A LITTLE WITCH WILL LEAD THEM

A blogger friend of mine did a post the other day showing a tray that she had painted for Halloween. It is so cute I told her she had inspired me to paint a tray of my own. The following is what I came up with.

I've titled the painting, "A Little Witch Will Lead Them",

now I just need to decide where I want to put it. How about on the table in front of the sofa?

Maybe I'll set it on the buffet where everything else tends to end up.

While I was down loading the photos I'd taken into the computer I could hear voices in the hall outside of my studio so I went out there to investigate and this is what I found.

"We really need to do something with this silly tree. All of these hearts are creeping me out. Glenda, give it a tap with that marvelous wand you're so proud of and see if you can make the darn thing less disgusting."

"I'm with Belladonna on this. These hearts are just plain creepy. Go ahead, zap it with your wand."

"Alright. Stand back and I'll see if I can make it look a bit more like a Halloween tree."

*S*P*A*R*K*##S*P*U*T*T*E*R*##S*P*A*T!!!**

*PUFFFFFF*

"Well would you look at that?! The stupid wand actually works."

"But...uhh, Glenda...?? Where did all of these pumpkins come from?"

That's exactly how it happened. I didn't get a photo of the puff of smoke that appeared just before everything on the table top changed because it all happened too fast.

The enchanted tree does seem to be happier now that he has his little buddy the crow back. The tree and the crow are my sister Maggie's designs and if you would like to make an enchanted tree of your own visit her blog  Off My Rocker  where you can order the pattern.

It really feels like fall now that the temperatures have dropped and the rains have started. The leaves on my trees are still green but that will change before too much longer.  As much as I enjoy summer I'm ready to embrace some cooler weather. With the cooler weather comes other things to enjoy like baking and then there are the holidays and I do love those holidays! 

I hope you're having a good week and once again, thanks for stopping by.

Things You Might Not Know About the Land of Oz

Chapter Two

A few days ago I posted letting you know that I was going to be participating in the Celebrate Oz party and at the beginning of that post I put a map of Oz. The reason I have a different one at the beginning of this post is because this map is the map that has the correct placement of the Winkie Country and Munchkin Country. MGM took liberties and switched the two. I discovered this when I was doing some research trying to answer a question someone asked the other day. That someone was Oma Linda. You know who I mean. She’s the one who is the instigator behind this party and a fellow Oz lover.  I thought I’d take this time to give her an answer. The question was, “Where does the Red Brick Road lead to?”

 After much squinting at my maps (I've found several) and much reading and checking and researching and then double checking my findings, I have decided the road must lead to the Quadling Country. I made this decision based on the fact the color that represents Quadling Country is red.  For those of you who are even the least bit interested I’ve gathered together some trivia concerning the four countries that make up the Land of Oz. This information comes from the books written about Oz.


The Gillikin Country is the division to the north and is represented by the color purple and is bordered on the northern edge by The Impassable Desert. Like all of the countries of Oz, the Gillikin Country contains various unusual sights, places and facts. Among them are:

• The forest of the Winged Monkeys winged creatures that obey whoever wears the enchanted Golden Cap
• The palace of the Good Witch of the North (never actually mentioned, but assumed to exist because the Good Witch of the North rules this particular province)
• The Ruby Palace of Gayelette.
• Jellia Jamb reported to have been born a Gillikin.
• The house of Mombi, a witch whom the Wizard hired to transform and keep hidden Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz.
• The village of Loonville, whose balloon-like inhabitants warn strangers to stay away from their clearing (the Loons can also become too puffed-up).
• Yoop Castle, where a female giant Yookoohoo lived and ruled her valley.
• Dragons living beneath the Earth's surface, allowed to come out once every 100 years in search of food.
• The Forest of Gugu, ruled by Gugu the Leopard King with his counselors Loo the Unicorn, Rango the Gray Ape, and Bru the Bear.
• Giant purple spiders that catch travelers in their webs and make them their servants.
• Mist Maidens, fairies who live in a fog bank.
• Flatheads, people living on a mountaintop whose heads are flat and must carry their brains in a can in their pockets.
• Skeezers, once friends and now rivals of the Flatheads who live within a glass city in the middle of a lake.
• Reera the Red, a Yookoohoo preferring her privacy and specializes in transformations.
• Pumperdink, an elaborate fairy tale kingdom known for dipping its criminals in ink. Ruled by King Pompus and Queen Pozy Pink. Prince Pompadour is their son.
• Up Town, proclaimed the capital city of the Gillikin Country after the abandonment of post by the Good Witch of the North, ruled by Joe King and Queen Hyacinth, who are famous for their horse, High Boy, a large, purple animal with telescoping legs.
• Regalia, sister city to Pumperdink, home of Prince Randy.
• Upandup Mountain, home of Badmannah.
• The village of the Lanternesians.
• Dinker's shop of smokables.

The Quadling Country is the division to the south and is represented by the color red and is ruled over by The Good Witch Glinda. It is bordered on the south by The Great Sandy Waste.  The outer regions of the Quadling Country are rich, pleasant and beautiful, inhabited by kind and friendly people, while the areas closer to the Emerald City (most of the regions between the mountains of the Hammer-Heads and the Forest of the Fighting Trees) are forbidding and dangerous. Some of the interesting features or sites of Quadling Country are:

• The mountains in which dwell the belligerent and armless Hammer-Heads
• Forest whose animals hail the Cowardly Lion as their king
• The Dainty China Country
• The forest of the Fighting Trees, whose Northern row of trees have the power to use their branches to fling away anyone who attempts to enter the forest
• Miss Cuttenclip, who cuts paper dolls from live paper.
• Fuddlecumjig, where the inhabitants are made from puzzle pieces and have to be reassembled often.
• Utensia, a kingdom inhabited by animated eating and cooking implements.
• Bunbury, a land where all the inhabitants are animated food.
• Bunnybury, where intelligent rabbits walk on their hind legs and wear clothes.
• Rigmarole Town and Flutterbudget Center, where people either explain things in a roundabout way or worry over nothing.
• Mister Yoop, a captive untamed giant.
• The Hoppers, one-legged cave dwellers who travel by hopping.
• The Horners, pun-loving radium miners with horns who share the caves with the hoppers and breed prodigiously.
• Jinxland, a monarchy separated from the rest of the Quadling Country by a gorge.
• Morrow, home of King Pastoria’s hunting lodge.

The Good Witch Glinda in all of her sparkling glory and oh so much pink. She really does seem to have a thing for sparkly things, doesn't she?

The Munchkin Country or Munchkin Land is the division to the East and is represented by the color blue. Munchkin Country is linked to the Emerald City by means of the yellow brick road.  It is bordered on the eastern side by The Shifting Sands. While the Eastern part of the Munchkin Country is described as rich, beautiful, fertile and pleasant, and inhabited by friendly people, the Western part of the province ( the region bordered by a large forest and the area surrounding the Emerald City) is wild, rough and dangerous. Certain areas of this land are densely forested, and inhabited by ferocious beasts.

Munchkin Country is the site where Dorothy Gale’s house lands after being carried to Oz by a tornado.  Munchkin Country's ruler was the Wicked Witch of the East until Dorothy's arrival in Oz and she is eliminated when the house lands on top of her.

Dillywink, a charming fellow and one of the shorter Munchkins. Not all Munchkins are short you know.

The Winkie Country is a division of the Land of Oz. It is distinguished by the color yellow. This color is worn by most of the local inhabitants and predominates in the surroundings.

This was the country ruled by the Wicked Witch of the West before Dorothy "melted" her with a bucket of water after which the Tin Woodman ruled over the Winkies as their Emperor. The Winkie Country is separated only by the Deadly Desert from the underground Dominions of the Nome King. The Winkie Country like all of the countries of Oz has many unusual and unique sights and structures such as:

·         The Scarecrow's house, which is shaped like an ear of corn.

·         The house of Jack Pumpkinhead a giant hollowed-out pumpkin.

·         The palace of the Tin Woodman, created because the Wicked Witch's castle was too damp and the Tin Woodman would rust.

·         The Truth Pond, which anyone can bathe in and be freed of an enchantment but must always afterward tell the truth.

·         The Tottenhots, small sprite-like people who sleep during the day and play at night.

·         Merry-go-mountains, mountains that whirl swiftly and are made of rubber.

·         Thi, where bipeds with heart-shaped chests subsist only on thistles and use mechanical dragons to pull their chariots.

·         Bear Center, in a forest where stuffed bears are ruled by the Lavender Bear and guided by the wind-up Little Pink Bear.

·         Yip Country, a republic advised by the Frogman and separated from the Winkie Country at the top of a mountain.

·         Perhaps City on Maybe Mountain.

·         The dark forest of Gloma the good witch.

·         Wackajammy, the bread basket of the West.

Elphaba AKA The Wicked Witch of the West,

maybe, maybe not what do you think?

Careless Dorothy Gale  AKA  The Witch Slayer

Remember, on Sunday, July 22^nd I’m going to have a drawing and someone will be giving Dillywink a new home. You can enter the giveaway on this post or any of my Oz posts up until midnight Saturday July 21^st.

I hope I was able to provide some things in this post about Oz that you didn’t know and maybe were just a wee bit interesting to you.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

CELEBRATE OZ 2012

Chapter One

I have long been a fan of the books of Oz and as a child read every one I could find in our public library. I continued reading the books as I grew into adulthood. There are more than 60 published books about Oz beginning with the Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and published in 1990. Although the books are wonderful reading for the young and the young at heart most people when hearing Land of Oz or Wizard of Oz think of the movie.

I doubt that there’s anyone who has seen the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale and Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West along with Jack Haley as the Tin Woodman, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion and of course the beautiful Billie Burke as Glinda and not have fallen completely under its spell. Telecast of the movie began in 1956 and nearly every year since and has become one of the most watched movies of all time. I have no idea of how many times I’ve seen the movie. I have a DVD copy and watch it at least once a year. I watched it recently to do some research to get ready for the blog party.

One of my favorite characters is the Wicked Witch of the West. Gregory Maguire named her Elphaba in his books. In the movie Margaret Hamilton did a wonderful job of bringing her to life. When I was young she scared me but I couldn’t get enough of her. Because of my fondness of Elphaba I created an art doll attempting to capture whatever it is she has that put that scare into me. The other three dolls I created for this Oz blog party are Dorothy Gale whose house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East and who later melted The Wicked Witch of the West by throwing a bucket of water on her. Then of course I had to include The Good Witch Glinda and the final doll is one of the Munchkins who represented the Lollipop Guild. I get such a kick out of their welcoming song to Dorothy and the jerky little movements they do while singing it. I’ve attempted to capture this in Dillywink, my little Munchkin.

"You, little man, tell me what you know of my sister's death."

"Well, (gulp) it was like this, we were all just going about minding our own business when all of a sudden there was all of this wind and a really loud BAM-CRUNCH-WHAM or maybe it was BAM-WHUMP-CRUNCH-SPLAT and the next thing we know there's a house where a split second earlier there was nothing and then this girl here comes out of the house and asks us where she is."

"You there girl, you're the one who killed my sister by dropping a house on her? Wait a minute, those are my sister's shoes. Why are you wearing them? Take them off this very minute!"

"I said take them off this very minute or suffer the consequences!"



"Listen lady, I didn't drop the house on your sister. It was lifted up by a tornado or cyclone or whatever and then brought here where it just fell from the sky. I was lucky I wasn't killed as well when the house hit the ground. I didn't even know it landed on anyone so it's not my fault and you don't need to be so snotty about it. I've got to find my dog Toto and I don't have time for this right now."

"Toto, here boy. Where are you?"

"Toto? Where are you boy?"

"Dorothy, I've looked and looked for your little dog. Even riding over the city is my big bubble and searching high and low I can't find him. Are you sure he was in the house when you got here? Maybe he's still back home in Kansas."

"Well, if it isn't the Wicked Witch of the West?! I figured you put in an appearance to see if you could get your hands on those ruby slippers. Don't bother trying, I've charmed them and if you even touch them they'll give you such a shock."

"Your magic means nothing to me. I'm getting those ruby slippers one way or another. They belong to me now and no goody goody witch and a wretched slip of a girl are keeping them from me."

"You may as well go back to your dark,damp and dreary castle because you're not getting those ruby slippers today, or any other day so begone or you might get to see what these diamond slippers feel like when they kick you in the shin."

"Humph! You may think you have won Glinda but you haven't seen me when I get angry. You don't want to see what I can do when I'm mad.

Watch out little girl, I'm coming after those slippers and that goody-goody has better things to do than keep an eye on you. I'll get you when you're least expecting it. I don't think you'll find that dog of yours. There are flying monkeys in the forest near here and they just love puppies. Heeheeheeheehee!!!!" 

"I've just lost my home because the Wicked Witch of the West set it on fire and I need someone to put me up for awhile. I promise to be an ideal house guest."



On Sunday, July 22^nd I’m going to have a drawing and someone will be giving Dillywink a new home. If you’d like to be that someone all you need to do is be a follower of this blog and leave me a comment saying you would like a chance to win. New followers are always welcome. You can comment here on this post or on the next two posts. Each comment is an entry.

I hope you’re having fun visiting all of the blogs who are taking part in Celebrating Oz. I’d like to say a great big thank you to Oma Linda for hosting this fantastic blog party. For a complete list of the blogs that are participating in this event you can click the button for the Celebrate Oz 2012 that is on my side bar. This will take you to Oma Linda’s blog where she has links to each of the participants.

Since I’m such a party animal and don’t know when to give up and go home or give it a rest, I have decided to do something a bit different by stretching this party out over a four day period dividing what I’ve put together into four segments or chapters with the last one where I will have the drawing for Dillywink on Sunday. Besides, if I were to try to put everything in this one post you’d be here forever and there are so many other blogs you’ve got to visit so you can see how all of those other party animals are celebrating.

Have fun and as always, thanks for stopping by.