Disguises

These are pictures from the Trunk or Treat the other night. I think tonight will be too crazy to post pictures.
Mario
Indiana Jones - there is a whip under that jacket,
And a repeat of Little Red Riding Hood.
Danvers as Mother Goose.
My disguise should Moose and I manage to find a baby sitter tonight and go downtown to a showing of Nosferatu. I figure it would be suicide to go into downtown Portland dressed as Sarah Palin. I will put this over my makeup and loose the suit- too bad I don't have a Patagonia fleece pullover.
Thanks to Pretty Little Things for the inspiration!

Scary Fairy Tales

My kids seem to enjoy Hansel and Gretel. It is a great tale about sibling love, and why not to eat houses made of candy, a cautionary tale about the wisdom of using bread crumbs as trail markers. My children seem concerned about how long it takes the witch to arrive in the story. The names Hansel and Gretel are adorable. But this story really disturbs me, I think it is the scariest fairy tale of the lot.
In many fairy tales the children are parent-less - father and or mother are dead and the person left in charge of them isn't really related them and then leaves them unprotected in some manner. But not in Hansel and Gretel. They have two parents. (In some versions it is a step-mother but honestly I think those revisionists feel the same way about this story and want to soften the blow a little bit.)
So here is the scary part:
The MOTHER tells the FATHER that the children are dragging them down and they will all starve and convinces the FATHER to ABANDON them in the woods TWICE.
How does this not give every child a complex to think that parents will abandon them in the woods to likely be eaten by beasts, die from exposure or starvation if the going gets tough?
What kind of mother would let her children die to save herself?
What kind of father allows himself to be persuaded to abandon his children to certain death?

Scary stuff, scary stuff.

Kitchy Quotations?

Seven years ago I saved these prints from the Stake Library, they were throwing them away! I always wanted to do something fabulous with them. I sold some of them but saved my favorites.
This is what I have done with them:

(left to right: Raking Leaves with Father, Brothers Gazing on Landscape, Family Picnic, Sister Feeding Baby, Rain Gear and Daffodils, Dusting with Mother.) (Fantastic duck on lower left: Danvers)
I covered every wall in the "Schoolroom" with them. I would have liked grander frames, but I was on a budget.
(Feeding a Calf, Feeding Puppies)
The last one is on a wall all by itself and has a slightly different tone. It is also about an inch too short for the frame.
I think that it needs a caption. Something kitchy, something ironic, something idyllic, something that captures the spirit of the whole collection but also that picture. I would like it to be a little tongue and cheek. For example: the dangers of educating a lady, or how everyday should be just like these scenes. Kind of like how we call the Schoolroom the "Schoolroom" but really very little schooling happens there.
Suggestions?

2 Blogs are Better Than One?

Mr. Moose and I are having a disagreement. I have 2 blogs, this one, Samurai Mom, and a craft blog, SewingDervish Creates. I used to have a homeschool blog as well but that was really fractured so I combined that one into Samurai Mom several months ago.

The disagreement is this: I think I should combine blogs because SewingDervish Creates is so boring I don't even want to post there. I think my followers (and spies) are missing out on a huge part of me if they aren't seeing my crafty adventures., but my crafty blog is not cool enough to be awesome like Angry Chicken, or Sugar City Journal or Pretty Little Things.
Mr Moose thinks that combining will drag down Samurai Mom.
So what do you think?
Please leave a comment.

Names are Skittish Things

I picked up this duck many months ago not knowing what to do with her. She didn't have a name until today.

Names are interesting things. A name can convey so many things. A poorly chosen name could be disastrous. As a young woman I had all sorts of fancy names for my future children. Some were mercifully discarded before I bore children, such as Cedric Cei, Alixandrier, and Bartholomew. My worst as a child nightmare would have been having a name that everyone else had (like Moose's). Luckily my parents did not fail me and I am often told that my name is pretty too. For our own children we tried to be different (we failed Commander C. on that one) but not weird, not juvenile and most importantly how will it sound when they are a judge or a general authority.

Choosing names for pets (breathing and ceramic) is a little more liberating. Ceramic ducks do not have to worry about being laughed at on the playground because of their names, but still I feel a responsibility to choose a good moniker that is meaningful.

Today I christened my knitting needle holding duck, "Danvers" in homage to one of my favorite books "Rebecca", in which, incidentally, the main character does not have a name. Hopefully my duck will not be coercing me to jump out of a window or burn down my stately home.