Angels Come...In All Sizes and Guises

This one has come with somewhat wobbly wings -

and the halo is a little 'off-beam' -

and her hair is a bit...well-ll-ll - what can I say?

And are they flowers or pom-poms on her toes?

Who knows?

But her smile is wide and welcoming

- and her nose is small but hearty.

And best of all - her HEART is in the right place!

For that one 'positive' alone - we will allow her all the 'attitude' she cares to take or make or whatever it is you do with 'attitude' these days??

(My attitude was strictly to mind my p's and q's at home, at school, on the bus, and in church. Playgrounds were a different matter!)

(Some would complain that my Attitude Angel is in black and white and they have been given no option to copy and colour her. Once again, what can I say? Well-ll-ll, she's mine and she comes from my era's-type thought-processing (sshh, don't be rude!). And, IF you have looked at any of my 'growing up' lenses, you will have observed that, once upon a time, in a land far away, we all came complete with black and white images...no other choices were dreamt of yet...in THOSE days!)

Basically, it's like my computer guy says when I wax hysterical about my computer's latest shenanigans -

'Listen Christine - just drink a cup of cement...and stiffen up"

(If you ask me, that ain't no way to treat a lady...especially an 'old' one...with or without attitude!)

...some more traditional-type than others

Oh-h-h, just look at these little honeys.

Now this raises an interesting thought.

Are angels born that way? With tiny buds on their shoulders where the wings will blossom one fine day? And angelic aspirations?

Or does the dishwasher/washing machine/tumble dryer we call Life, sort of knock them into shape?

They say 'to err is human...to forgive, divine'. Does this mean angels don't err? Maybe just the odd 'um and er'?

One could truly sing, 'Why were they born so Beautiful?' on their birthday - yes?

Uh-oh....there's another question. Who gave birth to them? A previous generation of Angels? Or a Heavenly Afterthought?

I know we all chant 'Eagles Forever' and similar at our sporting events - but unlike footy teams and the like, who change seasonally - I really believe Angels ARE Forever. Don't you? And they don't seem to evaporate in the same way as liquid Spirits do (even when everyone swears they never touched the Brandy bottle...never even knew there was a bottle of Whisky on the bar shelf! Oh yeh....and here come the flying pigs!)

My ocker angel tried....really, he did.

I mean, he took off his rubber boots and put on his Father's Day slippers.

If he was still a smoker, he would have lit up his pipe...but these days he pulls his hairy eyebrows instead

(and other hairs too, but we won't go there!)

Suffice to say that on one memorable Father's Day, my husband realised that we all finally recognised that he has a quite angelic interior, buried deep beneath his farmerish exterior.

**Oops...sorry...you maybe don't know what Ocker is?

It's the name for an uncultured, mostly uncouth Australian, who tends to speak 'Strine' broadly and loudly.

Uh-oh...sorry again...'Strine' is Australian, a cunning conversion of the Queen's English (though personally I don't know anyone but the Queen who speaks THAT language...and actually I don't know her personally, either. Don't think she's my 'cup of tea', actually!)

**And 'farmerish' is one of my concoctions - unlikely to be found anywhere else but here.

Meanwhile, back in Angel Land (from whence we seem to keep drifting away!)

No, she's NOT looking for trouble...or cheap thrills. Nor is she waiting for a bus.

This is our bedroom doorway - and she is the famous and adorable Isadora Angel, who hangs out to keep us safe from unimaginable things that 'go BUMP in the night'.

She is quite the clever little madam - a calico doll I created, dressed in an extremely old-fashioned and exquisitely embroidered 'dressing table set'. This 3-piece set had lived in a special drawer in my best oak Dresser for many years, until guilt overtook me - and I searched for another alternative use than covering it with dressing table 'stuff'.

Then lo and behold! There came a pattern from the East (or somewhere...I wasn't actually looking at a compass at the time)...and it came to pass that Isadora was born.

Aha! So...in this particular case, a human gave birth to an angel....in a manner of speaking! And it was me - and this is her!

Well-ll-ll...you would have thought I'd have noticed something other than my sewing machine whirring!

The message says - 'Angels Can Fly because they Make Light of Everything'

Personally, I'm trying to make light of my appalling photography of an extremely 'ordinary' wall-hanging. In my attempt to hide the slightly 'off' hangers, I've succeeded in taking a totally crooked photo. I mean, I know I'm not a patchworker's armpit (or a merchandiser's groin....or a photographer's toenail) - BUT - it really deserves better treatment.

One day soon, I'll take it off the wall and photograph it at a reasonable angle, instead of sticking my hand up in the air, complete with camera, clicking and then hoping and praying - and finally accepting whatever because my neck hurts!

One day soon....I promise!

In the meantime, I'll make light of everything else I can think of.

Now here is a technicality to overcome.

You may notice that Libby the Library Angel - in absolute truth and actuality - has no wings.

Please do NOT - I repeat, NOT - jump to the conclusion that she has committed some messy misdemeanor - or even been careless enough to have just put them down somewhere, and forgotten where exactly that was. (''Leave them alone and they will come home' - oops, wrong song!)

Here is the unvarnished truth in answer to the question - 'Why Libby the Library Angel has no wings'

Don't be mistaken,

Don't be misled -

Had her wings been severed,

She would surely have bled.

Had Libby misdemeanored,

- been fined a feather a day,

She'd have needed a lot of Spirit(s)

To ease that pain away.

Hang on!!

I'm really NOT a poet -

And don't we ALL know it? (Sh-h-h, don't answer that)

My prose is on the nose -

The time has come to close.

A situation totally 'no win'

That's it...I'm chucking the towel in...

Ah-h-h-h...that's better ... now that it's over!

Meanwhile, back at my Library - and also back to the genuinely sensible reason why Libby has no wings - it's simple really. You know how you sometimes twist a lock of your hair round and round as you read - and end up with bad Afro-hair day?

Well-ll-ll...poor, lamentable Libby has buttons on her head instead of golden locks like some bimbos she has known, so head-lock-twisting was severely limited - nay, impossible. So?

So she kept twisting her feathers as she pored over Wilbur Smith's African and Egyptian sagas - and the numerous other authors I embrace (strictly mentally - anything else belongs in my personal Dreamtime).

The consequence was that feathers began to fall - few and softly at first, but the carnage continued and gathered momentum. On the final feathered day, the destruction was such as you'd imagine if a den of doonas had been detonated. It was simply breath-taking in its finality.

We all know about caterpillars 'morphing' into butterflies, right? But an Angel 'morphing into a bookworm?

Tragic. Seriously tragic. But despite attempts with glue,

Lockless Libby was a Luckless Lass (and really, quite a Geek, too!)

(There's a moral to this story, but I'm not going there in case it involves a recommended cessation of reading books. Blasphemy, I say!)

And in my imagination, they strongly resemble my Guardian Angel - who looks a little like the one above.

(You may call me soppy, overly-romantic, overly-fanciful, demented - whatever. I don't care.

I know I'm closer to ascending the Great White Escalator than most of you, so odds are I'll get to find out first...maybe even make a lens about it up there!? At the very least, I'll make an angel-dust-storm, and send ?smoke? signals to you.)

ENOUGH of this waffling - back to the matter at hand -

Celestial Sprinklings of the Squidoo Persuasion!

They come for a visit, they like what they see, and they sprinkle angel dust all over your lens - and it really feels like a true Dust Angel has been, and made everything Beautiful - and SO Sparkly.

Do they know how much they gladden hearts?

Do they know they lift sometimes sagging spirits SO high, that we suddenly feel we could truly fly alongside these magical beings?

Do they know the power they have to turn an ordinary hum-drum, ho-hum kind of day into a Shining Jewel to be treasured and enjoyed, for many days and months and years ahead?

Do they know they create a lot of moisture around the optical area? (And should they bear partial responsibility for climate change?)

But most of all - do they know how eternally grateful we lesser mortals (aka lensmasters) are for their most welcome visits?

The original intention of this lens was to celebrate and demonstrate my deep appreciation of the Angels who have blessed my lenses.

One day I'm really going to add them here - but just now I've run out of OOMPH - so you're just going to have to come back and check, aren't you? PLEASE!!! ***The Promised Day has finally arrived - keep reading!

In the meantime, they're still all on my lensography Who is cdcraftee?

Sincerest Thanks, Seth's Angels

(and move over Charlie's Angels - especially the present ones - grand-daughters of the originals maybe?)

... Look!

SORRY Special Angels who pass by sprinkling your Angel dust, but Squidoo has threatened me with locking this lens within 14 days if I don't get rid of spammy content.

The picture I had featured here in thanks for Angel Blessings seems to be the problem. I think?

I'm guessing rather desperately at this stage.

Poor treatment I say, for what had previously been a blameless record that in fact included two Lens of the Day Awards, and a heap of Purple Stars and over 100 Angel Blessings.

Now we lensmasters are responsible for the foibles of other flagrant fools.

Shame on them, and shame also on those who cannot see the difference between honest hard-working writers... and the rest.

At least I can tell you this Squidoo Angel's name is sls450