Clay therapy

One sculpture in honor of my dearly departed cat, Panther...with a symbol of change in a dragonfly perched on her head.

A touch of black glaze as a stain on the finished piece.  I showed it to a neighbor, and she said, what does it do? I said it just sits there, and I look at it.

I do like being given that loving look of her big eyes, and her little black nose.  This is to remind me of her presence, which has now become more ethereal.  I do still hear things and attribute them to her.

I'm reminded of my dream before the first 2 deaths I experienced of loved ones this year...that they are just in the next room.  I'm filled with the knowledge that death is not a total separation.  For those who believe in a heaven, I think you might have this same sense of satisfaction when you miss your dearly departed.

June's over now

Goodbye to sweet Panther, my last cat.  I'm too old, too emotional to do this again. I shared about her extensively HERE

And life kept giving me surprises, like an amaryllis that bloomed this month. I read an interesting blog post about similar plants Here.

The first of these pod-boxes sold this month and are trucking across country to their new owner right now!

And Sepia Saturday gives us this as a prompt photo...

I can't think of any old photos of a marching brass band, though I'm sure Michael will have a great story about one.  I was delighted by another blogger's post (not sepia at all) which included a band HERE, (shared with her permission.)

So my most sepia contribution is that I read blogs, and sometimes comment upon them.  And read others' comments also!  They give information and opinions which are usually delightful.

Quote for today:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." -Ansel Adams

Necessary and uncomfortable

"Mom, you're going to be sorry you did this!"

After moaning, meowing, clawing and using every bit of my strength, she wrestled me into the jail box.

"There's a good reason," said Mom.  "We're going to the Kitty Doctor to have that bump looked at, the one on your chin.  I know it hasn't changed much in the last year, but I want the Doc to look at it.  And I want your claws clipped.  I won't tell you that it's also time for your rabies shot."

"Now how did she manage to get that thing to open?"

"If only I had opposable thumbs!"

"She'll be sorry, I won't forget this easily!"

And so we went to find that the cyst probably should be removed.  More will be disclosed soon.

For now Panther has been happy to find her claws no longer stick to everything.  And she didn't really feel cuddly after that trauma of getting into the box.  The vet had no difficulty getting her in the box to go home (well, she had more tricks to use) and Panther would even go to her...not to me, no way, no how.

Today's quote:

“Those who cling to views and perceptions wander the world offending each other.” ~Buddha

Panther protection

Time for Ms. Panther to prove she is the protector of the house!

My fellow blogger has written about her kittehs. Vicki Lane is a published author and teaches people how to write, so of course she can speak for her 2 kittehs. (HERE)




Panther had to show she's protecting the house...

I'll catch whatever is in that bag, Mom!

That bag is new, and it must have something very threatening inside it!

Pounce, then look under and inside...there must be something there!

I'll go hide for a minute, and then I can catch it for sure!

A new threat to the house...I'll play with my toy mouse later, thank you very much!

Note to reader, the ignored mouse is behind her under the table to left of pic.

Quote for today:

Retire to the center of your being, which is calmness.

Paramahansa Yogananda

When "Nature" is on

At our house, Wednesday night is our favorite program "Nature" on PBS on TV. (I posted this in error earlier, in case you're having deja vu!)

And Panther loves watching it!  For this show, The Origin of Cats, she was especially interested in the tiger!

I try putting a chair with a cushion in it in front and to the side of the TV (so I can watch it also.  But she prefers this neck crunching pose for some strange cat reason!

And I found there's no way to get an iPhone camera to focus on the light of TV and the cat at the same time.  Oh well.

Today's quote:

Strive to be uncynical, to be a hope-giving force, to be a steward of substance.

Maria Popova

My Mother's Day thoughts

Mother's Day is this Sunday.

I think I'll talk about mothering.  It's so different than fathering.  Yes, that sounds sexist, but I know of no men who give birth or nurse the babies.  So from day one, a mother has given life itself.  Then she comes up with this mysterious milk right out of her body also, to keep that life going for months...with regular demands for it.

By the time a child has begun to walk, talk and feed itself, a father can pretty well do everything a mother can do for it.  Though few do.

I loved how my children were waist high, then shoulder high, and then all surpassed me as adolescents.  These young men then knew more than I did, and acted like it.  They finished schooling, married really great women, and now I have 6 grandchildren.

Giving birth is not easy! There's seldom a remembrance of how hard that task actually was. 

As my grandchildren arrived, I found out I was not the mother who my son's honored on Mother's Day anymore.  The wives who had given birth to their children were the mothers in my sons' lives from then on.

It's as it has ever been.

I honor all who give birth to creativity and sustaining life...not just those who have a baby.

The mothers of invention need to be recognized, and we also need to acknowledge many mothers have babies who may not have been completely nurturing.  Honoring life and creativity is what it's all about.

My current "baby" lying next to the mask I made of Muffin many years ago, and the box under it with her ashes.  Besides them is another form of life (green) in a beautiful pot by my friend, Cathy Babula.

Unexpected utility problems

There was to be work on the water lines, so we had no access to the laundry room, and were to expect no water from 10:00 - 12:00 today.

But when I woke around 6 with a sense that something was different, I found out another utility problem.  The heat wasn't working, and even the little numbers on the alarm were black.  Yep, a power outage.

I called the Duke Power people, (all recordings of course) and said (without saying a word, cause they have my phone number and address) that the power was off.  I also signed up for text messages as to when it was being worked on as well as when it came back on.  That seemed silly, but then I realized some people still go to work and aren't home when the power is turned back on.

I rolled over and slept till 7:30 or so.  It wasn't really that cold, but the cat insisted on snuggling at my side when she usually is happy up on top of my head on the pillow.  I fed her, and slipped into my  bundled-up gear.

At 8 am I was on the way to the car, and hopefully someplace that had breakfast, as well as heat.  I met the maintenance man on the walk, as he was just arriving for work and finding the office had no power, nor the buildings like mine.  Two other large buildings did have power.  I gave him info that the Duke people had said it had been out since 4:30 am, and was due to be fixed by 11:00.

Then I drove to find a breakfast place.  My first 2 choices were closed still at 8 am.  What?  Don't people eat breakfast at breakfast time in this town?  So Denny's was the best choice.  And they had free wi-fi.  Excellent.

I got a booth and started updating people by emails and facebook.  And when I got done eating I watched some Netflix on my iPad.  Unfortunately it didn't automatically connect to the wi-fi signal, and I didn't think to check that for about an hour.  Oops, used some of our data plan there!

By then it was getting close to 11, so I headed on home.  Ah, the electric company trucks were all over the parking lot...and yet my parking space was empty.  AND right next to the transformer box which was being replaced.  So I parked carefully, watching the old equipment being lifted by the power truck's crane, and not making any limbs come off the tree above us both and land on my car.  And of course I had my camera out.  Apparently the problem was being fixed right at the end of my building.  Once the new transformer box was in place, it took another hour and a half before power was restored.

I did feel for the 4 people (sex undeterminate in the bundled clothes) working in 12 degrees. I know they were cold.  I stopped by the office to say hi to the staff, and to let them know Duke had changed their time of completion to 1:00 pm.

I went on home, and sat on my bed where the sunshine comes directly in and warms it a bit.  I admit to putting my coat across my legs.

Panther found a drawer open and promptly decided it was a warm cozy spot.  I decided I didn't want her making biscuits with her claws in my scarves, and got her back into a sunshine spot and closed the drawer!

The other good news is that I'm feeling so good I even climbed a flight of stairs.  (I was sure out of breath for a while at the top...but I accomplished it...straight up those 24 little guys!)