Of Wizards, Murder Mavens, and Gargoyles

Hi. My name? Homer J Goyle. Yeah, I look gruesome now, you should have seen me when I was headless.

I was called "The Headless One" by many a students here on the grounds of NIU. I was never so happy to get my new head back on my shoulders, now I can check on the women--uh, er, I mean I can guard the grounds near the old castle.

Okay, right. I was supposed to do this post for Lorelei. Color me forgetful. I'm a gargoyle after all. Got stone for head. Get it? He he.

Well... where was I?

Oh, right, right.

The post.

Today's post is updates. Well, Lorelei is busy. Has a few more long days of driving a Huskie Bus around town, trying to avoid hectic holiday traffic and all. I wouldn't know about that. I'm sitting in a courtyard. I see some vehicles pass, and people stop and take pictures of me. One guy took many, many, many of me. In fact he came on a couple of occasions and that's one of the pictures above. Lorelei was able to cajole him into taking a few picks of me. What can I say? I'm handsome, right?

Er, back to the main post.

Uh, oh. I'm to mention Lorelei is a writer, but I understand, plus she makes things with her hands. Mostly afghans, but other things like hand warmers and cowls. Hmmm. Don't know what those things are, but whatever.

She's also working on other things to take to local craft shops soon. As soon as she can get off the frigging bus--her words, not mine.

And after the holidays. She says she and husband are going to have a quiet Christmas Eve watching "It's A Wonderful Life" and something traditional, like ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans and a holiday meatball thing she says is easy to make and requires some strange ingredients like grape jelly and chili sauce. (If I could, I'd be shrugging, since I don't eat, I don't know what sort of strange things people eat)

Ah, and she tells me that her local bookstore--the only one left standing--is closing at end of the month, and she hopes to find a few books, or whatever, left to buy. 

Currently she's into murder mysteries, and something called The Dresden Files. Oh, wait. I've got a picture here... Oh! here it is.

Yep. She told me she picked this hardback up just the other day for only $5.99 at her local grocery store. I don't know. Is that a good thing? I haven't a clue. Now, I don't read, mind, but the whole thing is sort of, well, up my alley, so to speak. Dresden is a wizard PI, from Chicago. She tells me that there was something about the guy in a fedora that caught her eye. Then, she said she'd read his very first book (Jim Butcher), and thought it was okay, and wanted to read another, but she just hadn't been able to do that. Other things on her plate--so she says. But she likes to read a male point of view in the fantasy realm. She's begun this latest adventure, but she's way behind. I mean like more than a dozen were written before this. Oh, well, I guess she'll just have to catch herself up.

That was one of the books she's read. Here is the other one, which she's finished, and wants more of:

She says she used to watch the show, and loved it. Now, she can't get enough of these mysteries and hopes to snag a few soon.

And, when she can, she'll be posting herself. I hope so. This is murder on my stone fingers!

Oh, and if you're out here during the night, watch out for things that move around unseen. Well, I see them, of course. Duh!

I've gotta go back to my uh-er duties now. It was nice visiting with you folks!

Hi Kids!

I didn't have any better title. This is my up-dates...

Well, we, in Illinois are having a mild winter (he-he, I made the prediction that we'd have one, and I guess, so far, I win--everyone else was saying it was going to be "worse than last year"). Temps today are approaching 40. Last year at this time we had a foot of snow down, and it was beginning that downward trend of temps going below freezing and staying in single digits. We have no snow, and about the only weather problem is the fog. I'll take 40 degrees and fog any day!

As for me, I've been crocheting my fingers off (not literally, but close). I've just finished a pair of mittens. They're cute and should keep my fingers warm. I've made the fingerless gloves up til now, and found a mitten pattern that I felt up to trying and by golly, I did it! And you thought such things were only knitted. Tut tut.

Meanwhile, I'm working on two afghans--well, one is only a throw since it's only 44" x about 78"--long enough to fit on a couch, and for one person to snuggle under. My other one is larger, and is in fall colors. Since it takes me months to complete one, and repeated visits to where I buy yarn (yeah, I just like to go into the store and browse, so, yeah...) But it keeps me out of trouble. I can get into trouble all by myself, thank you. (keep reading)

Take when I had the middle part of the day off, because my wonderful husband took over a run (driving a bus) for me, and I decided I'd go to Panera. Bad idea. I dumped hot soup all over down my front. Well, they had all these damned orders piling up, and mine was over in this corner, plus the stupid counter where you pick up your order is tall--almost taller than where my shoulder comes to. So, I picked up the tray--which was slick, mind you, and the damned hot soup spilled, and stupid me, I tried to catch it from dumping, and there it went all over my shirt. I should have just let it drop to the stupid floor and made them clean it up and make me a new bowl. I'm stupid when I'm alone. Well, the shirt is ruined, but it was old. I had it in my hair, too. Some lady that cleans there sort of helped me get cleaned up before I went to the bookstore. I smelled of broccoli cheddar soup all day, and I still had to go pick up my husband (who'd had an equally bad day).

I've made the decision to go back into crafting. I've noticed that craft shows are still going strong. I'm not ready to do those, yet. Years ago, when I decided to quit crafting and put all my efforts into my writing, I threw all my paints and other stuff out. Fortunately I still have some patterns I used. But I can get this stuff again, no problem. But not until I've gotten myself firmly in place at a local craft store will I expand into that. I want to test the waters, so to speak, and see what is popular.

What will I work on during the non-winter months? Well, more stuff, of course, since it takes a while to make things. The mittens- each one - took about 1 &1/2 hours to 2hours to do.

But I thought I would make Eco-friendly string grocery bags, like these:

On the writing front... Yes, I'm still working on the next book to come out at some point this winter. Oh, here's a photo my friend Karen Kuban-Bell (no relation), took of a gargoyle that sits on NIU property.

Photo by Karen Kuban-Bell
Gargoyle guarding "Castle"
@ NIU

This isn't the one I chose, but when she found out I needed help to make it into a book cover, she happily said she'd love to work on it for me-do the cover. Well, Santa has given me an early Christmas gift in that respect!

Now, before I leave you, here are some blogs to check out.
The Kill Zone has the 2014 recap. that is if you want to hear the bad news of the year all over again (in case you missed any of it). On to more bizarre things As The Crowe Flies has some strange pictures--not that the images were strange, but when she photographed some common things they sort of got some haunting images appear in them, some how--she swears she didn't touch them up. I'm still not sure about that last one--sort of sends shivers up my spine. Holly's Horrorland is celebrating the 13 Days of Creepmas, and she's been giving stuff away, so I hope I'm not too late in putting this up here. And if you want something yummy to keep you warm, here is Krisztina Williams' DIY Hot Coco mix the ingredients are real simple.

Well, that's my wrap-up for mid-December. I've still got to get through the next several days of driving, and then I'll be off for 2 weeks (no pay), and I'll be hanging out with my best friend (Dennis), and doing my usual.
Until then... stay safe and don't wear yourself out on the holiday stuff. It's over-rated!