Halloween

Happy Halloween, blessed Dio de los Muertos, Happy All Saint's Day and/or Samhain to one and all!


Remember the Halloween swap that I entered. I made a Fantasia mop for Jodi Creager and in turn my item was going to come from half way round the world. Susan finally wrote from Singapore to say it was on its way.
Well, I waited & waited.....and then I waited some more.
Gee could it be that the immigration laws had been toughened? Could customs be keeping my whatever? Presumably marveling, possible playing with it? Was there no end to Canadian rules that were keeping me and my swap item separate!!

Then on the 23rd, as I again frantically checked with Canada Post, I found the key to the larger package box laying within our little rural mailbox. Would it be just another eBay purchase? Or could it be.....

It was with great trepidation that I inserted the key. Slowly as the door creaked open.... I couldn't help but think with all the wet weather we'd been having lately, they really should make their mailboxes more weather resistant.
I should have known! Should have felt the foreboding in the air!
Two packages lay within! ....when would I ever learn to keep my trigger finger off that confirm bid button that eBay so conveniently offers. But wait....surely no eBay seller would mail out his package using such wonderfully colorful stamps

I raced home. Threw the rest of the mail at Ken; went into my craft room and closed the door. With trembling fingers that would hardly do my bidding, I tore at the paper. A note held closed with a red seal came to light:

oh my! Did you see? "Palace Treasures"!!
Did my swap item come via a long forgotten maharajahs treasure chest? Would I become rich beyond my wildest dreams? We all know that in Asia lies the riches of the modern world. Even their poor sit on chests filled with rubies and pearls and eat their meals from golden plates.
Inside lay a card, identifying me as owner of.....the HalloWitches! Huh????

I looked up in confusion... Did I need to set extra plates for supper? Just what had I gotten myself into!
If you thought my hands trembled opening the outer wrappings, you should have seen them now. But wait....how confusing!
my brain was addled! I didn't know what to think...
At the very moment where I sat back in confusion, the bubble wrap started to move. Slowly it began to writhe and I was sure I could hear a faint hissing sound coming from within. Suddenly steam erupted...
Knowing that it would play havoc with my sinuses, I frantically fanned the air. It was over in a moment....and there in it's place sat a cauldron!
This was no ordinary cooking pot used at an outdoor corn roast. Although it still sat on a campfire, the wood must have gotten wet in transport and the fire recently gone out. Some sort of steam was still emerging from the pot but already jungle vines encircled it and the hissing that I heard came from two gigantic and extremely colorful snakes. I felt like a rabbit caught in their unblinking stare.

I felt compelled to reach out and touch....
...but before I could do so, from deeper within the bowels of that infernal packaging came chanting. Softly at first. Then ever more loudly and clearer...

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble....
I'm sure I'd heard those words before! They came from somewhere in my distant past!
I began to wish that I'd never brought that package home! Why did I ever enter that damn swap! Why couldn't I have been happy just to buy from eBay? There, sellers aren't allowed to list dangerous or toxic goods!

Again the package erupted in smoke. Again everything in the room became hazy. Again I frantically fanned the air. Again I could hear that chanting......

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble....
Suddenly with a loud poof, the package disappear and in it's place stood three beings gathered round their(?) cauldron!

I sat transfixed! I was horrified! I knew where I'd heard that chanting before...
I was sure the Macbeth had encountered those same three witches just before his tragic end! Even the words rang familiar:
Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
What kind of witches were these? They couldn't even get the words right!

I was sure I'd remembered the quote correctly from my high school English classes . Had they been hiding out too long in Asia? That since sending Macbeth to his doom, they'd forgotten the correct words to their own spell?
It might be my only chance! Quickly I sent a message to Susan! Yes, to the cause of all this anxiety... there was still a chance she hadn't known what problems she'd created! It could be that those snakes had grown up eating pig flesh....Even now they could carry within them, the deadly snake flu!
Just as quickly came her response. I won't go into details here! I'll let you read her story for yourselves: Susan's story!

In the meantime what do I do now? That chanting is going to drive me crazy!!

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It's been seven days now....count em 7!
Altho I haven't dared to open my craft room door, I can still hear the chanting! It's slowly driving me mad! Every day it gets a little louder.
I'm going to leave tonight to go housesit while the grandkids and their parents go out to 'trick or treat'. Maybe if I ooh and ahhh enough over the little tricksters as they come to the door for their treats....maybe if I shell out enough candies...
Then maybe, just maybe...those witches and their snakes will take pity on me and quieten down! Keep your fingers crossed!!!
.....if you don't get any more posts from me, you'll know it hasn't worked. OMG I don't even want to think about it!!!

Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Fillet of a snake that lived in a bog,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
A black snake’s forked tongue, and its cousin’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.

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch's mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i’ the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch's mummy, a gulf-like stomach,
Of the rough sea salt glisten,
Root of poison hemlock dug up in the dark,
Liver of Christians not baptized,
Gall bladder of goat, and slips of pine trees
Cut off the tree when the moon eclipsed,
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips,
Finger of a baby born dead
Delivered in a ditch by a prostitute,
Make the gruel thick and gooey.
Also add a tiger's guts,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.