Is He Helping?

   Mr. Bat and I arise well before dawn.  He is usually the first to come out of dreamland and, then, he nudges me until I, too, am fully awake.  As a cat, his motive is food.  He wants breakfast!  My motive is to cede to his wishes and open a can of cat food then head to the kitchen to brew a pot of strong coffee. Since the sun does not rise at this hour, I try to find projects to fill the next two hours.  Things have to stay quiet as the menfolk here are still asleep.  Art projects are usually my go-to entertainment.  Bat?  He usually goes back to sleep leaving me to my own accord.  

  This morning, I had a whim to create something utilizing an old glass tabletop from a dilapidated outdoor set.  The idea was to do some reverse glass painting on the bottom then hang the piece in the window so it appeared to be a stained glass piece.  First on the agenda was to make a paper pattern which would make the art work far easier than free-handing it on the glass itself.  Drawing on paper is the way to go, folks!  Anyway...as usual...my work was started on the floor.  The tabletop was set, paper was fitted in the top and the artwork was to begin!  Mr. Bat had other ideas...

  As with any cat, curiosity got the best of him.  Then...as with any cat, he decided that the piece was there for his pure enjoyment.  My artwork came to a halt as the cat sat on the paper then decided a nap was in order.  Well, so much for getting anything accomplished this morning!  Everyone knows that you NEVER disturb a cat that has chosen a special napping spot. Oh, if I was not so fond of this little buddy, I would get so much more done!  Then, again, maybe he thought he was helping.

My Patchwork Pup

  Back in late September,  I had the brilliant idea to "stain" several of the panes of the french doors.  This was all for the Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou.  The "stained" panes were a code that had to be cracked to get a combination for a lock.  Not wanting the process to be labor intensive, I merely used colored cellophane that was cut to size and a spritz bottle full of water.  Spritzing the window and applying the cellophane worked wonders!  It stayed put for the entire month of October.  (In fact, they are still affixed quite well!)  Afterward, I had good intentions of removing the cellophane and letting the french doors simply be french doors.  Nothing doing.  Folks talked me into leaving the stuff.  This made me happy as I really liked the look.  It was sort of quirky...like me.

  Now that the sun has shifted around to come through those south-facing windows, a regular patchwork design decorates the rug and hardwood floors each day.  It is pretty.  The sun also decorates the old dog, Mr. PJ, each day as this is his favorite place to snooze.  The sunshine warms the old dog and the cellophane causes bright blotches to appear on his fur.  My patchwork pup is oblivious to his brilliantly decorated fur, however, and happily naps through it all.

  The patchwork effect has made me more determined to keep the cellophane on the windows.  I bought the stuff at the local dollar store but to my dismay, they only carried two colors...red and blue.  Since I am wishing to embrace the "faux stained glass" look, it seems necessary to order a bundle pack of different colors.  Why not?  Why not do something that brings a smile?  It matches the rest of the weird and wonderful decor of the Little Bayou House...so why not?  Besides, think of how nice Mr. PJ will look when napping!

A Bit of Fakery

  Basically, the only contact I have with the Grandlittles currently is on social media.  It is there that I can see photographs of them and keep up with their current doings.  That is the major down side of having them live halfway around the world.  This is also where I post photographs of happenings on the Bayou for them to at least see how their dog, Mr. PJ is doing.  The old dog has settled in to bayou life rather well except he misses his family terribly.  They were his whole life and now that is gone so adjustments had to be made.  Poor old pup.  It breaks my heart at times.

  Anyway, who knew that one of those photographs would garner such interest.  Not because of the old dog (even though he was the star) but because of the background.  Mr. PJ had decided to take a nap in front of the french doors on one particularly dreary day.  In the photo, the doors take the stage and received a lot of nice comments.  I am supposing most folks think the window panes are true stained glass even though I tried to explain that they were merely a prop for the recent clue hunt.  For the Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou, Son and I come up with all sorts of weird ideas and clues.  We build some props...we alter some props.  The doors were an altered piece.  These are ordinary french doors on which glass panes have been "stained" in a certain order.  This order combined with another prop led the participating teams to a combination.   

  While the doors look pretty, there was very little work involved in achieving the effect.  A $1 roll of colored cellophane, a pair of scissors and a spritz bottle of water was all that was involved.  The cellophane was cut to fit a pane, the pane was spritzed with water and the cellophane was stuck in place.  Amazingly, the pieces stayed.  In fact, the first few were applied way back in July.  They are still in place.  No glue.  No special tools.  No perfected technique. Cellophane, scissors and water...that's it.  

  Folks were in agreement that I should leave the panels in place and I have to admit that I hated to part with my "stained glass" doors.  So...the panels will stay until the colors fade and perhaps, then, I shall spend another dollar to renew the look.  The doors do fit right in with the quirkiness of Bayou life!  (Plus, old Mr. PJ seems to like them!)  

Rainy Days and Fake Windows

  Since it was a nice, drizzly day here on the Bayou, it was the perfect day to be "do-less".  This was a phrase that Mom used whenever she had the "not feeling like accomplishing" attitude which was not often.  It is the same way here but, for the life of me, I just could not find things to do after the daily chores were done.  So, the old dog and I headed to the greenhouse to piddle around doing nothing.  He piled up on his old rug and I sat in the chair pondering anything and everything.  In reality, this was more an escape than an actual desire to be in the greenhouse during the rain.  Still, it was nice...doubly nice because there was no phone, no people, no anything...just me, an old dog intent on sleeping the day away and the clue hunt decoration "Lady DeadMadam".

  As I sat watching the rain, it occurred to me how peaceful it was being shut off from the world for a while.  I could get used to this!  It also occurred to me that I have no ordinary greenhouse.  Son built the thing for me using a bunch of old windows, some discarded bricks and a load of boards.  I. being me, decorated it.  Yep, it is filled with an eclectic bunch of oddities.  One of the things that made it to the greenhouse just did not fit in too well with the Little Bayou House.  The greenhouse, on the other hand, seemed to be the perfect place for a faux stained glass window.  Faux in this case meaning fake glass, fake stained glass and fake quality work.  It is something I did long ago for a elementary school party decoration.  It stayed in the classroom for the remainder of the year and then came back home.  Until the greenhouse was built, the panel stayed hidden in the back of a closet.  Then!  Out it came to adorn the greenhouse window and it looks perfectly at home,  Today, especially, the window looked nice.  

  There is just something about hearing the rain on the rooftop, being with the old dog and knowing the world can do without you for a little while.  A greenhouse is the perfect place to be.