Halloween Offering, Number Two

My son Hunter is home sick from school today, and while I'm waiting for the doctor's appointment, it seems to be the perfect time to present the second in this year's Halloween Offerings.

This one is the perfect example of the kind of art I like best, the kind that happens when you start to draw without any idea of what you want to produce.

I don't normally work in ball-point pen (can't erase when you goof up), but that's what I had in my hand when I started to sketch, and this time it seems to have worked:

 

I'm very happy with how this turned out, and I hope you will be as well.

I also hope you'll keep checking in with me; more fun is on the way! ************************************************************************
Thanks for reading my ranting,

  Brad

It's Here!

Woo-hoo!

It's finally October!

This is the month I wait for all year long; I love autumn, and I absolutely love Halloween.

To kick off my Halloween Offerings, Season Two, I'd like to present the currently-untitled following:

Just a bit closer...

 

 

 

 

I'm fascinated by trees and the many strange and often frightening things you can see in them. This one is another example of me having a certain idea, but my pencil taking over and producing something somewhat...different.

But kinda cool anyway.

I hope you enjoy it, and keep checking back in for more Halloween Offerings! ******************************************************************************* Thanks for reading my ranting, Brad

October Eve

It's October Eve!

The last day of September is finally here, which means that tomorrow is the first day of my favorite month of the year, which of course leads up to Halloween.

I love Halloween (as if you didn't know that), and will again be participating in the Halloween Countdown as an official "Cryptkeeper".

Over the course of the month, I'll be posting a bunch of Halloween stuff; some art, possibly a few reviews of some of my favorite movies, definitely some photos of Halloween stuff that I think is cool, maybe even a snippet of story or two.

Several other bloggers are sharing this journey to All Hallow's Eve with me, and if you click on the snazzy new button to the top right, you'll find a list of this year's participants.  I urge you to check out a few of them; they love the season like I do, and they'll be putting on their best for you.

I hope you'll join me this month in celebrating a month-long series of Halloween Offerings.

See you tomorrow for the kick-off!

Oh, and since it doesn't seem right to not mention Blake here, I'll tell you what he's decided on for his costume this year:

A doctor/monkey/vampire.

With a sword.
************************
Thanks for reading my ranting,
Brad

Lord of the Marbits

Do you know what a "marbit" is?

Never fear, I'll tell you.

A marbit is that little, crunchy, marshmallow-thing you find in certain breakfast cereals.

Why do I know this, you may wonder?

Because I love useless information.

Like this (Kaycee, I hope you're paying attention):  Washington drivers are legally required to carry an anchor to use as an emergency brake.

I delight in knowing things that make other people wonder "Why do you even want to know that?"  My response is always the same: "Because you don't...".

If you want to discuss politics, or the current world situation, you won't get much out of me.

But if you want to talk about "War Plan Red", the post-WWI plan designed in case the U.S. ever needed to invade Canada, I'm your guy.  There was even "Plan Indigo" for invading Iceland.

What does this have to do with marbits, you ask?

Never fear, I'll tell you.

Just a few days ago, Blake was outside playing with his friend from down the street.  He came into the house and asked if they could have a snack while they were playing.

I didn't have much snack food around except for an almost-empty bag of--you guessed it--Lucky Charms.

I gave the bag to Blake, and told him they could snack on handfuls of dry cereal.

He found this proposal acceptible.

As Blake was heading to the back door, he clutched the bag to his chest, huddled over it, and shuffled to a shaft of sunlight shining in through the blinds.  He reached into the bag, pulled out a yellow moon marbit, and, holding it aloft into the beam of non-marbit sun, said:

"My precioussssss...."

I have to admit that, glowing in the afternoon sunlight, the little marbit did have an almost-magical quality, a certain luminescence, like a bit of the moon mixed with sugar, puffed up and made into a sweet, crunchy piece of the sky...

Then he ate it, ending the moment.

Blake has not yet seen any of the Lord of the Rings films, but I think I know where this came from...you see, I've been known to do the same thing with the occasional Oreo (most people don't realize that "Oreo" is actually Swahili for "Official cookie of the Gods").

Some of you may be tempted to think that I make this stuff up, especially where Blake is concerned.

Allow me to assure that every single story I've ever posted about my kids is 100 % true.

They really are that fascinating...

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy an anchor for my car in case I ever get out to Washington...
********************************
Thanks for reading my ranting,

Brad

The Awakening

Wednesday morning, Blake and I dropped Hunter off at his second day of middle-school orientation, and then headed home.

It was fairly early in the morning, and Blake fell asleep mid-way through asking if he could play the Wii when we got home.

I enjoyed the rest of the ride in the all-too-rare moment of silence that I have come to cherish, and as we pulled into the driveway, told Blake it was time to wake up.

Now, here comes the interesting bit.

A normal seven-year-old would probably have answered with "Ok", or "I'm awake".  Even a snarky seven-year-old (and it should come as no surprise to you that Blake sometimes has an almost professional level of snark) would probably respond with "Okay, okay, sheesh, I'm awake".

Not my kid.

He wakes up, gets out of the car, looks at me through the open window and says--in total seriousness and without any indication that he was playing around:

"I...have...awakened..."

This may not surprise you, but I found this both amusing, and somewhat ominous.

You may remember that Blake has admitted himself to be the devil---not a devil, mind you, but the devil--and I couldn't help but wonder what part of him had awakened, and what might happen to me if I didn't get him into the house and fix his waffles, like, now.

I sacrificed the waffles to him, my soul was spared, and we went on to have a fairly normal (for this house, anyway) day with deceptively normal conversations and lots of Wii.

It should be noted, however, that I'm not overly fond of "normal".

Which is good, 'cause I know with this kid, normal ain't comin' round much...
************************************************

Thanks for reading my ranting,

Brad

A New Normal...

We buried my mother Monday morning.

I haven't been able to post about it yet because, quite honestly, my thoughts and emotions have been rather scattered lately.

My mind has resembled nothing so much as the air over a field of dandelions after a strong wind has blown through; thousands of tiny-yet-important fluffs filling the air in every direction, scattering where they will, sometimes colliding with one another before drifting away to meet with other stray thoughts or perhaps fly away, never to return.

All of this is accompanied by a silence so profound that it is deafening.

But on this Wednesday morning, one week after her death, those seeds are beginning to take root.

Today, things are calming down, and now comes the truly difficult part, in many ways the most difficult part of dealing with any death.  Today, I have to begin--as my brother put it--trying to find a "new normal".

In many ways, my mother's declining health has been part of my life for years.  Those who know me well know that I had been worried about her for a very long time.

After being so concerned for so long, the astounding speed with which everything has happened (she was diagnosed with cancer just a bit over a month ago, and now she's gone) has been dizzying.

But now that's not part of my life anymore.  It can't be, because she's gone.

This morning, my brother and his wife and son left for their home in Alabama.  All of the other family and seldom-seen old friends have already gone home; my brother leaving this morning means that it is now time for things to get back to normal.

The bills still need to be paid, the kids still need to eat and play and be kids, and the dishes still need to be washed.

The day-to-day trivialities and routines come back, with one major exception: my mother is no longer a part of them.

Her memory is, certainly.  But her reality is gone.

Especially with the routine being cast aside for the past month in the all-consuming whirlwind of my mother's rapid decline, I'm finding it difficult to move back into the routine.

My path is broken, and now I have to find a way to either repair it or find a new path.

This is the hardest part, the part that truly drives home the fact that my mother is gone.

I know I'll find that path again, but it's going to take time.

Things will never get back to normal.

But they'll get back to a "new normal".

Eventually.

*****************************************
Thanks for reading my ranting,

Brad

Un-fun Things to Write About

There are a million things going through my mind right now, but I needed to make a post and explaing to you why, even having a new computer finally, I haven't been able to post much lately.

My mother has cancer.

She was diagnosed just a few weeks ago with colon cancer that has spread into her liver, and is inoperable.

She decided to try chemotherapy and fight it, but before she could even start that, she ended up in the hospital with kidney failure.

Her kidneys have been improving, which obviously is good, but the intense misery of the past three weeks have made her re-think what she wants to do.

We're meeting with Hospice in her room tonight, to get some information about what kind of things to expect if she decides to just try and be as comfortable as possible for whatever time she has left.

I'm letting you all know this just to explain my continued erratic posts; obviously, this is monopolizing my time.

I haven't had the luxury of an emotional breakdown yet (truthfully, this has all happened so quickly that I'm still kind of numb), but I know it's coming, and I'll post some of my thoughts and feelings here, as some form of therapy, I guess.

I'll try and post updates as often as I can.
***********************************

Thanks for reading my ranting,

Brad