Ella Rena

Ballerina

Pachyderm Divine!

Come take a chance

And watch her dance

But make sure

You read the sign!

“Front Row Seats Available!”

By Roberta Baird

So you thought that all the Halloween candy and those plastic goblins that scream just as your three year shouts “trick or treat” came from the store? Oh no my friends, these fine ladies are in the business of conjuring up a darn spooky atmosphere!

“Fillet of a marsh snake, In the cauldron boil and bake:
Eye of newt and toes of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

“Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!”

When Oliver invited Ophelia to go star gazing, this wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.
However, when he looked into those eyes of glistening gold and moved forward to nuzzle her sharp, dark beak… he fell off the limb and bounced not once but twice on his feathered owl noggin. Ophelia thought nothing of it. To her Olly, as she liked to call him, held the key to her fine feathered heart!

Olly and Ophelia sitting in a tree.
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love,
Then comes marriage.
Then comes an owlet in a golden carriage!

Here’s a quickie…. I can’t seem to put down my sketchbook for sketchbook project 2011.

According to Chinese fables, crickets are revered for their intelligence and good fortune. In fact, if a person were to harm a cricket, it was believed that they would have great misfortune. Even today, in parts of eastern Asian, the male crickets are caged so people can enjoy the song they make.

Chinese farmers were known to listen to the “Jing-Zhe,” meaning “waking of the insects” sounds of the crickets to determine when it was time to plough their fields.

The goldfish (Carassius auratus roboticus) is an any kind of water fish in the family Cyprinidae roboticus of the order Cypriniformes roboticus. It is one of the latest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish because of it’s hardiness.

Don’t believe me? Look it up!

“Well, well!” said an old woman, peering out with a crafty look. “And haven’t you children a sweet tooth?”
“Come in! Come in, you’ve nothing to fear!”

The witch was hoping for a double portion of meat for her “Children ala King,” but she would settle for a nice, juicy baked boy! Clever Gretel pushed the old witch into her very own oven!

Tip toeing quietly
Behind the coffee cup…
Determined not to ever be
Served with bacon …. sunny side up

This is an oldie…. but it fit so well I couldn’t resist!  Uh waiter….. I’ll have a “short stack of vermonts, pigs on the side and a blond joe,  hold the sand!“

Long story, short…. Josephine was going to be booted out of her title as Mistress by her lover. He wanted a new mistress, so he introduced Josephine to Napoleon, who was instantly smitten!
Josephine….. not so much!
Rather than face living in the streets with her two children, she decided to marry Napoleon,  although she did not love him. In fact, she did everything in her power to be as far from Napoleon as possible, even feigning pregnancy to forgo traveling with him. While he was away she would attend balls and parties and was known to have many lovers.

When Napoleon finally caught word of her behavior he rushed home to confront her telling her she had killed his heart. The irony?  Josephine had finally fallen in love with Napoleon… too late!
It’s said that as she lay dying of diphtheria, “Napoleon” was her last uttered word.

Now that’s a juicy diary!!

The letter says:

I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil.
Sweet incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart!
Are you angry?
Do I see you looking sad? Are you worried? …
My soul aches with sorrow, and there can be no rest for your lover; but is there still more in store for me when, yielding to the profound feelings which overwhelm me, I draw from your lips, from your heart a love which consumes me with fire? Ah! it was last night that I fully realized how false an image of you your portrait gives!
You are leaving at noon; I shall see you in three hours.
Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.

Bonaparte

Fee, Fi, Fo Fum,  I smell the blood of an Englishman

Be he live, or be he dead,  I’ll grind his bones to make my bread!

This is an illustration I’ve been working on and I  thought it fit pretty well with the Illustration Friday prompt  Satellite.

www.robertabaird.com