Happy Hallowe'en 2020!!

 Scary times and frightening goings on...so add to the freak party with this year's Hallowe'en illustration of our favourite monsters - The Leonard Monster, Count Gizmo, Doctor Sapphira and Missy the Bride of Tequila!

....and a reminder of our troupe in Dia De Los Muertos costume....

May the spookiness entertain you and may the year ahead be better than the last! xxxx

Happy Black Cat Appreciation Day!

Happy Black Cat Appreciation Day 2020

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Our lucky black cats - no matter what level of buggerlugs they choose to be, our lives are richer for having them as our crazy companions/overlords! Love from Shroo, Mr Shroo and (left to right) Missy, Gizmo, Sapphira and Harvey xxxxx

Autumn Tales From The Lunch Tin

More "Tales from the Lunch Tin"!

It's that time again... The passing of Autumn is recorded in the antics of our feline family. Their adventures are seemingly neverending and are constantly entertaining to me and Hubby, whose lunch tin contains one of these updates every day. Here are some of the latest daily chapters...

 

 

    The children have new beds! In fact, they have a whole newly furnished annex to stay safe and warm in at night. Snuggly igloos, warm plushy cushions and even a little kitty duplex fill what was a barren utility space, transforming a stark spot into a comfy, toasty haven for the babies to enjoy, during rainy days or chilly nights. They've each chosen their favourites, apart from Leonard, who can't be trusted there at all. From the great beyond, the distant harp music and tinkling bells accompany a heavenly Harvey's Noel Coward tones - "Marvelous wubbies! Must have ALL the lovely wubby snugglies! Fabulous, dear boy, fabulous!" The Colonel approves. 

 

    Autumn chases rats with the falling leaves as they skitter into the garden to steal scraps from the chicken coop and the hutches. To Leonard, this is a positive Black Friday event - a veritable bargain hunt of rodenty goodness! He's focussed, determined and gleefully lethal... It's a massacre!

 

 

    The big sycamore in the garden has held on to its leaves like a spoiled child gripping a lollipop, but gravity and the season's weather finally ripped the curling leaves from the branches, sending them hurtling to the ground like a drunk on a dancefloor. It came as something of a surprise to Gizmo, not the quickest on his paws, and as a treat to Sapphira who lost all reason in her pursuit of airborne combatants. Sapphira went nuts. Gizmo composted. 

 

 

Gizmo has ways of clearing a room so that he can have the comfiest seat.

#bumsmells 

 

 

 

    Leonard takes one look at the weather and refuses to move, a furry stealth emo.
Everyone embraces their inner couch potato on occasion, but Leonard is the Messiah of all soft-furnishing-based root vegetables. He is the expert. He is the One - the Neo of slovenliness.... ninja skill invisibility...until he snores, farts and wakes to furtively consume his own body weight in nippity-biscuits.

 

    Gizmo is not a rain lover. While the miniature maniac and the idiot play in the puddles and the big, splooshy raindrops, Gizmo is very much aware that, basically. he just gets wet. He is prepared to tolerate this state of affairs only because he is ALSO aware that looking like a drowned rat will guarantee being wrapped in a warm, fluffy towel, cuddled, brushed and fed his favourite treats. He will sacrifice dignity for luxury at the drop of a hat.

    As Gizmo staggers unsteadily out of the kitty house with pasted fur, looking like a bomb blast survivor with alarmingly moist shell shock, it's clear that his sister's assault upon his person has had significant and devastating effects.
    While Gizmo recouperates, Sapphira, undeterred, employs her overactive saliva glands in her own ear-to-bumhole 'Andromeda Strain' style cleansing ritual until her big brother returns for more feline waterboarding.
    As a cat hairstylist, she makes up in enthusiasm what she lacks in restraint.

 

 

  Gizmo's entrepreneurialism knows no bounds.
Fed up with 'singing' for his supper - during what appears to be a distressing national sausage shortage - he has discovered a potential solution to his dilemma...
Whilst wandering around the fields and farms he happened upon a couple of lage wild sausage plants, which are well rooted and prospering in an undisclosed location. Gizmo will now impatiently await the harvest, although to his surprise these sausage plants are surprisingly active and may put up a bit of a fight making collecting sausages a lot tougher that he originally planned....

 

    Gizmo has finally discovered how to harness the mighty power of the sun itself - in the form of a hot water bottle with snuggly cover, pre-approved by his Heavenly brother-from-another-mother, Harvey.

 

    Mummy is working a piece for an exhibition. This time it's a textile work which means that copious amounts of embroidery thread dance seductively before the captivated eyes of Leonard Shrewsbane. Upon being given his own piece, Leonard embarks on an emotional thrill ride of blissful, overexcited insanity which results in a shredded footstool cover... along with an equally shredded foot.

 

    Sapphira is in her element now - finally - in her role of mercenary protector of the Shrewsbane's space. Tense as a piano wire garrote, she paces like a rabid wolverine on speed, awaiting directives from the slovenly teenager moping and wallowing in his pit of mysterious smells behind closed doors.
Approach at your peril!
....They will never find your body......

 

     Gizmo's continuing impatience at food time and his almost constant cravings have driven him to take up the questionable hobby of wizardry. Taking a somewhat classic approach - somewhere between Paul Daniels and Tommy Cooper - he works earnestly towards his ultimate goal - turning shrews into sausages...

 

    That's all for now from the crazy cats - more will be here as soon as Husband has more lunch hours! Thanks for stopping by - don't forget to leave a comment and say 'hello!' See you soon xxxx

 

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A Little Trip Along Nostalgia's Path

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 Recently, I had a bit of a rummage through some older journals and found these pages which I wanted to share. I drew these doodly illustrations a lot to record memories that I was afraid I'd lose and I'm so grateful for them. 

    They're even more important to me now that these places are half a country away and all of the people and pets are lost to me in this world. Looking at them, I feel an odd mix of sadness, nostalgia, fondness and thankfulness.

    I have a new life to illustrate now - a new adventure filled with love and happiness and cats (many cats!), but these memories are so much a part of me and I never ever want to lose them. I can keep them safe in my journals and my heart and move forward knowing they're always where I can find them.

 

Welcoming Autumn With Cats

 It's Autumn. My favourite time of year. The colours of the leaves are yet to fully turn, but the light is different, and the air has bite.

    As is now tradition, I have been marking the passage of time and the changing of the seasons with the cat cartoons that sneak their way daily into my Husband's lunch tin before he sets off for work. I thought this would be as good a time as any to share some of the latest little offerings with you. Here we go:

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    It seems that no matter where we hide the treats, the fur bandits manage to ferret them out, commiting nefarious acts of daring do that would put Cirque Du Soleil to shame. We're not sure who the ring leader is, but Missy is noticeable by her absence in spite of being seen carrying purloined evidence....Hmmmmm.....

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    Late summer brought the annual moth invasion, drawn to the electric lights like...well.....moths. Err. Yes -their crazy, flapping air raves gave rise to the suspicion that Missy has been selling tickets for access to the light show and we can only imagine what the party girl and her clientele get up to when the night draws in, the bulbs flicker on and the sound of Ibiza-style nightclub vibes spread over the surrounding fields...

 

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    We're early risers, up at 4:30 am. The cats are fed before anything else - even coffee - and they're fed well! Not that you'd think so, given that by 9:30 Gizmo and Sapphira are to be found like waifs on the garden doortep releasing their inner hobbits to demand second breakfast. Then it's a practise of the pathetic faces in the hopes of a winning elevenses performance, brunch and then on to a midday banquet. Shameful...

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    September brought Husband's birthday which THIS year was a joint celebration with Leonard, as we've recently discovered that his first visit to me at my old home as a 'gentleman of the road' was on Husband's birthday date! He's such a daddy's boy now that we figure that his arrival was meant to be. WHICH is EXACTLY how Leonard feels about birthday cake. 

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    Yes. I forgot to put a spoon in Husband's lunch box, so pudding was woefully uneaten. For shame..... Gizmo helped me to apologise appropriately. 

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    ...Leonard is disgusting. 

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    As colder, wetter, more Autumnal weather made an appearance, Husband and I decided to embark on a refurbishment programme which would ensure that they would all be comfortable and warm throughout the winter months ahead. Missy - party girl and dweller of the outside shed - was a ball of furry disgruntled wriggles and claws when I dared to pick the Gorgeous One up and carry her to the new cat zone.... Growls, claws, hissy fits UNTIL her paws touched the soft plush of the new beds... Oh. Well. Yes. The ensuing display of hedonistic delight was nothing short of disgraceful. Needless to say she spends at least some time - when the bars are closed - in the lap of luxury. Tart.

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    Leonard loves his Dad so much. Like.....SOOOO much! He likes to celebrate every time Daddy returns from work with a little Leonard dance and a gift of the mutilated corpse of some erstwhile rodent garden inhabitant.

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    The recent power cut was a bad one. The electric cable outside the house had melted through a gas main and ALL the juice to the neighbourhood was well and truly switched off for hours and hours until the magic pixies fixed it. A lot of food had to be disposed of or quickly cooked when the kitchen was up and running again, including a veritable ton of mini sausage rolls. NEVER LEAVE MINI SAUSAGE ROLLS TO COOL ON A KITCHEN COUNTER WHEN YOU HAVE CATS AND THE DOOR IS OPEN!!!!! Leonard got there first. Gizmo is still recovering from the loss.....

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     Hope you liked these little doodles that mark our days with the kitty overlords. If you like what you see here, maybe you'd like to subscribe to my blog - there's no spam, just occasional helpful notifications of new arty projects for you to enjoy. Tell a chum - invite them to the arty party!

Stay well, stay safe, be loved.