ODE TO BRENDA-THE RAVEN

Many years ago, when I was a career girl, I worked with an amazing person, whom I now call friend.  Her forte was Literature, so Brenda would create elaborate lesson plans to engage our students.  When she would be reading the passage out loud, the children were on the edge of the seats.  The expression and intonation of her voice had them all spell bound.

One of her favorite units was on Edgar Allen Poe.  Today, I write this blog in her honor.  The first being that she gave me the vintage birdcage which I use in numerous postings on this blog.  I treasure this gift! The second reason that I am doing this blog in homage of her is because of The Raven.

Now  granted, black crows are much more accessible around Halloween, so put in your mind that these are all RAVENS.

I need to side step a minute here and tell you another story about the raven.  I went to Benedictine College in Atchison.  The school was named for St. Benedict and St. Scholastic, who were brother and sister.  The story goes that in the wilderness, Benedict fed a raven with a portion of his bread.  When a jealous and wicked priest tried to kill Benedict with poisoned bread, Benedict coached the raven to take the deadly bread to a place where it could not harm another.  The raven complied and saved Benedict's life.

So now onto the Halloween foyer décor.

 A few years ago, I took an old black window frame, glued vintage book pages to the back and added some black cobwebs and spiders to the frame.  This was the perfect backdrop for the birdcage full of ravens.

 A black cauldron was set at the foot of the foyer table.

 

Something was missing.  While at Walmart, I picked up some black and cream buffalo check fabric to use as a drape to complete my look.

And to Brenda--this one is for you!


p.s.   The cauldron is now full of Halloween treats.