I won’t go into the story of Millicent Patrick here, but it needs to be told. This blog tells it much better than I can.
That being said, I thought I would tell you about an interesting little illustration I noticed in an old monster book of mine:
I checked out this book dozens and dozens of times as a child from our library; I just couldn’t get enough of the fantastic illustrations, the far-reaching stories or the fact that it had a monster glossary in the back.
This is a photo of my late grandparents’ backyard. In the spring, it was a colorfest of azalea bushes. This photo is from the 1960s, I think,because that stump in the middle on which that kettle is sitting was almost disintegrated by the time I was born in 1971.
But you probably notice something odd. The white patch at upper left, indicating possibly an overexposure, has a little scribble in it. Look closer and it may take on a dinosaur or birdlike shape.
Flip this photo over and you will find a wild orgy of the brethren of the aforementioned creature.
I drew these things all over everything when I was small; no book, no piece of paper, and obviously not all photos were safe from my scribbling hands. I still have no idea what compelled me to scribble on a photo, though.
I think I even called them the Birdmen then. They had round heads, round bodies, bird legs and feet and what seemed like arms and hands.
One of these seems to have a hat, and I think another might be…pooping? The one at top right is in an awful hurry to get someplace.
I thought about what these beings might look like if I had started drawing them today:
I don’t know where the Birdmen came from in my brain, but they are kinda fun. I feel bad that they’ve obviously lost their ability to fly.
Thanks for reading about the Birdmen!
One of my best pals, Mel, sent me a box today that I think she called the “Hallowchristmas Box”. In other words, it contained stuff she had gotten me for Halloween and for Christmas! I gotta share this with you guys, because it’s just beyond amazing.
The first thing I pulled out was this knockout of a purse. I forgot to take pictures of the neat magical symbols on the back and the green satiny eyeball fabric on the inside.
This past week I won something at two different events. On Saturday, I took myself to a local antique mall/flea market that has a great variety of stuff and lots of booths, and they were having a Christmas open house event with food, prizes and music. I can often find a lot of things here for various folks on my shopping list, so I knew I was in for a good time. When I walked in the door I was given a raffle ticket. This same event was also held the previous weekend, and with my previous raffle ticket I had come close to winning by one number no less than four times. So, this time, taking ticket in hand, I prayed the Raffle Gods would smile upon me that day.
As we all walked around(many attendees as well as the shopkeepers/booth owners are wealthy retirees and were dressed to the nines) the store, one of the main shop owners was calling out raffle ticket numbers on a microphone every fifteen minutes or so. She would tell the winner to “make sure you scream and yell so we know you’ve won and we won’t call out the next number”. And, just like during the previous visit, my number came droolingly close but no cigar. And once again, I answered each number callout with “AAAARGH”!
Finally a gentleman who is extraordinarily nice to me there called me over and said, “Darlin’, would you like to sing a song for us to win a prize? You have been coming so close for two visits now.” Since a another customer had sung “Blue Christmas” and gotten a gift certificate, I stepped up to the plate.
I got a microphone shoved into my hand and I literally belted out “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” to the best of my ability. Oddly enough, it all came out just fine. Better than I thought it would, actually….and I got a ridiculous round of applause!
And the nice fellow who encouraged me to come up said, “Go over there and pick out a stocking on the Prize Tree!” and I did, and it was a $15 gift certificate! We got it sorted out with my name, and here it is!
I keep hearing the song “My Favorite Things”, performed by various current artists, in with the Christmas songs on the radio. I have never seen The Sound of Music so I don’t understand why. However, I love the song, and I thought up my own version:
My Favorite Things
Silky black kittens and gray rats that scurry
Karloff and Cyclops and yetis so furry
Great golden dragons with eighty foot wings..
These are a few of my favorite things.
Horror conventions where you meet your idols
Dark headless horsemen on stallions unbridled
Long scaly serpents that swim in warm springs…
These are a few of my favorite things.
All kinds of sharks found at all ocean levels
Unicorns,werewolves and wild Jersey devils
Vampires that swoon when the night creatures sing..
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the shark bites
And its teeth sting
When I’m feeling sad…
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad.
