Hoopoo?

We were out early this morning, doing the usual walk,

first on one side of the complex, little Augustus on the wall already,
and baby Ollie doing his yoga stretch,

and then onto the street for a stroll where we were drawn toward loud screechy noises...

We saw several hawks, one of which was giving the "I want you glance" to the cat boys!
No worries, I was there to defend the boys as they stared back at the hawk.

After some staring and examining the situation we returned back to the condo courtyard. I asked the catboys if they recognized the bird.

August said that it was a hoopoo! "A hoopoe?", I asked.

Ollie was clueless but crossed his paws and went along with Gussie, "Hoopoo", he said.
I realized that Gussie had been reading mystic literature. You know, in Attar's Conference of the Birds, a hoopoe leads 30 birds in the journey to spiritual enlightenment. Each bird of course finds an excuse for not being able to complete the journey.

"Magnificent!", I thought to myself. The cat boys are always in the learning mode!
I took advantage of this opportunity and read to them a short passage about spiritual journeys, this time from The Seven Valleys, which is a favorite of Augustus!

"And further: The stages that mark the wayfarer’s journey from the abode of dust to the heavenly homeland are said to be seven. Some have called these Seven Valleys, and others, Seven Cities. And they say that until the wayfarer taketh leave of self, and traverseth these stages, he shall never reach to the ocean of nearness and union, nor drink of the peerless wine. The first is
The Valley of Search
The steed of this Valley is patience; without patience the wayfarer on this journey will reach nowhere and attain no goal. Nor should he ever be downhearted; if he strive for a hundred thousand years and yet fail to behold the beauty of the Friend, he should not falter. ...And if, by the help of God, he findeth on this journey a trace of the traceless Friend, and inhaleth the fragrance of the long-lost Joseph from the heavenly messenger, he shall straightway step into
The Valley of Love
and be dissolved in the fire of love. In this city the heaven of ecstasy is upraised and the world-illuming sun of yearning shineth, and the fire of love is ablaze; and when the fire of love is ablaze, it burneth to ashes the harvest of reason."

Back to the condo, I had to get ready for work.

Looking at my little dudes groom

and/or gradually drift into sleep

it occurred to me that I liked the feline approach of grooming after going out. It make sense to groom after going out because our hair gets messed up. Anyhow, I will have to think about this later.

Gussy and Ollie filled their paws with kisses and asked me to send them to you, wishes for a lovely day!

Ciao!

Summer in the City

is hot and humid...

Cat boys realize that it is not a good time to wear fur! But what can they do?


Better to go indoors...
to cool the belly!

Maybe the patio is cool....

and maybe not so cool!



Exhausted with heat kitty boys hummed this tune!


Stay cool and grab those kitty kisses that the hot and tired boys sent your way! Have a lovely weekend!

Ciao!

Afternoon rompings...

When we get out into the courtyard, early in the summer evening hours, Ollie first wanders around,
finds the right spot to roll in the dirt,
relax,
look,
and finally he finds a lovely distraction!

Nearby under this tree with very big leaves
resting in the shade of a potted Rafus palm, Gussie watches his naughty brother,
and smiles!

These boys of ours!!!

"...the body is like a horse which carries the personality and spirit, and as such should be well cared for so it can do its work! You should certainly safeguard your nerves, and force yourself to take time, and not only for prayer and meditation, but for real rest and relaxation...." (letter Shoghi Effendi)

Cat boys wish you rest and relaxation and send you pawfuls of nutritive kisses!

Ciao!

Not quite sure what to make of this...

however, I do believe that when three dudes spend two weeks together in a bachelor pad, they may do something like this....

A lot of relaxation is happening there, don't you agree?

In the early evening hours, dudes and I went to our backyard meeting place to shoot the breeze.
Augustus was in a reflective mood


while Ollie was busy investigating!
I told Augustus that sometimes it feels that the days are frozen and everyday is a repeat of the previous one. He gave me the look that said you ought to know better.

He asked me to think about this: "The radioactive phosphorus content of the cerebrum of the rat decreases to one-half in a period of two weeks." What did that mean to me?

I knew what the sly kitty was up to- it meant that the phosphorus in his brain and mine were not the same as it was two weeks ago, before my trip. My brain and his were renewed during this short time, and yet, as my atoms were being replaced they passed along critical information so that we, he and I, still remember how we interacted before and yet we were renewed.

He assured me that one day would not be the same as the other no matter how much they appeared to be so! That blew Ollie's mind away..."What?!!", he meowed silently!

Since Gussie had such profound thoughts I also asked him to select our daily read which was:

"The test of existence is motion. An object which has in itself the power of motion lives. If motion is withheld growth ceases. That is mortality.

There are different degrees of motion. There is a motion of transit, that is from place to place. For example, the revolution of the earth around the sun; a bird flies from branch to branch. Another kind is the motion of inherent growth, like that of man from the condition of childhood to the estate of manhood, or the development of a tree from the seedling to its full fruition. The third is the motion of condition - the sick man passes from the stage of sickness to the state of health. The fourth motion is that of the spirit. For instance, the child while in the mother's womb has all the potential qualities of the spirit, but those qualities begin to unfold little by little as the child is born and grows and develops, finally manifesting all the attributes and qualities of the spirit. The fifth is the motion of the intellect whereby the ignorant become wise; the indifferent, alert; the dark, illuminated and the carnally-minded, spiritual. The sixth motion is that of the eternal essence. That is to say, all phenomena either step forth from the arena of non-existence into non-existence. Just as being in motion is the test of life, so being stationary is the test of death and when a moving object stops it retrogrades. To stop means to fall. ..

In other words, man must throughout all the degrees of life evolve and progress day unto day, for life is continuous. The manifestors of divine law have appeared so that they may confer upon man an ideal power which will enable him to advance along all the degrees of human attainment... " Divine Philosophy

Well, that about does it for this kitty mom...Gussy and Ollie filled their paws with kisses and blew them in air! May some of those kisses land on your faces!

Ciao!

Admissions are in order...

Yes...kitty mom was away, and double yes, she missed everyone, the furry ones and the not so furry ones, the ones near and those across and over the cyberworld. I had to say this so you would all know the big special places you occupy in our worlds...a sweeter place indeed because of you!

Two weeks that went in a blur were dedicated most entirely to family whom I missed greatly, and so, I listened, reflected, tried to become part of their lives, live in their circumstances, ... and all of this required that I be removed from nearly everything related to me. I did check email to dump the box fearing that a cyber monster would gobble up everything but not much aside from that.

New pictures will come soon but for now I only share two from right before I left:

Our little kitty boy Augustus will be celebrating his third birthday soon (we named him Augustus because he came to us in August)

and our little gingersnap Ollie who came to us 6 months later appears to be roughly the same age...

So many thoughts have surrounded me I have to process or ignore but the one I settled on this morning is:

O SON OF DUST!
All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of My beauty and glory; yet thou didst give My home and dwelling to another than Me; and whenever the manifestation of My holiness sought His own abode, a stranger found He there, and, homeless, hastened unto the sanctuary of the Beloved. Notwithstanding I have concealed thy secret..

The last two weeks I gave my heart to none other but those whom I loved...furry ones and not so furry ones!

Kitty boys send their love along with pawfuls of kisses for a lovely week!

Ciao!

Stepping Out of Awareness....

The end of a busy and full weekend, Ollie perched on the neighbor's patio wall

while Gustopher Jones (Augustus) and I headed for the privacy of the back yard

both looking in the direction of the setting sun

both enjoying the soft light, the soft air, the soft solitude!

We continue to have visitors, coming and going, and some of those who left for business, aka Sylvester or kitty daddy, left a big hole in the kitties hearts...very much missed. Gussy meowed for a good 20 minutes from 3:40 a.m. to 4! Ollie did not know what to make of it!

They chose to reflect:




Stepping Out of Awareness
When I step out,
the world assembles itself around me
like my awareness of being who I am,
like my belief in the Divine. (Modern Prayer from Stockholm)

Kitty babes filled their paws with kisses and wishes everyone a happy week...

Ciao!

In good humor

or simply overdosed on tuna,

Ollie has a glazed look in his hazel eyes!

This one though is enjoying what he read earlier during the day (passage shown below).

"The greatest gift of man is universal love - that magnet which renders existence eternal. It attracts realities and diffuses life with infinite joy. If this love penetrate the heart of man, all the forces of the universe will be realized in him, for it is a divine power which transports him to a divine station and he will make no progress until he is illumined thereby. Strive to increase the love-power of reality, to make your hearts greater centers of attraction and to create new ideals and relationships.

First of all, be ready to sacrifice your lives for one another, to prefer the general well-being to your personal well-being. Create relationships that nothing can shake; form an assembly that nothing can break up; have a mind that never ceases acquiring riches that nothing can destroy. If love did not exist, what of reality would remain? … Strengthen this superior force through which is attained all the progress in the world." (BWF)

These pix are actually from two days ago...I thought to post them as my mind wonders between what I have to accomplish today in the lab and the fact that Ollie boy is still outside, probably playing, maybe dozing! Beautiful days in Southern California are very tough on kitty parents who have rascalous cats...Well, August has the right idea...surround yourselves with love and beauty....kitty kisses and love nibbles for all!

Ciao!