Monday Murals -- Leonard Cohen

I'm taking part today in 

Monday Murals hosted by Sami.

I have not seen this mural in person 

because it is found in downtown Montreal,

but I am a huge Leonard Cohen fan,

so I am posting an internet photo of it.

Leonard Cohen (1934 - 2016) was a Canadian

poet and singer-songwriter beloved around the world.

One of Montreal's favourite sons, the city honoured him

in 2017 with this 22-storey, illuminated landmark

mural done by El Mac and Gene Pendon.

I love how the mural depicts the soft glow of his heart chakra

through the fingers of his hand placed upon it.

This so accurately captures his love for humanity,

his compassion for and understanding of our foibles

and weaknesses, his spirituality, and his inner guiding light.

The mural is entitled "Tower of Songs"

as an homage to that song and his work as a whole --

Sunday in the Art Room -- An Art Lesson From HRH

[A link party about art issues hosted by

Nicole of DVArtist, Art, Food and Everyday Things]

GREETINGS, all my many, MANY devoted fans!

Yes, 'tis I, the Queen of All Artistry --

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE CAT !!!

Today I have set aside my ROYAL CROWN and JEWELS

and donned my HUMBLE ARTIST'S SMOCK and BERET

to share my endless artistic skill and knowledge

with all you wannabe artists!

As we all know, there is NO FINER SUBJECT for portraiture

than CATS in general and MYSELF in particular. 

But no, no, this post is not about me.

REALLY, this time it is not.

This post is about teaching YOU the finer points

of how to draw a cat. Because, well, 

HOW can I put this DELICATELY?

So, MY EAGER STUDENTS, read on, learn,

ABSORB my ARTISTIC GENIUS.

This is how it's done --

Once the drawing is PURRFECT,

you are ready to PAINT!

Cats LOVE to be painted!

Here's how to do it well --

Follow my advice and I GUARANTEE

that all of you will be MICHELANGELOs

and VAN GOGHs and PICASSOs in no time!

No, no, NO NEED to THANK me . . . .

"Send me money," as they say,

"Large denominations only." LOL!

NO, SERIOUSLY --

All Love Offerings may be sent to:

Her Royal Highness the Cat

c/o She Who Seeks blog

Edmonton, Alberta

Canada

I AWAIT YOUR GRATITUDE!

BYE BYE OILERS *sob*

The Edmonton Oilers are now out of the playoffs.

They didn't even make it past Round One this year,

defeated by the upstart Anaheim Ducks.

People are pointing to team fatigue from two previous seasons

of grueling Cup runs to the Finals. Plus McDavid and Draisaitl

also played in the Olympics just a couple of months ago.

With both the Oilers and the Ottawa Senators eliminated,

Canada's only hope for a Stanley Cup this year

now rests with the Montreal Canadiens.

GO HABS GO !!!

May Full Moon Altar: Ishtar

This full moon altar honours Ishtar, the Great Goddess of Babylon in ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). Ishtar subsumes in herself all the attributes and powers of every other goddess in the region, including the mighty Inanna, and is therefore essentially the Goddess of Everything, including Abundance, Fertility, Love, War, Rebirth, and Transformation.

Her sacred animal is the Lion which, as Goddess of War, she rides into battle, as depicted on this plaque of unknown provenance. The well-armed Ishtar is surrounded by symbols of power and strength, and clearly will not be defeated. I bought this reproduction about 20 years ago from Sacred Source, which unfortunately no longer appears to carry it in their inventory.

Echoing Ishtar's Female-With-Lion symbolism are several "Strength cards" from the Major Arcana of various Tarot decks. Classic Strength card imagery depicts a savage lion allowing a gentle maiden to open (control) its implacable jaws of death and destruction. The Strength card's message is that only love and kindness are strong enough to "tame the beast within" of wild emotions and destructive passions.

[Left to right: Morgan-Greer Tarot, The Pulp Tarot, Tarot of the Magical Forest]

[Left to right: Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Daughters of the Moon Tarot]

This month has a couple of significant lunar correspondences. Tonight's full moon coincides with the pagan fertility festival known as Beltane or May Day. And at the end of the month, there will be a second full moon, usually referred to as a Blue Moon.

[Photos #1-4 © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026; Image #5 courtesy of the Internet]

A Haibun For National Poetry Month

In 2008, our Michelangelo Road Tour took us to Carrara, Italy, where Michelangelo obtained the purest white marble for his sculpted Renaissance masterpieces. We were astonished to see that all the street curbs in that Tuscan mountain town were made of marble. And every doorstep was made of marble too, no matter how humble or impoverished the abode. But then again, why shouldn't the world's finest marble be used for such prosaic purposes? In Carrara, marble is as common as dirt.

Doorstep or David,

it's all the same

to marble mountains

[Haibun © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026;

Photo © Debra She Who Seeks, 2008;

Animated AI GIF courtesy of the internet]

Vertex Quartet, Excentrica Women's Chamber Chorus, Doug Berner Trio

Last weekend was all about music! I attended three concerts by Edmonton musicians.

Vertex Quartet

On Friday night, this local women's string quartet played a wonderful program of works by Beethoven, Clara Schumann and Robert Schumann. Special guests Bethel Balge from Minnesota accompanied the Quartet on grand piano and Ian Liu played a Bach cello suite.

Excentrica Women's Chamber Chorus

On Saturday, I attended Excentrica's Spring Concert specifically to hear them perform Pergolesi's baroque masterwork Stabat Mater, a particular favourite of mine. They also performed several delightful madrigals and a fun jazz version of the Bach Cantata Wachet Auf (Sleepers, Awake).

Doug Berner Trio

And finally, Sunday afternoon was spent relaxing at the Jazz and Reflections concert series listening to the Doug Berner Trio's smooth jazz stylings. The perfect way to cap off my musical weekend!

Is Wolverine A Superhero?

Okay, Wolverine is not a goody-two-shoes

in ANYONE'S book. He's a 

foul-mouthed, vicious animal and

a frequent, remorseless killer.

But sometimes he sort of means well

and hey, he can be kind of noble

occasionally, with great reluctance.

Yes, I'm rationalizing.

The truth of the matter is that

I give Wolverine a free pass

simply because he is Canadian.

HE'S WHAT??????

James "Logan" Howlett was born

a couple of centuries ago in the

North-West Territories of Canada,

in what is now northern Alberta.

His declassified documents, records and journals are

maintained by Libraries and Archives Canada.

So what if they were publicly released on April 1st?

That date is of no significance.

What more proof do you need?

And if Wolverine is Canadian,

doesn't it mean that, by default,

he is . . . .

Oh, still not convinced that Wolverine

qualifies as a superhero for National Superhero Day?

Wanna make something of it, Bub?