Creature Report
(October 2024)


Adorable greeter

I decided not to pick this one up from a bizarre 
thrift store at the edge of town since I appreciate how
it's there to greet anyone first thing upon stepping
through the door. Boo!

I like to think that the Halloween black cats we see
in decorations and whatnot aren't usually actual cats,
but some separate creature entirely, borrowing the general
outline of a cat when the veil is thin enough for them to
visit our world.

If one of these creatures got run over'd be no blood, no
gore, just a pile of pumpkin guts and broken candy and 
maybe a shred or two of black fabric, and by then it's
already re-coalescing not too far away from whatever pieces
of Halloween detritus happen to be blowing around.


 
Other Halloween spooks

I just realized why the first cat looked so familiar -
it appeared on Bogleech years ago! (which is also where I
accidently stole the idea of the Halloween cat as a distinct 
creature.)

While I absolutely love the article linked above (please read
it,) I still like to think of them as... things, pretending to be
mundane creature to the best of their ability but doing a flawed
job thank to having no real connection to the material world as
we know it. Congealed essence of Halloween spirit, some entity
wearing stray psychic energy and seasonal ephemera as a shell
to visit this world during full-moon nights filled with autumn leaves
blowing down the street.



Menaces

I recently learned that most people grew up with (or at
least aware of) Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland, or maybe
some people remember seeing the 2010 version. I never saw either,
and instead grew up obsessed with the 1985 version that 
nobody I know has heard of and that inexplicably features
Ringo Starr as The Mock Turtle.

That movie is precisely what this row of oddly intimidating 
hares at the same thrift store bring to mind. Rabbits are cute
and soft but hares are terrifying and these are very much the 
latter. I also appreciate that the big one looks stoned.



Love's Young Dream

(Name of a Wain drawing that immediately came to mind.)
From a postcard at my workplace  🥹
I took this picture specifically so I can pirate it onto a private
run of ambient tapes that may or may not even see fruition.
Adorable either way.



On the alert

Another from the garden store, this time on a bag.
Pensive little guy. Can't tell if he's a philosopher or
if there's absolutely no thought there.


 
School poster

This guy's definitely going in a collage at some point.
He looks more like something I'd expect to see on a Bandcamp cover than a poster at school.


  
Churchgoers

Look up in the bell room of the church at Valley Forge 
and you'll see a Revolutionary War fresco, including a 
random cat looking like it's about to trip British soldiers,
a rabbit gnawing on corn, and a possum!! Not what I was
expecting but I'm always glad to see North America's only 
native marsupial getting some recognition.


Creature Report II
(For real this time)


Deers

Absolutely everywhere around here
There's no way to go anywhere without basically tripping over deer


  
Doofus

Book scanning is going slower than I'd like because Garfield
here insists on helping. He also used a 140$ Louis Wain annual
as a cat bed the minute I left it unattended. Never a dull moment 
around here.




Hello there

Still can't believe this happened.
Went on a walk around a nature preserve and found a fox sleeping
in the middle of the trail. I managed to get close enough to see
him breathing and wasn't sure if I should turn around and walk
a mile in the other direction to not disturb him, but that decision
was made for me by some guy and his dog that suddenly came down the
other side of the path and spooked him off. Luckily I had my camera
at the ready in case that happened.