Of Christmas doings and a make ahead breakfast~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well step by step, inch by inch, minute by minute we are edging closer to Christmas,  my two younger nephews, the Twins, can hardly wait.

They came with us to the Dickens Fair this last weekend after joining us (surprisingly) to see a local community theater’s presentation of “A Christmas Carol”.   

 When we got to the Fair, they were suddenly overwhelmed by the sounds, sights and scents of the Fair and although they were wearing modern clothing compared to our Dickens garb they got into the swing of  it, even so much as asking their parents to buy them those “news boy” flat caps,  now they are getting the idea why their older siblings like the genteel Victorian way of life---although as we know during those times certain things like sanitation and women’s rights were almost nil,----but they are getting the idea, much to their Mother’s relief. 

This morning I got a call from my sister in law and as we worked on what to have for Christmas dinner she told me that the boys are now insisting on wearing their caps to school but of course taking them off in class,  she made sure their names were written on the inside of the caps.   But, she said, they seem to cherish them, even my brother bought one and now is wearing it every time he goes outside or to work, “keeps his head warm” she said he told her and she thinks the Twins have found out the same.

I think that is marvelous.  

I recently read an article about Ghost Stories at Christmas time and this goes beyond Dicken’s “Christmas Carol” 

 “A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories”  by Colin Dickey at the Smithsonian Magazine web site   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/plea-resurrect-christmas-tradition-telling-ghost-stories-180967553/

He says “Though the practice is now more associated with Halloween, spooking out your family is well within the Christmas spirit”   I think that is a perfectly Gothic idea.  I mean why should Ghost Stories only be confined to Halloween, after all “A Christmas Carol” is a ghost story in the very meaning of the word.

I recommend this article to all you Gothic Darklings and find a way to be able to tell them around the fireplace or by candle light or the lights of the Christmas tree,  it would be a wonderful new and dark tradition.

I’m also going to have a make ahead breakfast for Christmas day, although it will only be myself, Doyle, Sis and her roommate Brian (the Rodgers will be out of town) it makes perfect sense to do this.

So the night before Christmas (or day before) you can make this without having to fuss about breakfast on Christmas day.

The ingredients is:

1 pound hot sausage

6 slices bread, cubed

6 to 8 slices of pre-cooked bacon crumbled

1 cup grated cheese

6 eggs

2 cups of milk

1 teaspoon  of salt

1 teaspoon of mustard

To prepare in a skillet crumble and cook the sausage until brown, drain (do the same with the bacon), Grease a 9 x 13 inch Pyrex pan or dish, line the bottom with the cubed bread.

Then top with the sausage, bacon and cheese,  in a bowl combine the milk, eggs and seasonings and beat well then pour over the layers in the pan, cover and refrigerate overnight.   Next morning, take out and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, cut into squares and serve.  Will serve between 6 to 8 people.

Of course you’ll have the orange juice and coffee which you can prepare while it’s baking and toast and butter.     I just love make ahead foods and this is perfect.

Well I need to go,  Sis and I have to do a bit of Grocery shopping and I know we’ll be going back again on Saturday for the dinner,  which means we’ll be cooking and baking Saturday and Sunday with my sister-in law’s help.

In the mean time Dear Darklings you have a wonderful Christmas.

Later Darklings 

Of a "Ghostly, Mystery" Vacation~~~~

Hello My Darklings,

I'm at a free wi-fi service here in Sacramento but Doyle and I will be leaving later today, and all I can say is that our vacaton was wonderful.

We stayed aboard the Delta King, a floating Riverboat hotel, and yes the nights did get chilly so warm sweaters are a must, and one night the fog rose up from the river, our room was very nice with a lovely river view, and I do have to admit depending on your pricing the rooms can be a bit on the small side but you ARE on a Riverboat and space is limited.

We enjoyed dining on the boat and had a special dining package with the mystery suspense theatre, I think it's called Suspects theater, and you don't know if you are dining with a victim, a suspect, or a detective.  And you have to help figure out the mystery, such Fun!

But that wasn't all, Doyle had made reservations for a tour on one of Sacramento's Ghost Walk Tours, and Underground Old Sacramento,  there was something about being able to walk on the old Riverboat, watch the river flow by at night, we had a full moon as well, it added to the ghostly atmosphere, add the river fog and all at once you are not in the 21st century but back in the 19th. 

The ghosts of those merchants, gamblers, bankers, miners, farmers, villians, women of means and women of the streets all floated along, calling to you to forget the present, go to the past where you could disappear, no one would know you, you could take on a different persona, make your own way or die trying.  Some people think it was romantic, but there was disease and pestilience, and for some people bathing was not very often, and a wrong word was reason for a shoot out.  And they floated out there, calling to one, some people say that they can hear the screams of people who died when two riverboats that were racing blew up, being burned to death by the hot steam or the fire or drowing.   Even the River is haunted and demands its sacrifice if you dig for its gold.

At one time in the 1860's Sacramento and much of the Central Valley was flooded like Noah's flood, the new govenor instead of taking a carriage to the capitol had to take a boat, the river had no channel and the riverboats could go everywhere,  now a days they call that type of flooding a Noahchian flood, rare but it does happen, now dams prevent that.

And late at night, when most of old Sacramento is in bed, if one stands on the deck of the Delta King and looks at the town, it seems like time has stood still, only the faint honking of a car horn breaks that spell, few places are like that, New Orleans, Old Town Sacramento, even historic gold rush town of Columbia give that feeling of time freezing for just a moment, San Francisco lost that ages ago with its high rises, but now and then peeping through the fog the city becomes like it was in the 1940's and 50's black and white, film noir.  Parts of London can still give that feeling, but its rare.

Now Doyle brings me my 2nd cup of coffee and we'll have to be going,  he needs to see someone at one of the Capitol offices, then back to the real world.

I've been in touch with my niece "Coralline" and 'Trisha she says she recieved your card and just loves it.  My sister says we need to go to the new Target store and buy candy and Belladonna misses me;  so more Halloween preperation to do.

Later Darklings

Of Ghostly Artists and Ghostly paintings~~~~~

Well Darklings,



I did promise to tell you about the art showing that my sister and I attended a few weeks ago, but with all the excitement that had happened (fire in the kitchen etc) I nearly forgot about it.


In an earlier posting I mentioned meeting the two young people a man dressed in black and his female companion dressed in ghostly white. And I was able to determine that they were Goth, and it seems we both knew mutual friends in the art community.


And with that we were invited to her opening.
It was located in a warehouse area that a number of artists use to build large installations, I asked her if she owned the building and she said no that it was owned by a friend who allowed for her works to be shown.


They were oil paintings each mounted on their own white support with white gauzy cloth behind them, the walls and ceiling of the warehouse was also painted white but the lighting was set up to show the paintings and for us to not be detracted by the building, even the floor was painted white.



Her works were very ethereal, in the palest of shades, some shades were warm or cold, as if it were snow, or the palest depths of water, or warm smoke or clouds, and it appeared as if objects or people were emerging from the canvas, without using any heavy layering, in one I thought I could barely see the image of a house, an old house but elusive to capture, the word that came to mind was “Brigadoon”; I determined it was some sort of effect with the use of iridescence materials. Each painting seemed to be telling a story but only the viewer could put their own interpretation on it.



In another painting I felt as if someone just barely outside of my vision was beckoning me to enter the painting. In another one could just make out the image of a female body under a sort of waterfall, like a nymph.



There were others all ghostly and elusive; she told me that she was in her “white” period like Picasso had his “blue” period of painting, Anthena, the artist said that she goes through periods or moods of color in painting, for a while she was working in shades of gray, blue and plum, another time in greens and browns.



Beside her paintings, her boyfriend, Randolph works in clay and had a number of sculptures all worked in white clay with a matt glaze with some high glaze highlights, all very simplistic and stylized but not harsh, one of a female figure dancing and holding hands with two small figures suggested a mother and children but done without hard edges. All of these were displayed upon white round pedestals.



Which sort of eventually put me off balance, the glasses were clear, only white wine was served and the type of wine that needs to be chilled to get the maximum of flavor, the plates, napkins, were white with the only bit of color from the bits of food being served on white trays by several people wearing white full face masks, white clothing and vests and white gloves without a speck of flesh showing, all so very ghostly. Anthena was again wearing white while Randolph was in black it seemed as if she would merge with the walls and paintings while Randolph was a black ink spot among all the whiteness. With the exception of the colors of clothing worn by the people who came to the opening.



Music was being played on a sound system but not really music more like Tibetan bells, softly tinkling, and bird song nothing intrusive but more as background so that people for some reason would talk softly and indeed people who were talking loudly before they entered the showing suddenly lowered their voices.



Although her paintings and his sculptures were beautiful they would not fit in my home, but my sister took a liking to one of her paintings that suggested a ghostly forest and path with flowers all covered with a mist. Sis felt that it would fit very well with what she had in mind for her living room in her newly purchased house, on that painting I could agree, for it felt like it was the only “friendly” painting in the showing, so Sis bought it.



I know using the word “friendly” may seem strange but that was the only way to describe that particular work. The others, well I can only say is that they “frightened” me, as if I did not want to stay with them for too long.



Randolph’s sculptures were relaxing and very modern in many ways but I was not attracted to many of them except two, the first that I described as a mother dancing with her children and another where 4 figures two adults, a man and woman and two small figures children seemed to be affectionately hugging each other, I could almost sense a smile on each of the figures, my sister also took a liking to them and also bought both sets of figures. Both sculptures were not over 18 inches tall and would be stand alones once my sister could determine how she was going to decorate her home, although I had a fairly good idea from her notes that she showed me.



Eventually I had to turn my back on all that “whiteness,” and I zeroed in on a darkish corner that offered a respite to my senses. Randolph approached me and asked if I was well, and I said that I was a bit tired since I was still recovering from my accident. He found a free chair (also in white) so I could rest and we talked about his works and hers. He was very happy not only had my sister purchases a few items but other works were selling as well, so he considered the showing a success.



I was surprised that the works would sell so quickly and he said usually they would be in a gallery for several months, but those that didn’t sell this weekend were going to a gallery in Los Angeles. It was an arrangement they had made with a friend who owns that particular gallery and was up here for the opening. Randolph said that for some reason both he and Anthena felt that they would sell quickly with this opening, to use his words “They just seem to vibrate out to people” and yes I could sense that, but not everyone.



I noticed that Anthena in her languid way of walking and my sister were coming over to join us. Anthena appeared to be quietly animated mentioning that several works were sold already, and that there appeared to be a slight bidding war over several others which their art gallery friend was conducting. I congratulated her on her success, and she said that it made her happy, her other works have sold but more slowly, so to her she felt that it was a sign that the economy was improving.



Then she invited my sister and I, to her workshop which is in another part of town as well as coming over to her and Randolph’s home for lunch both at future dates, which my sister and I accepted. I did ask her if it were possible to bring Doyle and Randolph said the more the better, it seems that he is the cook in that household. “I love to cook” he said “But Anthena has dietary restrictions, so when I cook I take it to our neighbors homes, that way I can have my portion and cook enough for others, it isn’t fun just to cook for one” he remarked.



Sis asked if his neighbors were surprised by his largess and he said no, “I choose a different neighbor every other day, and then I call them or drop by and ask if they’d like me to prepare them something and especially with some of our neighbors who have children it’s a relief for them.”



He said that they repay his cooking efforts with help with some work on the property or taking them to the airport or train depot when they are going to travel out of the area.



“Of late” he said “We’ve been traveling by train, so Anthena can take her painting equipment and her camera, some times she sees something while we’re traveling and takes a picture of it and somehow works it into her paintings, can’t do that on a plane.”



“Train travel is more relaxing for me” she said “but there are times when we just decide to throw things into the car and just go. We let our neighbors know we’ll be gone and they’ll collect our mail, water things and keep an eye on our place, it works out very well.”



By this time more people were arriving so Sis and I decided it was time to leave and Sis made arrangements to have Randolph drop off the works after the showing which I though would be a few weeks but was surprised when he said that it was only for that weekend and he could bring them by in a couple of days in the evening.



As Sis and I were driving home I said to Sis that I was surprised that the showing was only for just two days and then being packed up to move to L.A. “All that work in that warehouse, all that preparation for just one opening night and two days?” that puzzled me, but Sis had talked to the art Gallery friend and was going to do the exact same thing in its L.A. opening so it could have been a “dry run” to see how well that worked.



“Too well” I remarked and told her how I felt off-balanced by it, she asked me how I was feeling as we were going home and I said “relaxed unless that’s the wine” but she told me that was the effect that they were going for, a sort of hypnotic relaxation, she was wondering if they were using a form of hypnosis, if by using the depriving of color that it was working much like those depravedation chambers but in a more subtle way.



I asked her what were her thoughts and she said that she felt that it might help some people relax enough to help them get to a mood where they could look into themselves to find the causes of their fears or neuroses, but she also felt that too much white would be too much and could cause a severe imbalance and create greater harm. But she thought she could apply some of those principals to decorating her home for her work, a relaxing mood stress reduction environment.



“Perhaps using fish ponds, Tibetan bells and bird songs, who knows, but now I’ve seen it applied in full force, I wonder what their house and their workshop are like.” I could only agree with my sisters’ assessment and wonder myself.



Later Darklings

Of a "Haunted House" and a ghostly artist~~~~

Hello Darklings,

It is the 1st of May, May Day at time when young girls and boys would dance around a phallic may pole with ribbons to entwine it, in celebration of Spring and the coming of Summer.

My sister had declared that she is taking a vacation for a week to see about getting some things done, and with this very warm weather I totally agree.  Not that I have to worry about seeing things done, just the usual things.

Yesterday afternoon Sis took me through a tour of the house she has started the process of buying, it is good size, not as big as my Great Aunts but with plenty of room, she has plans for it, she has decided to use the house as her home base for her work, the living room is very good size perfect for  group sessions of 20 to 30 people, the dinning room is smaller but can work out the same way for 10 to 12 people.

It has 3 bed rooms 3 1/2 baths, Kitchen with nice size breakfast nook and pantry, washer and dryer just off the kitchen,  2 car garage, nice back yard with some fruit trees for shade, but what  really sold her was a office library just off the entrance hall, good size, with built in wood shelving which appears to be original to the house.

The flooring in the dinning room has to be redone from what the growers did, some damage to the walls, the kitchen and bathrooms are filthy.   But our contractor friend said the plumbing is sound and not damaged, but because the previous owners  built an illegal funky family room in the basement  with illegal wiring, the wiring is just horrible and dangerous also what the growers did certainly didn't help.  But even I could feel the sensation of something crawling on me and watching me. 

But what was so very nice is the enclosed porch, one can enjoy the back yard even in the winter time, Sis feels that she can bring a very tropical look to it, very 1950's Hawaii, which I know she would love to retire to but its too expensive, but who says you can't bring Hawaii to you.

So she will use the house as her base of operations for her psychology work, and do a lot less traveling around, that is her focus. So we'll know in about 30 days if all goes well.  But Sis feels very confident and positive about it.

She treated me to dinner last night, Doyle is out of town on assignment,  while we were dinning a very beautiful and ethereal young woman came into the dinning room with her male companion, but there was something strange about them, then I finally put my finger on it, they were romantic Goths, but wearing modern clothing. 

She was dressed all in white, even her nylons and shoes were white as well as her nail polish, her lipstick was pale and shimmering, and her hair was a very pale blond, and her complexion appeared flawless and pale, with only the barest hint of color to her cheeks and white shimmering eye shadow. She wore white pearls on her neck and ears.

Just as she was fair, he was dark haired, clean shaven,  pale complexion, dressed in a black well cut suit, dark blue shirt, black tie, black shoes and socks, he wore one ring of white gold with a black onyx stone. I had suspected that with such dark hair one would see even the barest hint of shadow on his face, but then I realized his hair was dyed dark and that he really is blond.

They appeared to be in their mid-twenties,  but they also appeared to be ageless, the woman glanced at our table, looked away and then looked back, finally she stood up and with effortless grace came over to our table and introduced herself.  It turned out that my suspicions were correct, they both were Goth and she knew several of my artists friends.  She gave me her card and wrote on the back where she was having a showing of her work and wanted us to come and see it, a reception to be held this Saturday.

Both Sis and I are going but I asked her about her attire, and she said that she has always been attracted to white and gold and she never goes any darker than the color bone or the palest beige.  She confessed that she orders her clothing from Jessica London, Roman's, Talbot's and a few other catalog stores, and loves to hunt through TJ Max as well as Nordstrom Rack.

But she said that she had to look at me twice, for she though for a moment that I was Gloria Holden come back to life.  It seems that the movie "Dracula's Daughter" had inspired her in her art work.  We made plans to have coffee sometime soon after the art reception.   After she went back to her table my sister said she would love to analyze her, I said to Sis "You're included in the coffee invitation as well" and wickedly smiled at Sis while she wickedly smiled back at me.

If the young lady's

 art work reflects both her inner and outer self, both ethereal and dark it should prove to be very interesting.

Later Darklings

Of more Dental problems, a nice policeman, a haunted house?~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well the first of the procedures for the root canal has started at "Oh My God!  It's Early!" today, I'm home now and am on a strong Motrin, but I'm going to have to lie down in a bit.  I'll be going back next week for more, until they are sure its cleaned out and then pin it, then a crown.  It's going to cost nearly $1000.00 but that is what good dental insurance is for.  

And trust me Darklings, I'm keeping all the bills.  I cannot bill this to the man who hit my car, but I will give it to my tax person for the 2013 taxes.  Hopefully I'll have enough medical bills to take a deduction.

I talked to the nice policeman the other day, I did make a joke that I didn't order a male stripper----Trust me Darklings he was VERY good looking.  

The officer took it with good grace and a smile but then we got down to business, it seems that Doyle had noticed something at the empty house next door and I had also remarked about it, I thought someone had bought the house, but it seems that some homeless people moved in and were growing some marijuana plants.

Doyle had called the complaint in and the officer also wanted my statement, while he was taking it Doyle came home and was glad to see that the plants were removed and the "growers" were removed.

Marie was very unhappy about that when she found out, but glad that they had been arrested.  It seems that she had been thinking of buying the house next door, it's going for a short sale, so she contacted the real estate agent to take a walk through, we were wondering why the house had not sold before now given the housing market and the agent said that each time she thought the house was sold the buyers suddenly would back out of the deal.  Marie laughed and said "Why?  Is the house haunted?"  and the agent gave her a very strange look. 

So I asked Marie if living in a "haunted house" would bother her and she said "All I have to look for is strong EMF readings."   of course I knew what she meant and we know of an electrician who understands those sort of things.

The major question will be how much damage did the homeless people do and can Marie secure the house while work is being done?  She has a friend who needs temporary housing until he can find a place of his own, so if the kitchen and bathroom are working properly he can "rough it". 

And it will be nice to have my sister next door, this way she'll have space when her children visit and if it's going to be a BIG gathering there is space in my home.

I have not posted much more on the Boston bombing events, the story is still unfolding but the 2nd bomber admitted that his brother came up after the first bombing, with the idea to hijack a car drive to New York and plant 3 more bombs in Times Square, the only thing that thwarted their plans was the car didn't have enough gasoline for the trip and died because of an empty fuel tank.

And now they are looking for a radical Muslim called "Misha" who may have turned the mind of the oldest brother into doing hateful acts. 

Agatha Christie once said that the worse criminal is one who can persuade another to do a criminal act, can persuade another to do the killing for them.  And that is what terrorists groups are doing.

Now I'm feeling tired and Ella wants me to rest, she will take Belladonna for her walk.

I'm going to have a mani-pedi tomorrow and I'm going to use "Disturbia"  it is a deep dark purple with a little shimmer to it.  I like the color it will go with most of my clothing.

But to rest, and rest well.

Later Darklings

Going to a Ghost Walk~~~

Just a short post My Darklings,

Doyle and I are leaving in a few minutes with Belladonna in tow we are going to the historic Ghost Town of Columbia---they (the docents) are doing a Ghost Walk this weekend and we have made plans to attend.

Such a lovely way to help "kick off" the Halloween season.

We are hoping it won't rain this weekend but we are prepared for it---either way it will be a lovely, gothicly, drive there to the "Gold Rush Country" so many ghosts, so many old, old buildings with dark histories.

I'm already enjoying the idea.

Until a few days from now, take care my Darklings and have Gothic Fun.

Later, Darklings

Ghosts and Blood~~~~

A Ghost Walk and Blood, Darklings???




Well Doyle has surprised me, with not one but two, yes, two ghostly events and the Oktoberfest.



He managed to book a cabin for two different weekends at the Marble Quarry RV Park just a 10 minute walk from Columbia State Historic Park. He did this months in advance knowing how quickly things can get booked.



So somehow we will manage to squeeze in an Oktoberfest, a Columbia Ghost Walk Oct 13 & 14, and a paranormal Urban legends weekends for October, and I have to make arrangements to get off on Fridays and I can take little Belladonna with us, as the Marble Quarry RV park permits pets but with a small fee of $5.00 a night, well worth it.



I am looking forward to it as it will make October and Fall so enticing and enchanting in a ghostly way. Already my bags are open and being packed bit by bit, with several warm sweaters for Belladonna.



I was relaxing last night with a glass of Zinfandel from the D’art winery and it’s rather good, all just right, the fire was burning in the fireplace, I was so glad to have one the first things worked on was the fireplace and it’s chimney, redid the firebox and ran a fireproof flue up the chimney to reinforce it and improve it’s drawing capabilities, the comfortable chair and foot stool, the fireplace, the zinfandel, Doyle reading, the CD disc of Angel Romero on the guitar playing on the stereo on a Fall evening, Belladonna napping on my lap occasionally uttering sighs of contentment.



So different from the hecticness of the day, I had a doctor’s appointment and she wasn’t going to waste a single minute of it, we talked over medications, diet and exercise, and she scheduled me for a mammogram, lab work which included blood plus several shots that I needed Tetanus, Whooping Cough, Shingles vaccine, Flu shot will be next week as well as a bone density scan….ahhh the travails of getting older and becoming and Elder/Elderly Goth.



But it wasn’t without some amusement, I was having blood drawn by a young man who loves his job and understands blood.



He saw it flow very nicely and remarked “You must drink a lot of water, your blood is flowing beautifully and cleanly” I told him I did drink a lot of water to keep hydrated but I had been concerned about the availability of my veins.



He said “Your veins are very small but well formed and plump, again the water. We have people come in and they could have nice large veins but they hardly drink any water and the blood does not flow very well, it keeps clotting or moving like sludge, so I have to advise them to drink a lot of water. The Elderly are notorious for not drinking enough water, they are so afraid of bladder accidents, but if they would drink a good amount of water at least two or three weeks before a lab test then it helps us and it plumbs up the veins. We have to be careful on the needle size, with small veins and for the elderly I like to use the smallest needle, it hurts less, and with being hydrated it hurts less when I inject the needle to draw the blood. The color is very good too.”



I turned and looked at him, smiled and said “Thank you, Count Dracula”, he smiled and blushed a little and said “I usually work nights but they were short handed today.” And with a deft flick of the wrist he put a Band-Aid where he had removed my blood. “Keep drinking that water.” He said as I left and I assured him I would.



So water helps plump up the veins and the blood so it flows through our veins better. I was not aware of that, so both water and blood is the life, I contemplated that as I idly stared into my glass of Zinfandel, how vital to our lives, and how easily we waste it.



With that thought I decided that I would look into the best way to irrigate my garden with the least amount of wasted water. About blood? I am not a good candidate for a blood drive, but I can donate to it. And with that thought in mind I relaxed as Belladonna shifted in my lap to get more comfortable and Doyle remarked about an article he read in the paper.



Later Darklings