A hot july weekend...

A tired Augustus,
I meant to say a really tired Augustus
and a really tired Ollie taking a break from their shenanigans!
Augustus with Roman nose- he was scratched in a cat encounter and developed a bump on his nose! A trip to emergency clinic and an antibiotic injection and he seems much happier as you can see from his smile!
Sprinkled throughout the weekend were random encounters with the squirrels who have taken to dancing in front of the cat boys!

It must be the heat or the sunflower seeds that I sprinkle for them!

Sometimes two cat boys work together.
Other times Augustus chases one squirrel
up a tree while Ollie cheers on.
Then Ollie takes over the chase
and Augustus does the cheering.
In between, when no squirrels are around, August and Ollie just practice together.
I suppose there was more running around than reading and reflecting and that was fine for the weekend.

Early this morning there was promise of more heat for us all and an opportunity to read together, even for a brief moment.
As we walked down the street we were pleased to see the hummingbird far far away.

We took a moment
to reflect.

"Man possesses two kinds of susceptibilities: the natural emotions, which are like dust upon the mirror, and spiritual susceptibilities, which are merciful and heavenly characteristics.
There is a power which purifies the mirror from dust and transforms its reflection into intense brilliancy and radiance so that spiritual susceptibilities may chasten the hearts and heavenly bestowals sanctify them. What is the dust which obscures the mirror? It is attachment to the world, avarice, envy, love of luxury and comfort, haughtiness and self-desire; this is the dust which prevents reflection of the rays of the Sun of Reality in the mirror. The natural emotions are blameworthy and are like rust which deprives the heart of the bounties of God. But sincerity, justice, humility, severance, and love for the believers of God will purify the mirror and make it radiant with reflected rays from the Sun of Truth." (Promulgation of Universal Peace)

Augustus and Ollie made pawfuls of kisses with their best wishes and blew them in the air for all. Ciao everyone!

A few silent moments...

Under this sunday morning sky
were standing Sylvester and MrSweetPants, I imagine they were enjoying the silence, the heat, the Sunday. For those who might not know, MrSweetPants is Augustus the cat.
The downward glance directed toward MrSweetPants told me that something was about to happen, we cannot have silence for too long. (I do understand of course because MrSweetPants is so irresistable.)
A little peck
turned into a love bite
and a fussy meow from fussy gussy.
Oh, what a babe!
Meanwhile in the urban thicket
was resting this lion, silently roaring in his forest of detachment.
He could bear no more and had to come see for himself.
I had to come up with something, a reading, a dance, a song, a story, these inquisitive minds were asking...and so I found in the Rumi book this:

The Lion who Hunted with the Wolf and the Fox.
A lion took a wolf and a fox with him on a hunting excursion, and succeeded in catching a wild ox, an ibex, and a hare. He then directed the wolf to divide the prey. The wolf proposed to award the ox to the lion, the ibex to himself, and the hare to the fox. The lion was enraged with the wolf because he had presumed to talk of "I" and "Thou," and "My share" and "Thy share" when it all belonged of right to the lion, and he slew the wolf with one blow of his paw. Then, turning to the fox, he ordered him to make the division. The fox, rendered wary by the fate of the wolf, replied that the whole should be the portion of the lion. The lion, pleased with his self-abnegation, gave it all up to him, saying, "Thou art no longer a fox, but myself."

Till man destroys "self" he is no true friend of God. (Rumi)

Content, the cat boys listened, purred, and prepared pawfuls of kisses that were blown in the air for those in need of kisses.

Wishing all a happy last week of June, Ciao!

Fresh Eyes

To Augustus

and Ollie
every hummingbird sighted is the first they ever saw. They are mesmerized.

Sweet Pants (Gus) and Puffy Pants (Ollie) hummed to this before sending humming kisses.

Ciao!

I asked

el senor Puffy Pantalones to say hi
and so he did.
Here is El Senor Puffy Pantalones who prefers to be outdoors, so terrible to have to come in for 2 seconds.
I gave him 99 kisses to make up for his efforts.
El Senor Dulce Pantalones was exploring a balcony. Up,
up,
and hello.
We sat together briefly for a chat and a reflection...

"O BEFRIENDED STRANGER!

The candle of thine heart is lighted by the hand of My power, quench it not with the contrary winds of self and passion. The healer of all thine ills is remembrance of Me, forget it not. Make My love thy treasure and cherish it even as thy very sight and life."

(Hidden Words)

Utterly relaxed though they were, los dos senores still did not hesitate to send out summery kisses.

Enjoy, enjoy!

Perfumed Silence

is the thought that came to our minds, the three of us, as we relaxed in each other's presence.
Augustus obliged, and hung around for a while, sending a look this way and one the other.
Ollie had found the right spot in the humble disorderly grass of our disorderly backyard.
Ahh, look at that glance! I felt the strong urge to give him 199 kisses but did not want to disturb his peace.
Since his grand words in the last blog post I thought that perhaps I should call him Confucius. I will be thinking about that.
Just to test him and to make sure that this outpouring of genius was not accidental I decided to ask his opinion on another profound topic- that of powe

I told him that I knew what the contemporary understanding of power was- it is a zero sum game in which the power of one side is derived at the expense of another.

I wanted to know what was his spiritual understanding of power.

He was startled yet prepared!
He said that power was a force that was infused into a relationship or emerges therefrom once there was harmony within, such as the power of love.

Then he quoted an eastern spiritual teacher on this topic:

"In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love for when the heart of man in aglow with the flame of love, he is ready to sacrifice all-even his life." (Abdul-Baha in Promulgation of Universal Peace?)

I felt quite amazed but I had to conceal my emotions of pride and love, just making sure it does not go to his head.

You may think from all the Ollie photos that I am biased towards him, over Augustu

I assure you that that is not the case. On this particular morning Augustus was flying left and right and I could not take any more pictures or chat with him longer!!!

The two cat boys eventually gathered for kiss-blowing, paws were filled juicy kisses and sprinkled on top with best wishes, and they blew them out for their friend

Wishing you a lovely Wednesday!

Ciao!

When June gloom burns off

there is clarity. We look up at the blue skies, what a change from the dreary morning...clarity.
I noticed that Augustus wanted to sit and chat, he was in that sort of a mood.
Then I saw Ollie, and detected that he was in a similar mood, reflecting, meditative. Not know quite what to discuss I ask Ollie what he thought we should be striving for, a difficult question for a normal cat.
He scratched his head before talking, and I was sure that he would say something related to expanding the farming of tuna and salmon, or installation of more bird feeders in the yard.

Ollie came up with this list of things we three should be striving for:

"the worthy service of unifying mankind","investigating reality and promulgating international peace", "progress and development of humanity", "spreading and proclaiming true education", "expression of love towards your fellow creatures", "the removal of prejudice", "blend together human hearts and give light to the human world"

... (Promulgation of Universal Peace 334)

"Whoa", I said.

I could not contain my amazement but Gussy who trusts the inner abilities of his puffy-pant-wearing brother did not flinch. He was just enjoying hearing these thoughts.

He assumed his usual reflection posture,
and then started making kisses for everyone. This is what he could do today.
They sent off kisses and their best wishes for a lovely week for all of their friends. Enjoy!

Ciao everyone.

June 10th 2011

Today is commencement ceremonies at Caltech. I am in my office. The day is unseasonably cool and gloomy, to me that is. Earlier this morning, 5:30 or so, it was equally overcast but cat boys like overcast skies with cool temperatures. It stimulates them, and that is all fine; however, it makes it difficult to get them to sit and listen.

I wanted to tell them more about the talk...creativity, practice, all that good stuff.

Ollie was trying to hide himself, he is always sure that we cannot see him.
Gussy was wondering how a furry ginger cat could camouflage himself in a green setting.
"Nope, I can still see you", he meowed to Ollie.
Ollie decided to give in. Next time perhaps he will try to camouflage amongst orange leaves.
Augustus preparing to listen.
Augustus listening intently.

"..God has given man the eye of investigation by which he may see and recognize truth. He has endowed man with ears that he may hear the message of reality and conferred upon him the gift of reason by which he may discover things for himself. This is his endowment and equipment for the investigation of reality. Man is not intended to see through the eyes of another, hear through another's ears nor comprehend with another's brain. Each human creature has individual endowment, power and responsibility in the creative plan of God; therefore depend on your own investigation..." Promulgation of Universal Peace, 292

My teacher friend firmly believes that each of her students is capable of creatively expressing themselves, and each has that endowment, which allows them to do so.

The cat boys agreed wholeheartedly, theirs is always an authentic investigation, never through the eyes of another. I asked for kisses and kisses they prepared and blew in the air wishing all a grand weekend.

Ciao everyone