Sugar Skulls

Happy Halloween all!

Witch's Hat by C Moore age 10

This week the children and I drew up our memory papers for our Shrine to Honour The Dead. To celebrate the season we also also made sugar skulls, a Mexican Tradition for Los Dias de los Muertos (Days of the Dead - All Souls, All Saints, and Dia de los Angelitios - Day of the Little Angels; children who have passed on)
Oct 31st through Nov 2nd.

Skelitos by the Moore's all ages

We began with a quick sketch of our skelitos (and a witches hat)
and then drew up our memory papers

so our friends could add to our shrine that we put up annually in the
kitchen to mark Halloween and All Souls.

The next step was to create our sugar skulls from sugar
and meringue powder and then to decorate them.

Sugar Skull in Honour of T Moore by me

Sugar Skull by T Moore age 13

Sugar Skull in honour of Aunt Sonia by K Radosevic age 12

Finally we put the offerenda together and have it
ready for our friends to add too!

our All Souls offerenda

To add a memory or honour a friend of family member who has died click here to go to our on-line Graveyard Party and Shrine to the Dead!

So much fun where a wee sketch can lead!
Check out the other sketches at Sophia's Blue Chair Diary and


Happy, Happy All Hallows Eve!

Beth's Pumpkin Party / The Jack-O-Lantern

pumpkin by T & C Moore ages 13 & 10

From: Italian Food Forever

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 oz.) Can Pumpkin Puree (drain excess water)
• Salt & Pepper
• Dash Of Nutmeg
• 2 3/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 Cup Melted Butter
• 6-7 Finely Chopped Sage Leaves
• 1 Large Clove Garlic, Minced
• Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

1. Mix together the flour, pumpkin and seasonings to make a soft dough, don't over work
   
2. Add additional flour if the dough is sticky or does not hold together.
3. Divide the dough into 6 parts, and on a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a rope about 1 inch in diameter.
4. Cut the rope into 1 inch pieces and roll each lightly along the floured surface.
5. Continue using up all the dough in this fashion. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet. You can refrigerate the gnocchi until you are ready to cook them.

Sauce:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a slow boil.
2. Place the butter in a small saucepan and heat.
3. Add the garlic and sage.
4. Cook the gnocchi in lightly salted boiling water for until the gnocchi rise to the surface and float.
5. Remove from the water, mix with the butter sage sauce, and serve topped with the freshly grated cheese.

The Jack-O-Lantern

My name is foggy bill
I sit on the window sill
and look out on the night
which is dark but i am bright

I see many scary things go by
some are frightening, some are shy
they carry bags that hang almost down to their feet
and go to the doors yelling trick or treat

I am a jack-o-lantern
and this is what I've seen
and guess when i did see it?

multi media by T & C Moore age 13 & 10 ideas through Stampington Magizine

T'was on Halloween!


I wrote this when I was 9 (just a few years ago :-)
my children love that they are older now, than I was then!

Many thanks to Beth for hosting a spectacular
Pumpkin Party!

- there are more parties here at Food as Art!



Thanks for having Halloween Tea!



Happy All Hallows Eve!

For those who missed it
- our All Soul's Graveyard Party
and Memory Shrine is here!

Halloween Party 2010 / The Graveyard

The Graveyard


Our graveyard is a magical place, please respect the inhabitants

October 31 - November 2

All Hallow's Eve
Halloween
All Saints, Ognissanti
All Souls, ψυχοσάββατο
Los Dias de los Muertos
Los Dias de les Angelitos
Samhain
Festival of the Dead




Summer's end, end of the harvest,
beginning of the darker half of the year..





Packing the tools we need, we head out to the graveyard,
brushes to scrub, flowers to plant,
each family grave trimmed back, cleared, scrubbed
preparing the earth in honour of life

For who can say who will be back to visit us this All Hallow's Eve?

We leave trinkets and photos, flowers and amulets,
honouring the souls of those who have gone before us

Those whose lives have lead a path to ours,

those who are alive in our memories,

Each year we refresh the family stories, laugh at days gone by

and ultimately celebrate the mystery of death,
toward which we all inevitably march

We honour lives and memories..




for what is life if we cannot laugh at ourselves?




The cycle of life ultimately beyond our control!

si la muerte te sorbe el coco,
haste p...a un lado y baila el jarabe loco!

Throw up you arms, join in the parade!
There is much to celebrate in the graveyard tonight!

Enchanters cackle, vampires wail
the good witch spins her fairy tale,

bats, forest owls, a harvest moon
long shadows, faerie mischief and ancient rune

There is SO much to celebrate
in the graveyard tonight!

Drawing on traditions from many cultures, Halloween has become for us, a time to celebrate the cycle of life..

We invite you to remember
your friends and family who have died
by adding them to our Shrine To Honour The Dead
in the comments box below

(as well a any other comments regarding our Halloween Party hosted by the Amazing Vanessa Valencia at A Fanciful Twist !)

Many Thanks for Visiting!

The Knot

The Knot

blue dinghies bouncing on steel gray waves
olive leaves, silver green
dusty, worn white, lime washed peeling walls
laughter, warm sea-salted breeze
emotions entangled, forever in knots


ginger curls bobbing on a sunburnt breeze
tanned skin, golden bronze
powdery soft, blue cotton washed vest
peach blush, lascivious smile
ferocious desire, heart tied in knots

Knots usually remind me of strength, of security, of love. The first visual that came to mind this morning was the place and circumstance of meeting my husband, and that is a wonderful way to start the day!

prompt: knot

This is a great exercise in promptly putting a thought to paper, based on a word and what it may stir in ones thoughts. There's more at Theme Thursday.

The Enormous Turnip

Thanksgiving Turkey by C Moore age 10

I do not have a Sunday sketch ready, but my daughter and my son just handed me their Thanksgiving Turkeys so I have scooted to post them! Our Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend; tomorrow is the holiday and today we will have our turkey feast!

Turkey of Plenty by T Moore age 13

from my daughter's 7 Year Wonder Book,
by the elvin folk who often visit!

The three of us also decided, to post this wonderful autumn sketch and poem left for us by the elvin folk in our daughter's Seven Year Old Wonder Book - a book we will love to share in future.. This sketch and poem depict the autumn story of a very large turnip and how it took a whole family of friends working together to pull it from the ground - it is an old Russian tale, perfect for reading by the fire, you may remember one of its many versions from your childhood!

from my daughter's 7 Year Wonder Book

We also have a fabulous Graveyard prepared for our Halloween Party this week - October 16th, hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist and linked to the Harrington Manor Halloween Event at Sohia's Blue Chair Diary! We are so excited, so grab your black cat, hop on your broom, or turn your pumpkin into a coach and be sure to join us for that next Saturday!!

To see the other contributions to Sunday Sketches, click here! Sophia you must be a busy lady this week! Many thanks as always for being our wonderful hostess!

Game Over

Game Over


he lay there,

teeth barred, body twitching

eyes fierce, already fading

"mommy, I see long whiskers on the counter, it's smiling - I think its a rat.."

gums rolled back in a wicked sneer

more like a rabbit - the rat was huge!

a mystery, where did he come from? he looked like he fell..

outrageous - a rat on our kitchen counter

Game over!


written together as therapy :-) by myself and my 10 year old daughter

prompt: game


unfortunately this story is true too!

Check out more at Theme Thursday!

Guardians

It looks a bit like an early Christmas but that is not the intention.. continuing with the fall cycle of festivals, days of longer darkness and shorter light, the children and I have been considering Angels and Guardians. What that means to various cultures and more importantly how we can best use these stories for ourselves. Michael, Gabriel, Metatron, Djwhal Khul an eclectic group living happily side by side, the feast of the Guardian Angel yesterday (Oct 2nd). Ancient wisdom. What wonders we find in the plethora of mythologies!

Guardian Angel by C Moore age 10

Angele Dei,
qui custos es mei
me, tibi commissium pietate superna
illumina, custodi
rege et guberna

Michael by T Moore age 13



sketch plan for guardian a multimedia

This one has a wee story. Six years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer and going through surgeries and decision making as to treatments, I felt a strong presence many times of someone watching over me - it gave me strength and I always new that one day this would all be a story and I would be fine. Much of this was due to the people who surrounded me, carried me, did amazing things for myself and my family, and to them I am forever in debt, however the synchronicity was uncanny. My father had dreams of his grandmother, my great grandma; he found them disconcertingly real. The message in his dreams from grandma was always that I would be well. At school a teacher and healer told me I had an old soul watching over me, basically hanging around. The skeptic in me shuddered, my heart felt peace.

Guardian

My father gave me a tiny photo of great grandma when she was a young woman and mother. I used this photo to create Guardian, as a card for a friend as she goes through the roller coaster of cancer treatment.

I have a question for you all - should I pencil line the image to bring her all together, or leave her as is?