerous as the calories her pie names tally to, is all about powers, potions, lotions, tonics, teas, charms, incantations, cat magic, mews, myths, mystery, lore, fauna, flora and mora! I even spied one small bookcase dedicated to our beloved: Mr. Johnny Carson! I might need a paper bag to control my breathing!

Might you come sit for a “spell”? Along with the goings-on I encounter at my new “home” and the postcards Gemmama will be sending to me, I plan on sharing snips, snaps and snurrs from her literary collection with you here.

Merry meet, and merry part, until we merry meet again!

P.S. There will be pie!