darkallegiance666

  Thank you to everybody who wished me a happy birthday back in May!!

I'm typing this on my old notebook, which I've always used.  I bought it back in about 2010 or 2011, & it's grown old & cranky.  It's still on Windows XP, and it now refuses to use Mozilla Firefox, so I'm using Google Chrome right now, which is telling me to "Please upgrade your browser to access DeviantArt".

I will be moving from now on to Andrew's spare Alienware laptop, which is more up-to-date, has a bigger screen & so is thus easier for me to see the details & print on, and which is unbelievably faster, as well as allowing me to access some of the new changes on DA, which this pc has not been letting me do.  

I have quite a few drawings in a desktop folder on this notebook though, so I'm going to just upload them all.  I don't want to transfer them to a USB & then put them on the other laptop etc, so this will mean spamming you - Sorry!!!!   

We have a new family member - a grey & white fluffy 3 year old cat who was already named "Grover".  We bought him from the RSPCA.  He is not at all like Ashy - a very different personality, and a lot more grey fur.  Shade (our little, 14 y/o black cat with the white patch on his chest) hasn't taken kindly to our new family member, despite my oldest son telling him that he's "Uncle Shade".  Grover is a male - long ago desexed - who got along extremely well with the other tom cats at the RSPCA, but who Shade has responded to by hissing & growling all the time.  According to the vet, Shade is the equivalent of a 90 year old human - a very cranky old man, in my opinion, & very set in his ways.  

Thank you to everybody who responded to my last journal about our darling Ashy dying.

Our beautiful tortoiseshell cat Hailie -

  lived from 2002 to 2015.  She was a wonderful person - maternal, energetic & very intelligent.  Then we had 2 cats left - Ash & Shade.  A couple of weeks ago Ash got very sick & had to be euthanased.  He was 15 years old (2002 to 2017).

  He was our great Guard Cat, and a very unique sort of person, & we all miss him very much.  We have Shade - our small black cat with the white bit on his chest now - & it seems a bit lonely to have only one cat left.  While Hailie & Ash were both bought as kittens from the RSPCA in 2002, Shade was born in this house in 2003, to a stray cat that I accidentally brought home with me, thinking that she was the male tabby cat that we had back then.

Cats are so marvellous - so loyal, loving, filled with character & just generally the sorts of people that are worth knowing.  So, in praise of cats, here is a feature of them. If I have included any of these in previous features, please take it as a compliment - your art & your cat was so gorgeous that I couldn't resist featuring it.    <da:thumb id="451201858"/>           <da:thumb id="506174715"/>                       <da:thumb id="260951695"/>    <da:thumb id="402517849"/>     <da:thumb id="390697926"/>    <da:thumb id="526440058"/>                   <da:thumb id="474594470"/>              <da:thumb id="154235531"/>

We are all very grateful that Ash graced us with his presence for 15 years.  We have such wonderful memories of him; some of them so funny.  Once, he jumped in the open window, opened his mouth to miaow a friendly welcome, and a moth flew out. 

We also have a number of fruit bats who are staying in the trees around here.  This is a suburban area, so it is really fabulous that they are here.  We can hear them chittering in their creaky voices at night, and sometimes see them fly overhead.

   

For years now I've been putting out multigrain bread every morning for the wild birds in the area.  It used to be about 4 slices per day, but the birds have either suddenly developed a network of information, or a grapevine, or else it is a hard autumn for them, because I am getting a bit inundated.  I'm putting out nearly a whole loaf of bread every day now.  The variety of birds that come in to feed is remarkable - peewits, magpies, 2 different types of mynah bird, black birds, crows, sparrows, blue-masked honeyeaters, wattle birds, sometimes a currawong or two, galahs, at least 2 different types of pigeon (there is suddenly a large pigeon population around here) & other birds who I either haven't identified yet, or have forgotten the names of.  We hear kookaburras laughing at twilight & again just before dawn. Hailie & Ash used to watch the birds, but didn't bother to try to catch them.  Shade occasionally has a half-hearted attempt every so often, but what with the wattle bird who constantly swoops him in spring & summer, & the shrill alarm cries of the mynahs & the peewits when they catch sight of him - well, thankfully it's easier for him not to bother.

It's autumn over here - wonderful crisp weather - & I'm reading "The Anatomy of Melancholy" by Robert Burton, to be followed by "Biographia Literaria" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Thanks heaps to those friends who explained how to enlarge the text on here - it makes it so much easier to see.

As I have written on my profile, I have major health problems, which now have affected my eyes, making it very difficult to read the small text on the screen of the pc.  Thankfully - or not, I don't know - I don't need eye surgery yet.  I'm not looking for sympathy & don't want any - everybody has problems - just writing to let everybody know that I really appreciate all the watches, faves & comments etc, but am unable to answer all or even many of them.

Quality of life is of the utmost importance to all of us - we need to maintain the quality of our existence, and keep doing the things that make us happy, and life enjoyable.

Wishing an excellent quality of life to all of you!!

No explanations & no wasted text - just a small feature of gorgeous art & my good wishes for 2017. 

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It will be Halloween soon, such a lovely, lovely night.  All that I have done is to put a tombstone (I stole it from the nearby cemetery - sorry, I lie - it's a fake one  ) in my front window, but that's probably the only Halloween decoration for miles around, believe it or not.

Anybody whose art has ever been featured &/or faved by me quite regularly, please feel free to drop me a line via note if they want me to make a video of their work.  No money changes hands - my channel has never earned any money for me & I don't give a damn if it never does.  The whole video-making procedure is a hobby that I enjoy.  Videos of DA artists whose work I have featured in videos - and whose art I believe is superb - can be seen (links are there) in a box on my profile page.  Music for the video can either be chosen by you, or, if you have no preference, by me.  I make simple slideshows set to music, with fades in between. 

It's also a good way to find great new artists whose work I might not see & enjoy otherwise.

- Iwould love to hear from you, my friend - I would absolutely love to make a video of your wonderful art - hint, hint.

About life - it can be very hard, & very horrible sometimes. Humans - especially those who are close to you, can be extremely, unwarrantably cruel - & of course, it all hurts worse because you care about that person or people & what they say or do. What can I say? We all need to develop our own coping strategies when bad things happen, as they often do, to good people. Drawing & music are 2 of the things that help me.

I wish you all happy creating!!!