Spring Horror Collection: Puttering in the garden

Published

3 years ago

March 20, 2021

Mom was in the garden. Louis could hear her humming to herself as she puttered her way through the flower bed. She was taking off the canvas tarps that protected her beloved rose bushes through the long winter. Tilling the soil in the flower beds. Working compost into the ground.

It was good to see her active. The winter had been so hard.

It had been hard for Louis, too. After Alex went missing, everything had been hard.

No, he shouldn’t think of that. Better not to dwell, that’s what his therapist said. Better to focus on the now, the here.

Here and now, he had his aging mother to care for. Here and now, he had to live his life. He couldn’t live on just the hope that Alex, his sweet little girl, would be found. There was a chance, wasn’t there always a chance? But better to lay that aside and live.

It would be better now that spring had come. Better for Mom, too. She’d been in bad enough shape before Alex had vanished. But this winter she’d been bad enough that Louis had considered putting her in a facility.

She’d spent most of the winter sitting in a chair by the window, looking out over the back yard. All she’d talked about was what she was going to do with her garden, once it came back to life. How she couldn’t wait to see her roses bloom again.

Now she could putter in the garden to her heart’s content.

Mom was heading inside. Her movement caught Louis’s attention, rousing him from his musings. She disappeared through the sliding glass door, probably to fetch a drink or sit down in the cool indoors for a few minutes. He was glad to see her do it. It meant she was taking care of herself.

Louis ambled over to her garden to see her handiwork. There soil was all overturned now, fresh and ready for planting. Sitting next to the overturned ground was a crate of flowers. Daffodils, marigolds, black eyed susans. They were bright, cheerful. Louis kneeled to run a finger over their petals.

He picked up a spade and started digging a hole to place the first flower. This was good, it felt good. He and his mom had spent much of his childhood gardening together. When her mind started getting bad last year, he’d thought it would mean an end to their gardening. But here was the soil and here were the flowers. And there was his mother, washing her hands in the kitchen. It felt really good.

Louis dug the spade into the dirt, pushing it down deep. He shaped the hole, and settled in the first marigold into place.

Mom was at the doorway again. “Stop, stop that,” she gasped.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Louis asked. He dug into the ground again.

The spade hit something that wasn’t soil. He looked down, confused. He took a few more scoops of soil out of the ground.

There was something there. Something cold, and hard. He kept digging. As he did, a bright yellow bookbag appeared. And with it, a brown head of hair.

Original Series

AI Journey: Little Red Riding Hood, Part 2

Published

4 days ago

April 14, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

Continuing our AI journey from last time exploring Little Red Riding Hood herself as the Big Bad Wolf… All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.

Little Red Riding Hood as a wolf, Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023

How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?

Little Red Riding Hood woman with wolf head instead of her own, Anime V2 style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Anime V2 style, Aug. 1, 2023

Ugh. Maybe not.

Wolf face peering out of red hooded cape, Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023

Wow, that seems like such a cop out, cropping off the head so you don’t have to depict it. And I don’t want to lose the Little Red Riding Hood reference completely.

Wolf in sheep's clothing as Little Red Riding Hood, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.

And we continued to devolve, join us again next week for the final installment to see how this ended… And again, if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.

Original Series

AI Journey: Little Red Riding Hood, Part 1

Published

1 week ago

April 7, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

And as promised in Big Bad Poetry, we shall embark on our next AI journey, this time looking at Little Red Riding Hood. I had wanted to depict her as the Big Bad Wolf one and the same, although maybe not so big nor bad. But it just wasn’t happening quite as planned. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.

Little Red Riding Hood beautiful woman with red cape hiding her wolf face. Sinister style, July 29, 2023 — Sinister style, July 29, 2023

So I actually like this even better than my original vision, it is playful and even a bit serene (especially given the Sinister style). The wolf is just being a wolf. It’s quite lovely, really. But it wasn’t what I had in mind, so I revisited the idea later to see if I could get that result…

Little Red Riding Hood with wolf face, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

Well, that’s not quite right…

Wolf face Little Red Riding Hood, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

Yeah more of the same…

What part of wolf face don't you understand?, Hyperreal style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Hyperreal style, Aug. 1, 2023

And as you can see this is starting to devolve quickly. Join us again next week to see how this continued to develop… And if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.

Original Creations

Big Bad poetry by Jennifer Weigel

Published

2 weeks ago

March 31, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

So considering my recent revival of a wolfwere and his Lucky Days and Nightmarish Nature’s hostile humanity, it seems we are due for a visit from Little Red Riding Hood, or perhaps even Big Bad himself… Here’s a poem on the subject by Jennifer Weigel.

Over the river and through the wood
flashed the fleet-footed Red Riding Hood
on her way to her “grandmother’s” house.

When running past, who should she see
but just one of the little pigs three
cowering like but a tiny mouse.

“But my dear piggy, what do you fear?”
Red Riding Hood asked as she slunk near,
teeth hidden under a sheepish smile.

The nervous small pig looked up in fright
and decided that Red was alright,
missing the subtle clues by a mile.

“The Big Bad Wolf, that horrible beast
upon the other wee pigs did feast!”
the last little pig said with a squeal.

Red Riding Hood laughed with a great growl
and threw back her heavy long-robed cowl,
in a vast terrifying reveal.

For she was really the wolf Big Bad
hidden beneath the cape that he had
stolen from Red Riding Hood at point.

“And now I’ve caught you too my pretty
and surely t’wouldn’t be a pity
if I gobbled you up in this joint.”

T’was then the wee pig leapt to his feet
And cried, “Big Bad Wolf, I shall defeat,
for I am no ordinary swine!”

The little pig also wore sheep’s clothes
spun in spells every woodland witch knows;
Old Granny herself was quite divine.

“Now give me back my granddaughter’s cape,
before I grab you by your ruffed nape
and send you pig-squealing down the road…”

The wolf dropped the cape and ran, that cur,
but Granny was swifter and hexed his fur
and the wolf she turned into a toad.

Thus the moral of this story goes,
when in the woods, no one really knows
what sheepish sheep’s clothing is a ruse
that big bad wolves and old witches use.

So this is actually an intro to my next AI art journey with NightCafe which developed from me not getting the results I wanted (Little Red Riding Hood herself as a wolf). Here’s a preview with Eric’s versions as he is much more literal in his prompting than I am, but where’s the fun in that? 😉