Cat's Wire

10/09/2026

Weekend Traffic Jam - Week 177

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
My posts for the link up will go live on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. EDT or, if you live in the future like I do, on Fridays at 3:30 a.m. CE(S)T.

In 2015, I mentioned the time we had to make a herbarium for school. Well, while that was the word used, we really just had to collect some leaves from trees. Most of us were not good at it, the only fun was that we had a big leaf swap meet. I don't know if that was the reason this project never got off the ground.
As always when I wasn't keen on a project, I procrastinated successfully until the last day. Then my grandmother said she would take me to the woods. Now. She pointed out leaves with her umbrella, I was to tear them off the trees. My favorite was what she said was a "blood beech", a beech with beautiful red leaves.
To this day, I have to think of my grandmother when I see red leaves, no matter the tree or season.

***

And now my contribution to Anne's and Olivia's "Friday Book Snippets" where you share a quote - a sentence or short paragraph - from the beginning of a book you read at the moment and one from page 56 (or another).

Today, mine are from "At the Bottom of the Garden" by Diane Purkiss.
Beginning: "It was almost dark on a winter evening in Oxford when I first caught the fascination of fairies. I had always thought of fairies as dull, too pretty to be interesting. But suddenly I found myself reading about a fairy that wasn't pretty at all. He was Yallery Brown, a sprite from the Fen Country of Eastern England, and he was inexorably, mindlessly cruel."
Page 56: "Writing about fairies in the Middle Ages is, as we shall see, writing about nearly nothing. Talking about fairies is so fatal that very few people are willing to do it. That is why we are left with glimpses. No one wants to conjure a whole."

The subtitle tells us this is "A Dark History of Fairies, Hobgoblins, and Other Troublesome Things".
I only just started the book and can't say anything about it yet, but the idea that not all of the "Little People" are Tinkerbell is of course not new to me (one example being "Lords and Ladies" by Terry Pratchett!). I found this book as a recommendation after reading "Victorian Fairy Painting" by Jeremy Maas et al.

***

Back to the Weekend Traffic Jam.
As part of the reboot, we will be featuring a different blog every week.
How about stopping by and saying hello? Let them know we sent you.

This week our spotlight is on My Homemade Roots.

Melissa from My Homemade Roots says: "I’m Melissa, and this is my cozy corner of the internet, where I share from scratch recipes (ok, mostly from scratch), old-fashioned kitchen wisdom, and simple homemaking ideas inspired by the rhythms of the seasons. I have a love for hearty, old-fashioned meals, freshly baked bread, and a good canning recipe. I also love to share my gardening tips, craft ideas, and hints for simple living. I write about creating a home you love in the only tried and true way I know — one simple recipe or project at a time.
...
So whether you’re here for a cozy winter dinner, a spring baking project, or tips for preserving the summer harvest, I hope you’ll find something that inspires you—and maybe even reminds you of your roots."

Kim shows how to decorate pumpkins with temporary tattoos.

Judee found a thieving little squirrel in her garden.

Olivia shares her book related "fear".

Lydia talks about the dangers of AI in dating.

Debra shares her latest "Seven Days, Seven Snaps".

Let's link up!

Guidelines:
This link party is for blog posts only. All other links will be deleted.
Please link only blog posts you created yourself. Please link directly to the URL of your blog post and not the main address of your blog.
Please do not link to videos, sales ads, or social media links such as YouTube videos/shorts, Instagram or Facebook reels, TikTok videos, or any other social media based content.
Please do visit other blogs and give the gift of a comment.

Notice:
By linking with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, you assert that the content is your own property and give us permission to share said content if your post or blog is showcased.
We welcome unlimited, family friendly content. This can include opinion pieces, recipes, travel recaps, fashion ideas, crafts, thrifting, lifestyle, book reviews or discussions, photography, art, and so much more!
Thank you for linking up with us!

10/08/2026

Silent movies - The Monster

I really put some time in today's movie by investing two and a half minutes! Talk about attention span, people ...
The short I have for you is "The Monster" from 1903 and is by Georges Méliès, so you may know what to expect. It's a kind of magic .... (admit that you sang it)

Here's the very short plot full of spoilers 😉

An Egyptian prince and a priest meet in front of the Sphinx during a full moon.

Please note that the Sphinx still has its nose 😉

The priest brings a decorated chest and takes out a skeleton which makes the prince turn away in distress.
Next the priest wraps the skeleton in fabric and it starts a strange dance during which it distorts, gets smaller and taller.

The priest wraps more fabric around the skeleton and when he takes it off again, it has been revived to a beautiful young woman. The prince can't believe it, he reaches out for her longingly ...

... but the priest wraps her up again, lifts her, and throws her at the prince who's shocked to find she has turned into a skeleton again, drops her, and runs after the fleeing priest.

Last week, I boldly claimed that the narrative probably wasn't the important part in these films. Yes, there is a "but" now.
BUT obviously there was more to the story. This film was supposed to have a spoken narration (remember that I mentioned a "benshi" or film narrator in the post on "Namakura Gatana" as well?) which is known from Méliès's catalogs (see the source) and which tells us that the skeleton is the prince's wife.
Has anyone seen "The Mummy" with Boris Karloff? He also tried to revive his love almost 30 years later and didn't succeed, either.
Let this be a warning to you.

People have been fascinated by the old Egypt for a long time and they still are today, in literature, art, movies, science (and I haven't been completely immune to it myself how one of my jewelry pieces inspired by Khepri shows (I hadn't planned it that way, but it's still one of my personal favorites)).

Now the question is - did the priest fail or did he do this on purpose? And who is the monster in this film? What do you think?

Source and further reading:

Fritzi Kramer: The Monster (1903) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, October 6, 2017

10/07/2026

Tell Us About ... Birthdays

Time again for the Global Writing Challenge on the second Thursday of the month.
My posts will go live a little early (to avoid collision with the silent films), so if the posts of the others are not live yet, please check back later.
The current membership consists of Deb’s World, Suzy Turner, Within a World of My Own, Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After, Marsha in the Middle, Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa, and me. It's fun to learn how differently everyone interprets a topic.

You can play along and link up with us!
If that's too short notice for you, maybe next time? Here are the prompts for the coming months:
November - Superstition
December - Why do you blog?

The prompt for today was "Birthdays", chosen by Amy.
It sounds like an easy one, doesn't it?
Not so easy for me, though. You see, birthdays just aren't a big thing for me personally and haven't been for many years.

Oh, I would lie if I said I didn't like surprises and presents or a call from family or a good friend, but I also like those all year round, and as a matter of fact, it's really nice if you haven't expected it, isn't it?

I'm also not the kind of person who makes a fuss about "round birthdays" as we call them in Germany (30th, 40th, etc.) or freaks out about them. For example, one of my friends used to say - I don't know if that was a quote or not - that the best ten years in the life of a woman are those between 29 and 30. I'm not like that.

I think the only birthday I was slightly excited about was the 18th, but even that I only "celebrated" by going to the pub where I met some friends (it really was just another evening at the pub).
I don't give parties and I haven't been to a big birthday (or other) party in decades because I don't deal well with groups larger than, say, six people. If I went, I would be the person in the corner with the cat 😉
I always took off work on my birthday, by the way, even if there wasn't anything planned. Something the ex and I did was just drive around a bit, take in what our region's got to offer and maybe stop somewhere spontaneously for a bite to eat.

Blautopf

Next I thought about telling you some facts around birthdays. Who invented the party with cake, who thought of putting candles on the cake, things like that, but the pages I looked at didn't necessarily agree, so that was out, too.
I'm afraid the best I can offer you are random birthday memories.

When I was a child, birthdays and other special occasions usually meant buttercream cake, a rich and heavy cake and the highlight was always the number for the birthday being piped on the cake, at least for me.
German buttercream is different from American buttercream, by the way. A piece of such a cake could go a long way.
I can't even say for sure when the last time was that I had a buttercream cake like the birthday cakes, but I seem to remember I ate some "Frankfurter Kranz" (Frankfurt Crown Cake) a few years ago.

The mother of a school friend of mine
always made buttercream filled
"Frankfurter Kranz" for her birthdays.
This one is missing the glacé cherry
decoration on top symbolizing the
rubies on the "crown".
(Public domain picture via Wikipedia)

I was lucky to have birthday in summer, so we could just play outside. Once I invited a boy from school, but while we others ran around - dressing up in old lace curtains inspired by old movies - and had fun, he stayed inside reading "Bessy" comics which I thought was terribly boring of him. Maybe he didn't have comics at home.
If you wonder, "Bessy" was a long-running Belgian Wild West comic series about young Andy Cayoon and his female collie Bessy. You can imagine which TV show inspired it.

Fast forward to my only big party. I had just started dialysis five days before and the ex thought it would cheer me up to celebrate potluck style at our local zoo (where we had already volunteered for a few years). It was a nice idea from someone who has never been a fan of large groups, either, and of course it was nice to have friends there, but because I didn't feel very well, it was also rather exhausting. The food was good, though 😉

Another birthday I remember was the time when a friend invited me to go to Baden-Baden, a famous spa resort, with her for the day.
We strolled around, admired the beautiful old buildings, had something to eat, and imagined how it was in the 19th century (my first thought were Regency dresses of course), a heyday of the resort.

Trinkhalle Baden-Baden (pumphouse and main building of the spa complex).
picture by Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

It was incredibly hot for a June day, though, and in order to take a break from the heat, my friend suggested to visit the casino which is part of the Kurhaus, not to gamble, but to have a look around (and enjoy the A/C!).

1. The "Kurhaus", the casino is in the wing on the right.
Picture by Bäderstadt, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
2. Salon Pompadour
Picture by A.Savin, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

When we went to pay the entrance fee and showed our IDs, the receptionist suddenly burst out "Happy Birthday" which led to strange people in the queue chiming in. Just the kind of attention I love! Not.
Luckily, it was still very early and the queue wasn't too long (there wasn't much gambling going on yet either which meant we could look around without disturbing people).
Anyhow, I got in for free and also got a voucher for a glass of prosecco which we enjoyed at the long bar (obviously my friend had to pay for hers, but she said it was worth it to see my allergic reaction to mine - red head!).

Not my birthday cake full of candles, but a great view from below
at one of the chandeliers in the Kurhaus (Weinbrenner-Saal)
Picture by 3268zauber, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

This was just a glimpse at a few of my birthday memories.
I could have told you that birthdays give me an occasion for self-reflection and whatnot, but it would simply not be true because mostly my birthdays are just - well, days.
I'm sure the others will have more to tell.

Let's see what it will be.

Amy loves celebrating birthdays of family and friends and wants to design her own perfect day!

Suzy writes about the joys and challenges of having a Boxing Day birthday.

Debbie seems to be attending a lot of birthday parties lately!

Sally considers birthdays and unbirthdays from the perspective of a December girl.

As Marsha contemplates a milestone birthday, she writes about memorable past birthdays as well as her plans for the next year.

Leslie is sharing the birth-days of the 2 babies that made her mommy.

10/05/2026

Double, double, toil and trouble ...

... Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble."

It's time for some Halloween jewelry, don't you think? And who better to channel than Shakespeare's witches? Or rather one of them. After I had to ditch the plan with the spiders, that is, because some enamel popped off one of them from hardly touching it (which made me sad, but I have something else in mind for those now).

It started with some matte orange beads I found in my drawer and black is of course a staple color.
I'm still trying out different 3D shapes and the long oval seemed to be the best choice in combination with the black spiders whose legs stick out on both sides. When they were out of the picture, though, I had to look for something else. I had hoped to find some of Nitta's (from Corvus Ceramics) pumpkins like the one I had used for one of my wire crochet baskets here.
I'm so sure I still have some, but they are probably in a safe place ...

Actually, I think a little witch hid them from my sight.
The witch had been in my stash since ... can you believe it ... January 2012. That's quite embarrassing and it's no wonder she wanted out of that drawer badly. I heard her curse at me from the drawer more than once and it has something unsettling to hear that, especially in the dark of night.
How much more perfect could she have been for this project?

I love her blue hair, the cheeks,
her nose and chin, even the wart!
I'm convinced she's not as mean as
she's trying to make you believe.

Sometimes things come to those who can wait and there we are now with a pair of mismatched earrings. You wouldn't separate a witch from her bubbling cauldron, would you?

These whimsical lampwork beads were made by my friend Laney from Izzybeads who unfortunately had to give up playing with glass, so this is an extra special pair for me.

10/02/2026

Weekend Traffic Jam - Week 176

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
My posts for the link up will go live on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. EDT or, if you live in the future like I do, on Fridays at 3:30 a.m. CE(S)T.

Welcome also to the Cat's Wire Photo Studio where we - of course Gundel is my supervisor which she likes better than getting a camera shoved in her own face all the time - take pictures of whatever you can think of, family photos included!
This time we had Sonny and her grandfather as guests. Being around 100 years old, he had a lot of stories for us (like the great Moth Attack that he luckily survived)!

***

And now my contribution to Anne's and Olivia's "Friday Book Snippets" where you share a quote - a sentence or short paragraph - from the beginning of a book you read at the moment and one from page 56 (or another).

Today, mine are from the 1933 book "Four Days' Wonder" by A. A. Milne.

Beginning: "When, on a fine morning not so long ago, Jenny Windell let herself in with her latch-key at Auburn Lodge, and, humming dreamily to herself, drifted upstairs to the drawing-room, she was surprised to see the body of her Aunt Jane lying on a rug by the open door. It had been known for years, of course, that Aunt Jane would come to a bad end. Not only was her black hair cropped short like a boy's, but she smoked cigarettes out of a long red holder, and knew the Sitwells. Moreover, she acted on Sundays in plays which either meant nothing at all, which was silly, or meant what you thought they did, which was hardly possible. And it was said that she - but of course that wasn't true. After all, her father had served his King in India and the Windells had always been gentlefolk."

Page 56: "At 1.15 Miss Fairbrother joined the family for luncheon, thus enabling Mr. Fenton to pay her slightly less, and Miss Fairbrother to get an insight into the duties of a nursery governess, should she ever wish to become one." (She's Mr. Fenton's secretary.)

Orphaned Jenny spends her life daydreaming. That's how she inadvertently walks into her old home, now let to a respectable couple, where she finds the body of her Aunt Jane whom she hadn't seen for eight years.

***

Back to the Weekend Traffic Jam.
As part of the reboot, we will be featuring a different blog every week.
How about stopping by and saying hello? Let them know we sent you.

This week our spotlight is on The Marmelade Gypsy.

Jeanie from The Marmelade Gypsy says: "Welcome to The Marmelade Gypsy, where I live my online life, sharing about all things creative, travel, art, books, food, wine, and the people, places, and animals I love.
This blog was named for the original Marmelade Gypsy, my big orange boy, Gypsy Rose. ...
Should you ask me about my passions, I'll tell you friends and family are first, followed by times at the lake, good books, cooking, genealogy, writing, reading (especially mysteries and memoirs), film and theatre and making art! And, near the top of the list would be travel, with favorite spots that include Paris, England, France, Holland, Canada and New England.
I live with the guiding principles of joy, compassion, fun, friendship, family, love, creativity and happiness. I love sharing my art, my family history, my world and equally enjoy hearing about yours."

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household - The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.

Cat from Cat's Wire has what she calls a jumping spider brain. She has many interests and will blog about whatever catches her attention - crafts, books, old movies, collectibles or random things.

Rena from Fine Whatever Blog writes about style, midlife, and the "fine whatever" moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she's been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.

Here are some of my picks from last week's link up (in English and Dutch).

Deb is talking about pausing social media and embracing silliness.

Mie visited an exhibition that made her think of a crafts market in her childhood.

I could sure eat some of these sugar syrup doughnuts shared by Esme (prepared, tried, and tested by Nazley).

Angie shares pictures of the beautiful Monarch butterflies in her garden.

Nancy has created a great fall outfit.

Let's link up!

Guidelines:
This link party is for blog posts only. All other links will be deleted.
Please link only blog posts you created yourself. Please link directly to the URL of your blog post and not the main address of your blog.
Please do not link to videos, sales ads, or social media links such as YouTube videos/shorts, Instagram or Facebook reels, TikTok videos, or any other social media based content.
Please do visit other blogs and give the gift of a comment.

Notice:
By linking with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, you assert that the content is your own property and give us permission to share said content if your post or blog is showcased.
We welcome unlimited, family friendly content. This can include opinion pieces, recipes, travel recaps, fashion ideas, crafts, thrifting, lifestyle, book reviews or discussions, photography, art, and so much more!
Thank you for linking up with us!

10/01/2026

Silent movies - Legend of a Ghost

Heading towards Halloween, it seemed the right moment to start with some horror/fantasy movies.
Today I have a very early short for you. It's "Legend of a Ghost" from 1908.

Here's the plot (spoilers?).

A young lady sits at her spinning wheel when she hears something from the cemetery outside. Through the window she sees something flying and hears a curse.
Next we see her going outside to look for something in the cemetery.

Suddenly a group of skeletons surrounds her and a ghost emerges from a grave and sends her on a quest to "go and find the Devil, to challenge and vanquish him, so he'll give her the inextinguishable flame that she will take to the bottom of the sea to search for the black pearl and bring it back".

Don't be surprised, part of the movie has been
colorized, in amazingly vivid colors.

The skeletons and the lady turn into warriors.
They board a vehicle that takes them to the "lower regions".

Satan is warned, however, assembles his army and rides into battle in his own vehicle (while his army is, uhm, prancing and dancing and jumping a lot) ...

... before they finally stop the lady's vehicle and pull her into the Satanmobile (someone called it that in a comment and that's working for me).

Pick your vehicle! Both of them are quite cool,
modern cars are boring compared to them.

Then they have a fête together in the lower regions. Just bear with me, people, I don't understand what's going on, either.
There's more dancing before some demons jump into a lake. The cave wall is opening to admit the Satanmobile. They get out and Satan gives the lady the flame of life. Why? I have absolutely no clue, he doesn't look very "vanquished" to me. It might be a trap, though.

A frog is taking the lady to the bottom of the sea. Their travel is shown through different painted scenes opening up one after another, vertically or horizontally, a very neat effect.

They arrive and the Queen of the Sea (or whatever) makes a huge shell with a mermaid (or whatever) in it materialize, hands our lady the black pearl and takes her back up in her barge that is drawn by a horse (not a seahorse).

Unfortunately, Satan is out for revenge (probably because he noticed he wasn't vanquished after all?) and throws fire at them. The vehicle is gone, all the warriors are dead - except our heroine - and blue. And the inextinguishable flame has gone out (is there a money back guarantee?)!

Any excuse to show another picture of the vehicle ...

She returns to the cemetery, hands the ghost the black pearl, he drinks from it (weird, I mean it's not a coconut) - and turns into some kind of a prince!

Maybe she could/should just have kissed the frog?

Our lady, however, dies (exhaustion, the aftermath of Satan's attack or shock over this unexpected outcome, who knows) ... and we are in heaven and they have two children (again, don't ask me what's happening here)!

The End.
No, seriously, that's it.

I'm not the only who was confused, but you know something - it was still a fun watch! A very, very weird one and I might have thought I had a drink too much when I really had nothing but water with a bit of cordial, but a fun one.
Maybe a drink would have made it even funnier.

Segundo de Chomón is a new name to me, but it seems it's one to remember.
According to Wikipedia (as a first source), he was "a pioneering Spanish-French film director, cinematographer and screenwriter" and "regarded as the most significant Spanish silent film director in an international context". Like Méliès, he was known for his camera tricks and optical illusions and we have quite a few of these in this film which are very cool to watch.
As with Méliès (based on the very few films I know at this point, mind you), I had the feeling that the narrative wasn't the most important thing, but to try out what could be done with elaborate and beautiful sets and opulent costumes and of course cool vehicles, and some film magic.
Somehow it always makes me wonder how it was on set. "We need more people! Where are the lizard and fish people? We need dancers! We need more of everything! Splashing water, sparks, and the girls have to wave something! We need more, more, more of everything!"

"And we need an extra scene for the frog."
Absolutely. I'm a fan of the very jumpy frog (and was glad to see him star in another short).

A wild ride once more, my friends, but also very interesting 15 minutes.
Isn't that how we like our fairy tales?
More of everything!

9/30/2026

A Good Book & a Cup of Tea - October 2026 link party

Welcome to the A Good Book & A Cup of Tea (A Monthly Bookish Link Party)!
This link up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!).

Each link party will be open for a month.
My co-hosts for this event are Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

You can link up with any of us.

Here are my favorite posts from the September party.

Vero has created a timeline of her life in book form - one book for every year in her life (I honestly don't think I could do that, but it's such a fun idea)!

Lisa is telling us about a bookshop visit (who doesn't like to hear that?).

Lydia shared her August reading with us (and I loved that "Three Men in a Boat" was in there).

Olivia has started to co-host the Friday Book Snippets (quotes from a book's beginning and another page). Maybe you want to play along as well?

These are the guidelines:
1. For bloggers, you can link unlimited posts related to books and reading. They can be older posts or newer posts. These can be posts about what you’re reading, book reviews, books you’ve added to your shelf, reading habits, what you’ve been reading, about trips to the bookstore, etc. You get the drift.
2. Link to a specific blog post (URL of a specific post, not just your website). Feel free to link up any older posts that may need some love and attention, too.
3. Please visit at least two other bloggers on this list and comment on their posts. Have fun! Interact! Get some book recommendations.
4. Readers can click the blue button below to visit blog posts.
5. If you add a link you are giving me permission to share and link back to your post(s).