Outside our home and inside our home!

While the outside looked like this...


indoors the cat boys were accessorizing!

Augustus
Ollie



I really did not know what to think of this and so I grabbed a book that was laying around and read this paragraph to the cat boys.

"The incomparable Friend saith: The path to freedom hath been outstretched; hasten ye thereunto. The wellspring of wisdom is overflowing; quaff ye therefrom. Say: O well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Verily I say, whatsoever leadeth to the decline of ignorance and the increase of knowledge hath been, and will ever remain, approved in the sight of the Lord of creation. Say: O people! Walk ye neath the shadow of justice and truthfulness and seek ye shelter within the tabernacle of unity." Tabernacle of Unity

The dudes filled their paws with kisses and blew them in the air...Tomorrow is February 1st!

Ciao!

Harmony, love and mutual trust...

At yesterday's outing Ollie was filled with admiration for his long-legged brother.

Gus was showing him how to jump up on a narrow patio wall...
Aim...

Scale...

Balance...

Look
Ollie showed his athleticism by squeezing through the rails, which is actually not easy, requires courage and suppleness.
To this act Augustus smiled with approval. He thought it was cute.
When Ollie squeezed back out I asked him if he would be the one to make kisses for delivery.
He obliged immediately, jumped on the ground and started filling his big paws with kisses to blow away for you!
Later at night, two tired cats, decided to read, so they assumed the posture of reading and reflecting and

read the following:

"The Lord of all mankind hath fashioned this human realm to be a Garden of Eden, an earthly paradise. If, as it must, it findeth the way to harmony and peace, to love and mutual trust, it will become a true abode of bliss, a place of manifold blessings and unending delights. Therein shall be revealed the excellence of humankind, therein shall the rays of the Sun of Truth shine forth on every hand.

Remember how Adam and the others once dwelt together in Eden. No sooner, however, did a quarrel break out between Adam and Satan than they were, one and all, banished from the Garden, and this was meant as a warning to the human race, a means of telling humankind that dissension -- even with the Devil -- is the way to bitter loss. This is why, in our illumined age, God teacheth that conflicts and disputes are not allowable, not even with Satan himself." Selections AbdulBaha

Well, it was a pleasant evening and cat boys went to bed with feelings of love for you, and they already sent the necessary kisses too!

Ciao everyone!

while they were sleeping I read to them

Sometimes we all too tired, tired from playing, from working, running, watching, sniffing. When I found the cat dudes like this rather early last night I knew that their days were full and that they could not read.


I decided to read to them anyhow so these words would enter their subconscious minds.

"Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility..." Gleanings

Right before they fell asleep the tired boys filled their paws with kisses and blew them in the air for your new week!

Ciao everyone!

Their sugar-shedding lips...

No two cats are more ready to send kisses on command than Ollie and Augustus

When I said "Ollie, send a kiss for Friday and the weekend", he went like this,

and Augustus tilted his head towards the air and went like this:

Thinking of their little cat lips and sugary kisses I remembered an old favorite:

O MY BROTHER!

Hearken to the delightsome words of My honeyed tongue, and quaff the stream of mystic holiness from My sugar-shedding lips. Sow the seeds of My divine wisdom in the pure soil of thy heart, and water them with the water of certitude, that the hyacinths of My knowledge and wisdom may spring up fresh and green in the sacred city of thy heart.

Cat boys send warm hugs and pawfuls of kisses from the bottom of their pure hearts!

Ciao

Waking up from their siesta....

"Where are my little kitties?", that's how I call for them when I return home. "Where are they?", I want to know.
Silently, and out of nowhere, Augustus appears, his fur a bit ruffled from his siesta. He gives me the hello look.
Up the stairs, the 3rd-floor resident, fluffy and golden, looks down at me.
Ooohhh- someone needs to wake up.
Ollie!
We appear outdoors immediately,
and scope the surroundings.
Stretch...look....
Augustus seats himself in his plant to listen to the birds.
Yawn, waking up!
Naughtiness commences...cat boys make faces at each other and stick their tongues out. I think my work is done.

I did not read with them on this particular afternoon sensing that they were not about to get into the learning mode. Instead I myself read this:

"...It is in the context of raising the level of human capacity through the expansion of knowledge at all levels that the economic issues facing humankind need to be addressed. As the experience of recent decades has demonstrated, material benefits and endeavors cannot be regarded as ends in themselves. Their value consists not only in providing for humanity's basic needs in housing, food, health care, and the like, but in extending the reach of human abilities. The most important role that economic efforts must play in development lies, therefore, in equipping people and institutions with the means through which they can achieve the real purpose of development: that is, laying foundations for a new social order that can cultivate the limitless potentialities latent in human consciousness.

The challenge to economic thinking is to accept unambiguously this purpose of development -- and its own role in fostering creation of the means to achieve it. Only in this way can economics and the related sciences free themselves from the undertow of the materialistic preoccupations that now distract them, and fulfill their potential as tools vital to achieving human well-being in the full sense of the term. Nowhere is the need for a rigorous dialogue between the work of science and the insights of religion more apparent." (Prosperity of Humankind)

Although they did not participate in the reading still the cat boys made big afternoon kisses, filled their paws with them, and blew them in the air for you. They send you their love and greetings.

Cheers!

Just so you know...

the cat boys do not forget their friends, nor do they stop missing their Sylvester who is far far away. They wanted to send extra special kisses for everyone.

For this reason dudes took me out early this morning and asked me to snap a few shots of them here and there.
I was fascinated by the tree branches, which looked like an abstract painting against the canvas of the early morning sky- actually, I was trying to see what patterns I could come up with but cat boys were impatient.


Augustus on the patio wall, standing tall and practicing yoga poses to prepare for his reading.

Ollie was preparing for the reflection time by sniffing grass and gazing in the near field.


We read:

"The journeys in the path of Love have been counted as four: From the creatures to the True One. From the True One to the creatures. From the creatures to the creatures. From the True to the True One.

Consider how you are the first in relation to your son, and the last in relation to your father; how, outwardly, you bear evidence of the inward mysteries which, as a divine gift, are deposited within you. Consequently, being the first, the last, the manifest, the hidden, becomes true of you in the sense (of the four classes of worlds), so that in these four grades bestowed upon you, you may comprehend the grades of the Divine, and that the nightingale of the heart may call out on all the branches of the rose garden of Existence, both invisible an visible, in this melody: "Verily, He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden!"

These sayings are mentioned in connection with the grades of the "worlds of relation"; otherwise, these men who have with one step traverse the worlds of relation and dependence, have taken their seat on the blissful carpet of abstraction, and pitched their tents in the world of independence and command, have consumed all these relations with a single flame, and obliterated all these words with a mere moisture. They swim in the sea of spirit, and roam in the sacred atmosphere of light. How then can words have any identity in this stage, so that any grades of the "First" or the "Last," or any other besides these, be distinguished? In this stage the "First" is identical with the "Last," and the "Last is the same as the "First."" (Seven Valleys and Four Valleys)

Refreshed and content, the cat boys filled their paws with juicy cat kisses and blew them in the air with best wishes for your new week.

Hasta Pronto chicas and chicos!

Rolling into the weekend, already the second week in 2011

Dear Friends, This is Ollie last night, belly full of tuna, he lays on the ground and thinks of good things!

The night was short and a warm January morning had the cat boys all excited. I took the dudes to the so-called back yard, the little feline romping field, Ollie hops around in the moist, cool grass and plays pretend games.
Gussy wonders what his brother is up to.
Soon they engage in a little game wherein I naturally participate.
"Who is behind that wall?", Ollie wants to know.
"Who is behind this wall?", Augustus wants to know.
Ha ha...I caught the little Gusser peeking...
and here is Ollie, paw in mid-air!
Later, Augustus goes on to do his rounds and I have the Ginger cat with me, place him on a high ledge that we have just installed. If I am going to read to Ollie, I better put him on a high ledge.
We read an old favorite of Augustus',

"Meditate on what the poet hath written: "Wonder not, if my Best-Beloved be closer to me than mine own self; wonder at this, that I, despite such nearness, should still be so far from Him."... Considering what God hath revealed, that "We are closer to man than his life-vein," the poet hath, in allusion to this verse, stated that, though the revelation of my Best-Beloved hath so permeated my being that He is closer to me than my life-vein, yet, notwithstanding my certitude of its reality and my recognition of my station, I am still so far removed from Him. By this he meaneth that his heart, which is the seat of the All-Merciful and the throne wherein abideth the splendor of His revelation, is forgetful of its Creator, hath strayed from His path, hath shut out itself from His glory, and is stained with the defilement of earthly desires.

It should be remembered in this connection that the one true God is in Himself exalted beyond and above proximity and remoteness. His reality transcendeth such limitations. His relationship to His creatures knoweth no degrees. That some are near and others are far is to be ascribed to the manifestations themselves.

That the heart is the throne, in which the Revelation of God the All-Merciful is centered, is attested by the holy utterances which We have formerly revealed.

Among them is this saying: "Earth and heaven cannot contain Me; what can alone contain Me is the heart of him that believeth in Me, and is faithful to My Cause." How often hath the human heart, which is the recipient of the light of God and the seat of the revelation of the All-Merciful, erred from Him Who is the Source of that light and the Well Spring of that revelation. It is the waywardness of the heart that removeth it far from God, and condemneth it to remoteness from Him. Those hearts, however, that are aware of His Presence, are close to Him, and are to be regarded as having drawn nigh unto His throne.

Consider, moreover, how frequently doth man become forgetful of his own self, whilst God remaineth, through His all-encompassing knowledge, aware of His creature, and continueth to shed upon him the manifest radiance of His glory. It is evident, therefore, that, in such circumstances, He is closer to him than his own self. He will, indeed, so remain for ever, for, whereas the one true God knoweth all things, perceiveth all things, and comprehendeth all things, mortal man is prone to err, and is ignorant of the mysteries that lie enfolded within him...." (Gleanings)

which he thoroughly enjoyed, and then he assumed the posture of reflection to let me know that he was trying to meditate upon that reading.

When I was leaving for work Ollie made his pawful of kisses and meowed you a happy Friday. Gustopher did the same later when I picked him up from his morning rounds.
Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Ciao!

Performing Arts...

Somedays our dudes talk and other days they prefer to express themselves with facial gestures. Here's Ollie winking at me, I am wondering what is he trying to tell me.

Now, I think he is pissed off that I did not understand him!
Now, he is making the sheepish face, I think he is telling me that he is a bunny!?!?

Augustus said that he could do better. He can stick out his tongue,
blow up his cheeks,
and make a crooked smile!
Well, I am so proud!

After much silliness we reflected on the following:

"Take heed lest excessive reading and too many acts of piety in the daytime and the night season make you vainglorious. Should a person but recite a single verse from the Holy Writings in a spirit of joy and radiance, this would be better for him that reciting wearily all the Scriptures of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Recite ye the verses of God in such measure that ye not be overtaken with fatigue or boredom. Burden not your souls as to cause exhaustion and weigh them down, but, rather endeavour to lighten them, that they may soar on the wings of revealed Verses unto the dawning place of His signs. This is conducive to nearer access unto God, were ye to comprehend."

That's all we needed to read...cat boys joyously dropped all reading, filled their paws with kisses and started blowing them in the air while prancing about. Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday!

Ciao!