bats & kats in belfries, plus pirates in swim trunks

since choosing the name of my bizzie, & of this blog, people have been asking - why kats in the belfry? i've explained that it comes from one of my favorite childhood cartoons; more specifically the song in the cartoon. the thing is, nobody remembers the cartoon.

it was a short of 3 bats in a belfry, with the smallest being silly, & oh so cute. every time they came to the part of the song, "we're bats in the belfry" the little one would hiccup. i don't know what it was about the cartoon that i loved, or why it stuck with me for so long.

when i announced my bizzie's name, thehobbit said "oh like the bats in the belfry hiccup song you always sing." i hadn't even realized until that moment that i'd sung it around him, & often enough for him to recognize the connection.

i had searched on & off for the cartoon, so i could show the menfolk, but i never could find it. until now...

look!

watching it made me realize 2 things: that cartoons were violent, & that i still like the littlest bat & his hiccups. for the record: i was not a child when this cartoon was made, so no oldie cracks. in fact, my father was a baby, & my mother not yet born. so there.

***

did you know that thehobbit is a victorian lady? he has developed a weird thing about his knees; he cannot, must not, shall not have them showing. all his shorts are clam diggers, & recently he declared his swim trunks much too short. don't think that i've been sending my poor boy out into the world wearing grape smugglers boy bikinis, the child wears knee-length board shorts for goodness sake. well, wore at any rate. too risque now.

i dreaded the search for a new pair of trunks that not only covered his bony knees, but were also affordable, & to his liking. don't forget that for all his victorian-lady-weirdness, he is nothing if not all about fashion. for some strange reason all his trunks have been pirate-punk-rockish. he's like a miniature superhero -- bow ties & sweater vests by land, punk by sea. he's victorianladypiratepunkerman! hahahaha. i digress. & apparently have had too much coffee.

rather than waste my week looking for the perfect pair of swim trunks, i decided to sew them myself. without. a. pattern. yup i'm wild & crazy that way. it was stressy, but i did it! i took a pair of jams that he loves, & used those as my pattern. some black fabric, elastic, & a few dates with my seam ripper, & thehobbit now is the proud owner of a pair of mid-calf length swim trunks any punker victorian pirate would be proud to wear. he wants me to trim the leg hems with my hallowe'en ribbon; it's black with white spider webs. we're also going to buy a small pirate flag to sew on one of the legs. both his ideas. that's not bragging btw, that's me making sure you know i had nothing to do with the flag/ribbon um, thing.

i'm off to wish i had an ice cream sundae. what cartoons did you love as a child?

~peace.