... Baskets & Caskets... and the basket goes to...

“You rarely win,

but sometimes you do.”

~ Harper Lee

I am a girl who prefers quality over quantity so when two contestants participated in my Baskets & Caskets competition, I really was overjoyed! This is not a contest blog so when I have had contests, even I admit that they’ve been a little weird. Weird but fun! And, I think I have some pretty cool prizes.

Jade at Daughter of a Jaded Era was the first to submit her entry entitled, “Peculiar Easter tradition of witches.” I absolutely loved it because it includes “odd traits of the Finns” which I adore because I love learning about other cultures. She shared a bit about virpominen, which I really hope catches on worldwide because dressing up like witches or Easter bunnies and going trick-or-treating sounds amazing! For more details and an adorable picture of Little Jade all dressed up, check out her post!

Now, I hate contests where you submit something and a coin is flipped to determine the winner! Bah! Why put in any effort, right?!? I was going to have judges to make this official. My original idea was to have my fella be the judge so that I was not being biased, but my fella was with me the first time I met Jade in person back in February 2015. To make a long story short, the three of us ended up running through snowy D.C. streets so that my fella and I could make our train. We’re both punctual people but we were enjoying our time together when a snowfall completely took over the city. Cabs stopped; the metro was delayed. It was a mess. We made our train though and had an amazing adventure with a new friend. Needless to say, my fella could not be the judge of this contest although he read both posts.

Madame Mari Mortem made the second post entitled, “Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Twas The Night Before Easter...” Madame Mari Mortem put together (as in with her mad sewing skills) the perfect Easter ensemble for a Goth! I’m still dying over her dress and that over-skirt! Swoon worthy! Not only is she cute as a button from the eyes of one of those other-worldly Coraline characters but she has the technical skills to talk the talk and walk the walk!

What was the Goth Gardener to do with one Gothy Easter basket prize and two amazing posts?!?

Fortunately for me, this semester I now have a goth girl student advisee whom I pretty much want to adopt! I sent her an email explaining my dilemma of needing a judge. She came to the goth-rescue by reading the blog posts.

And the winner is….

Madame Mari Mortem, my dear, you had us at that amazing dress but adding a haiku! You completely spoke to the little black hearts of this English professor and her English major student!  The awesome haiku, that even my fella copied down for himself, reads:

Pastel gloom be gone

Hallowe'en we miss you so

At least it's raining.

And you know what? It did rain today! And, there are only 197 days until Halloween! 

Madame Mari Mortem, please send your address to me at: gothgardening@gmail.com

But, everyone is winner in my garden so Jade will be receiving a little something too!

Thank you both for participating!

Now that we have another holiday behind us, today we celebrate

National Bat Appreciation Day! ^o^