Halloween Part 3

Today felt a lot like Sunday, for me anyway. Very tired after the fun of last night and the staying up way too late. Got a lot done tho, always good, and made great Indian Food and watched Stardust with a friend. Perfect.

Not sure just how long I can stay awake tonight, and I have to be up early, so I will take my own advice, and toddle off to bed soon.

I wish I had an adventure to tell you of, but alas, some nights you just get adventured out. Ah wait, this made me laugh. Boss did a Thing at one point where a lot of Writers wrote the end to the sentence "Death is..." I don't remember exactly what it was for but he wrote "....when you don't have to write anymore."

Apparently not, according to this review Sally sent me from The Age...

"by Francis Atkinson....
"When Neil Gaiman dies - and I hope that's a long way off - I wouldn't be surprised if he just keeps on writing. So prolific is his output, I can't imagine anything, including death, stopping him from sharing his remarkable talent. This latest novel for readers 10 and up (its also been re-jacketed for adults) tells the haunting tale of Nobody Owens (Bod for short), a little boy whose parents were murdered by Jack the Man. On that terrible night, Bod, who was just a toddler, managed to find his way to the local graveyard. Now seven years old, Bod has been educated by a group of local spirits who care for him and keep the madman that murdered his folks at bay. Gaiman is a gifted story teller who infuses his work with wit, tenderness and just the right amount of chills. Outstanding.

And, stretching out The Most Wonderful Night Of The Year one more evening...More Fiendish Pictures!









Love an Sleepies, Magic, and Fiends,
Lorraine

Halloween Part 2: A Photo Gallery!

Home from my Halloween and a wonderful time was had by all. Except fpr Aleta, who apparently drove around and around the de-constrution zone, trying desparately to get to the Club, even seeing us at one point.....Before giving up...I owe you one, ALeta!

Took LOTS of pics but you know my camera lmitations, and so, here are a few, at any rate...I call this one my "I will never eat chocolate again" face....



This is going to be a mostly picture post, as it IS rather late, and I have a LOT of pics from you Fiends to add....Here's Johnny, Karrin and I....



Only ONE Vampire in the world can get away with THIS sort of thing!



And here we are rocking. I love playing with Bedlam. Very much a full on powerful Rock-n-roll Gig with those boys....I had a great time and am SO glad to have been there!



Here are some of the Fiends photos. I started out trying to write down who was who, but then it occured to me, it would be much more fun tomorrow to try and figure out who is who and what is what. (good as an excuse as any, I say! I am tired!!!!!!)


































The Most Wonderful Night Of The Year!!!!!

Happy Halloween!
Lorraine

Happy Halloween!!!!

The Most Wonderful Night of the Year!!!! And it's here!!!!!

Makes a girl pretty happy, it does, all the little trick or treaters coming, my Spooky Town is all lit up and running, the ones that have batteries anyway, I have a seriously weird Rabbit....You HAVE to see this rabbit....But first....

Cabal the Pirate Dog!



And my Boss's Sweet Bunny....



Or not.....



Here's Mim doing her best impression of Halloween Kitty in front of the Spooky Town. Spooky Town is hard to shoot, I think we will wait and let Miss Kitty shoot it when she comes next, and give it it's own post....



This being The Most Wonderful Night of the Year, this is only the FIRST post of the day. I'll do another when I get home from the gig late tonight, after Midnight, Mmmahahahah!!!!!

I want to call out especially to our Lurking Fiends. This, being Halloween, you are very safe, especially here with us. Why not, for this one night, one magic night, de-lurk and be Fiends with us, all together? You may melt back into the Mist tomorrow, but tonight....

Is ours...

Love and Magic,
Lorraine

Strange and Scary, But True...

I have long known that Bengals are highly intelligent creatures, more so than we can know, and that they most likely DO have designs on ruling the world. But I had not suspected the extent which they were utilizing the Internet. Nor did I suspect they followed my blog as closely as they, obviously, are.

I think it is certain to say Venus and Mim HAVE been reading the blog, and are getting a LITTLE but tired about me going on and on about how clever it is of my Leopard to put his toys in his food bowl every morning, after eating his food.

I do not lie. I speak and write only truth. (ok, writers are liars, but I am writing truth now) This was what I found in the Bengals food dish this morning....



I am not alone in being a tad worried now, am I?

Leopard, by the way is fine, and my French Prof used him in the lesson today. It was adjectives, and we wrote a little story on him. Sadly, she did not tell me how to say "He is a fiendish creature of doom and the night" which is how I suspect he sees himself.

I got this today from one of our Fiends, a small bookshop owner in Dublin, Louisa. Lovely about the Boss's books, but notice what she has done with her Shrunken Heads! We will populate the world with our Shrunken Heads!!!!!



And for some good news...Fiends, Thank You for donating to my "Any Amount, Any CD's" Bengals Rescue fundraising. Because of you, one of the things that happened this week, with only some of the money you gave, was that a Bengal who needed some heart tests and meds, got them. YOU made this possible. The fund did not have the money. YOU saved this Bengal Kitty.

And that is Something. We can't save the world. We can't save all the Bengals or Kitties, or Dogs. But we can do Something. We can make a difference for some of them. And to the ones we help, that is all the difference in the world.

I sent our Giftie Packs to everyone today. I hope. If you donated and do not get something from me within the week, I am sorry I missed you and you must drop me a note, please. UK, and Australia, give it a bit more time. Or if you get your pack and find something not what you wanted, let me know. If you still want to donate, go for it, this will be in effect until at least the end of the year. GREAT stocking stuffers....

Love and Magic,
Lorraine

Got Me Some New Hair And A Gig For Halloween!

First things first, since we have been talking about this hair of mine and what to do since last night....Fuchsia, pink, light purple, dark purple and black. What's not to love??? Once again, I am hampered by my poor camera, so we are mostly relying on Photo Booth tonight. We'll get some better ones soon, promise!

Like say, at my Gig on Halloween! It occurred to me today driving down that I had NO plans for Halloween! And here it is two days away? What's up with that? The most wonderful day of the year????? Did some checking. Nope. No gig. Hmmm...

Here's some of the Hair in process......That was the Rat Nest of my head!



Well, Mineapolis is a small town, what are the odds I would not be welcome somewhere? (especilly with hair this cool???) The odds turned out to be very good, and I am playing at Kierran's, with Big Johny and Bedlam. Kierran's is the BEST place to play on Halloween.

Here's another of the Work in Progress....



When I called Johnny he said OF COURSE I was welcome! Did I have to ask??? I said, somewhat arrogantly "I know THAT! What are we WEARING??? It's Halloween! The most wonderful night of the year!" (Johnny and I go back 20 some years, we don't play stages the other isn't welcome on)



Turns out the band is doing Vampires. Hmmm..Kind of a stretch for me. Something black, flowing and Gothic. With cool hair. And a velvet cloak. May be covered.

I am right happy now. I have great hair, and a gig. Still can't believe I hadn't much thought about Halloween!!!!!!!!! Where has my brain been????



Thank you, Fiends, for all of your help deciding this hair today. We did good.

Love and Magic Hair,
Lorraine

Bits Of Things On A Tired Night...

It is nearly ten here and I am just getting home from my long hard day at work, and so, I am telling you up front you can hardly expect me to be witty and brilliant, as I usually am...Every word a pearl, wisdom in every sentence.....Nope, none of that tonight.

I am Fodding tired.

I had planed earlier today to do a rant on my garbage people, the ones who come every week and engage in recycling Olympics (we have a really solid team here, nothing glass gets into their trucks without breaking), when I remember to take out the rubbish for them the night before. This morning the came at 4:45am. With lights, and beeps, and crashes, but when I ranted to Woodsman Hans about this and WHY did they feel the need to work those kind of hours, he explained to me, somewhat patiently, that they needed to be off the streets before the traffic got heavy.

(An explanation that might serve better in a town that HAD traffic, but I can see the point)

I did really want to say tho, since yesterdays post on the subject was somewhat whimsical, that I am really proud, and have a LOT of admiration for all of you who are doing NaMoWriMo. Really. That's 2000 words a day for a month. (better not cut into your online time here, hee-hee!) It is am amazing thing, and make it or not, everyone who tries is going to be further along than they were, as a writer, and that is what is important. Hat's off and kudos to you, do keep us informed!

Nothing new on Bela Mac Murphy of the Mangos. The toys were in the water dish when I got home, tonight tho, I stayed longer. I scattered the toys a bit further, and brought in two new mousies, and I went to the farthest corner of the room and talked and read. The next goal is for him to come out and eat while I am in the room.

Now, for the serious question of the evening. I have to get my darn hair done tomorrow, a wee trip to the beauty parlour that takes all day and will take longer this time, as I have been putting it off and it is a proper Mare's Nest back there of knots. I could go rasta with very little trouble.

I have to decide things like, hey, what colour? Or Colours? What length? A Style or just hanging layers of hair? The extensions (Yup, most of this lovely stuff is not at all mine) are RED and have to stay that way. I can't do the rainbow again as these extensions are real hair, and not faux hair.

I am kind of leaning towards purple, with the red extensions. Or perhaps DARK with the red for Halloween. I can do anything as if I hate it, well, it needs to be re-done again in six weeks anyway.

What should I do?

I will now lay here on the couch and ponder this, the Bengals seem to be of no help, and are more interested in tonight's allotment of new mousies, but amongst you Fiends, I have hopes for a Plan.

Love and Tired and Hair,
Lorraine

Snow and Words....

Coming up soon, no idea which day it actually is, but I know it is soon, is November 1st, which marks the Start of NaNoWriMo AND the Dread Snow Parking.

NaNoWriMo is fairly simple as I understand it, just write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Easy. I'd do it myself if I wasn't REALLY determined to learn French, and make it to my Skype sessions with Nathilie, and get to class every day. Not to forget taming this Leopard.

Dread Snow parking on the other hand...Not So Simple.

First off, it has nothing to do with actual SNOW. Doesn't matter if there is any, or how much. November 1st to April 1st. I have a driveway, but once there IS snow, I can't get up it.

I am pretty good with days of the week, mostly, I know which one it is, but the Date, not so easy. And to compound the problem, it isn't what day it is today when you park, but what the date it is going to be tomorrow. Following me? Didn't think so.

I did a quick Google to see if I couldn't find exactly the wording, which was apparently on the Police Department website. When I went there I got a message saying my computer could not find the (insert name) police department server.

Of course. Finally found it at the library website (Am I the only one who thinks there is a lesson in this?)

Here it is, cut and pasted:

"The city imposes special restrictions to facilitate snow removal. From November 1 through April 1, between the hours of 2 a.m. and 7 a.m., motorists must park on the odd-numbered side of the street on odd-numbered calendar days, and on the even-numbered side of the street on even-numbered days. All streets in the city are subject to the odd-even calendar parking restriction. This ordinance modifies areas on city streets where parking is authorized. Areas that restrict/prohibit parking on an ongoing basis are not affected by the calendar ordinance and continue to be restricted as posted.

The easiest way to remember the ordinance is to always park your vehicle for the next day, as enforcement occurs between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m."


Last year our block finally got wise and simply parked on the side of the street with the Blue Van, as these people seemed to know what was going on, but even so, I get LOT of tickets.

Am thinking of opening an account with the city and simply asking them to bill me once a month, unless someone has a better idea.

Sending out the best to all of you doing NaNoWritMo! Keep us posted, I have nothing but admiration for you all. Just be careful where you park while writing...

Love and Snow and Words,
Lorraine

PS Had the Leopard Currently Known As Bela done anything besides eat , hide and leave toys in his dish, I would have mentioned it.....