Amityville Horror

At this time, every year our house becomes housefly central for a day or two and is affectionately referred to by my husband, Tom and myself as “Amityville Horror”. Those who have seen the movie will know what I’m referring to. If you don’t know what I mean, well, Rod Steiger plays this priest, he’s in this haunted house and he gets attacked by flies and, well you really need to check this out, man.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adFRKm9ezw4

But, I digress.

So, while attempting to prepare a meal today, several flies circled my head in this dreadful holding pattern, while many more of their creepy little comrades paced shamelessly across the cutting board with their nasty little bug feet. At least 50 or A MILLION flies crawled, flitted or buzzed over every inch of our kitchen. One poor unfortunate got himself stuck in the butter.

Gross! That does it!

We take up arms. Flyswatters and rolled up newspapers are picked up and waved wildly at the air in hopes of sending the tiny, vile vermin back from whence they came. The wild waving and syncopated swatting, followed by loud intermittent thwaps and kersplats, predictably sends our two kitties vaulting out of kitchen and into farther reaches of the house, each heading for their own piece of furniture to hide under and wait for saner times. Clearly the humans, usually such pacifists, have gone to a deep, dark place.

The carnage can go on for hours, sometimes days. But eventually this slaughter, the stuff of horror films, ends as abruptly as it began. Feeling spent, yet flush with cathartic relief, we turn to each other, blow the fly guts off our swatters and announce…

“This house is clean.”

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happy birthday dear blaaaahhhg…

…haaaaaappy birthday to youuuuuuuuuu!

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WARNING • WARNING • MUSH ALERT
(The following text will be very mushy… eeeyew!)
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Well, today is my blog’s birthday. A whole year… wow!

Starting this project was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I say this for quite a few reasons. Not only did I reignite my love affair with drawing, (which I did in spades), my confidence and ability improve, but something else quite wonderful happened. Friends and family started to stopped by for visits and began rooting me on. Also, I discovered and became a part of the talented, inspiring and always encouraging Illustration Friday community. Through IF and other blogging avenues, I have “virtually” met some fantastic folks whom I now consider friends. People I never would have met otherwise, people from all over the world! It’s astounding really, when you think of it.

So I just want to thank my friends, family and anyone who has ever stopped by, especially those who have left, encouraging, humorous, helpful even constructively critical comments. Thank you also, for entertaining, enriching and motivating me with YOUR art!

All y ‘all have made this quite a year to remember. Thanks!

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… and as the house flies begin to mass inside my house, I am reminded that this is a yearly occurrence in our neck of the woods. To illustrate that fact and to celebrate further my blog’s b-day, here is a little ditty from a year ago. Fly Slyer