Story behind the art:
A Halloween Story

Last year about 2 weeks before Halloween, a black cat suddenly appeared in our back yard. Every time I'd put our Chihuahuas out to go potty, there was that black cat contently sitting - at a distance - on our retaining wall. Although she wasn't close enough to touch, she was close enough for me to know that she was watching me and the dogs. I'd never seen this cat around the neighborhood before; so I had no idea of where she might have come from. However, soon, I started to look for her whenever I put the dogs out.

Years before, the love of my life had been a solid, black Chihuahua. That black girl was also my first Obedience titlist. She was also almost a part of me. Besides being beloved pet and owner, we had yet another deep relationship that took us almost to inside each other's head. To be able to work so closely together in Obedience, we had to know and feel even "more" about one another. She became Ranked #1 Obedience Show Chi in the US, but I was never sure exactly who had whom trained.

When she passed away suddenly - of a rouge virus in - between dog shows, I was devastated. Although she was a mature 12 years old, her death was still before her time. She had been healthy and even won big at a dog show the week before her passing. She was also entered into the first PNW Chi Speciality ever which was in just another 3 weeks. However, despite her valiant struggle to survive, the virus took her from us. My vet felt that she had contacted the deadly virus at her at her final show. However, right until her very last hours, you could tell that she was fighting hard to stay with us and that she didn't want to leave this world. She did her best to hold her head and tail up high in a proud statement that she wasn't ready to leave. But she did leave.

And life went on for the rest of us.

However, one night, I had a weird dream that she had come to me and said that she would be "back" to watch over me and her friends.
As is with the dream world, the meaning of the dream was unclear.
So the dream was soon consciously forgotten.

But when that black cat started to visit us last Halloween season, a memory of the dream came back to me. However fanciful the thought, I kind of wondered... And I felt a certain peace every time I saw the cat staring at me and my dogs (decedents of my black Chihuahua). The black cat stayed until Halloween. The next day - on November 1st - she was gone. For some reason, I really missed her at first. But then, the whole thing quickly faded from my mind.

Well, this year the black cat has come back. Just before the Halloween season like last year and the years before. And again, she sits on the retaining wall; just watching me and the Chihuahuas. I know that her appearance at this time probably is sheer coincidence. But if this cat lives in the neighborhood, I can't help but wonder why haven't I ever seen her other than during the two weeks prior to Halloween last year? And why has she now suddenly reappeared exactly 2 weeks before Halloween again this year?

I don't have any answers. But seeing her gives me a peaceful feeling.

And thanks to my Uzi, I have able to capture her photo for the second year; so I can prove that this mystery cat really does exist. My husband has never seen her in real life. Just me. There is probably a logical explanation for everything. However, if she stays through Halloween again and disappears on November 1st, I'm going to really wonder what that explanation is.

The mystery of the black cat has inspired me to play with a bit of Digital Art with her picture. This story transcends just a normal photograph.