Happy Valentine's Day dear friends...

Two cat boys seated like this in our courtyard could mean a couple of things. One is that they want to sing for me in unison. Delightful as that would have been it was not the case.
Second, it would have to be the berry rain that falls down when the Pasadena parrots fly our skies. It mesmerizes the cat boys. We hear these birds nearly every day, and we love them. They seem to need to exercise their beaks by breaking off little branches, and so wherever they gather it rains little berries and branches.
Sweet Pants Augustus went out to figure out why it sounded like rain but without the droplets. He went out to investigate
and found a street covered with berries and branches.
Standing there immersed in the ocean of sounds and colors
was a powerful experience!
It was musical. It was magical.
Later that night I went to see Augustus to read
and reflect...
We had nothing particular in mind, just feeling calm, perhaps in awe...remembering...

"I knew not what amazement was
Until I made Thy love my cause.
O how amazing would it be
If I were not amazed by Thee!" (Divan Ibn Farid, mystic poet)

Then I went to the next level to get Ollie. This scene told me that I was too late.
Mr Puffy Pants was plumb exhausted.
The cat boys sent you their best wishes for a happy valentine's day in addition to all the kisses that they could make.

Ciao everyone!

His reflection in the window glass

suggested that I may find two relaxed cats in the second floor loft.
And sure enough, I found Augustus on one chair
and Ollie on the other, beautiful eyes barely open but ears wide awake, always!
They made the noise that told me to read to them part 2 of yesterday's reading.
Ollie assumed the posture of deep reflection.
We read:

"O My servants! Could ye apprehend with what wonders of My munificence and bounty I have willed to entrust your souls, ye would, of a truth, rid yourselves of attachment to all created things, and would gain a true knowledge of your own selves—a knowledge which is the same as the comprehension of Mine own Being. Ye would find yourselves independent of all else but Me, and would perceive, with your inner and outer eye, and as manifest as the revelation of My effulgent Name, the seas of My loving-kindness and bounty moving within you. ... Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing on its sullied wings, that bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now forced to seek a dwelling-place upon the dust. Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with the dust of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in the heavens of My divine knowledge."

The cat boys purred with sleepy satisfaction and indicated that kisses would be coming your way in the morning along with their best wishes for a delightful day!

Ciao everyone!

This is what I saw

when I stepped into the courtyard yesterday afternoon: Mr Sweet Pants in the pot
and Mr Puffy Pants, simultaneously puzzled and attentive!
I knew that this called for a reading to bring the two back into focus, and so I said, "how about we go and read". Mr Puffy Pants was pleased to be released from the state of puzzlement and sprang into a brisk kitty walk.
And he was almost immediately followed by Mr Sweet Pants.
We walked towards the back where My Puffy Pants started to test the ground, he has to roll around enough to find the proper posture for listening.
Mr Sweet Pants looked at me...I looked back and said that it was alright.
Mr Puffy Pants tried this way but decided that he could hear better if he
rolled this other way!
We read this lovely passage:

"O My servants! Could ye apprehend with what wonders of My munificence and bounty I have willed to entrust your souls, ye would, of a truth, rid yourselves of attachment to all created things, and would gain a true knowledge of your own selves—a knowledge which is the same as the comprehension of Mine own Being. Ye would find yourselves independent of all else but Me, and would perceive, with your inner and outer eye, and as manifest as the revelation of My effulgent Name, the seas of My loving-kindness and bounty moving within you." (Gleanings)

The two pleased cats then took off for other cat business.
Mr Sweet Pants looked around and indicated that they would be making kisses and blowing them in the air. I am so proud of these babes.
We wish everyone a lovely Tuesday.

Ciao!

This morning

I got up right at 5 a.m. to let the cat boys out, not one minute past 5. Yesterday the doodle cats had a dental cleaning appointment that took it out of them, and for that matter, out of us. To make up for that I waited on them hands and feet, actually, the way we always do.

When the sun peeked its head out to the level that I could snap a few photos, we walked out again, for round 2, 3, n??

Ollie the magnificent ginger cat sat by me while

I looked at the skies. I wondered about the jets and more so about the birds and squirrels who seem to roam the neighborhoods. One day they are all here and the next, they are not.
At some point, Ollie, Augustus and I found ourselves in the back of the complex.
Though seemingly unfocused, I knew that in actual fact they were focused, and so I read to them this passage that has been the object of my reflections during the last few days.

"Finally we come to the kingdom of man. ... In man we find the power of attraction among the elements which compose his material body, plus the attraction which produces cellular admixture or power augmentative, plus the attraction which characterizes the sensibilities of the animal kingdom, but still beyond and above all these lower powers we discover in the being of man the attraction of heart, the susceptibilities and affinities which bind men together, enabling them to live and associate in friendship and solidarity. It is therefore evident that in the world of humanity the greatest king and sovereign is love. If love were extinguished, the power of attraction dispelled, the affinity of human hearts destroyed, the phenomena of human life would disappear. "(Abdul Baha in Foundations of World Unity)

The cat boys were very pleased. Their hearts are filled with love to an incredible degree, and they wish that for all.

On the way back indoors (so I could get ready for work) I was amused by Augustus and his reflection.

Having tested the waters he had to jump across the lake.
Ollie big-paw, on the other hand, waded through
and made ripples form, ripples of ginger cat love.
We wish you all a weekend of love with pawfuls of kitty kisses! : )

Ciao!

The world that DEMANDed our attention would have to wait...

as this one morning the furry dudes and I decided to go out on our excursion. The green had started to paint its way in the spaces between the bare branches, in most places,
and not so in other places. This poor coral tree was butchered by our "skilled" gardeners two years ago, and forces a few leaves out each year!
One squirrel took note of our presence...he expected sunflower seeds raining from the skies magically!
Mr Puffy Pants and Mr Sweet Pants strolled almost paw in paw, savoring each others' feline proximity.
The magnificent beasts placed themselves royally in two different spots making observations, the way only big cats know how to do.
Sweet Pants stared right into my eyes, indicating that he was focused and ready for reading.
Mr Puffy Pants got up to find a favorable spot where he too would listen.

He assumed the posture of unencumbered reflection!

We reflected on this passage from The Promulgation of Universal Peace:

"From the fellowship and commingling of the elemental atoms life results. In their harmony and blending there is ever newness of existence. It is radiance, completeness; it is consummation; it is life itself. Just now the physical energies and natural forces, which come under our immediate observation are all at peace. The sun is at peace with the earth upon which it shines. The soft breathing winds are at peace with the trees. All the elements are in harmony and equilibrium. A slight disturbance and discord among them might bring another San Francisco earthquake and fire. A physical clash, a little quarreling among the elements, as it were, and a violent cataclysm of nature results. This happens in the mineral kingdom. Consider, then, the effect of discord and conflict in the kingdom of man, so superior to the realm of inanimate existence. How great the attendant catastrophe, especially when we realize that man is endowed by God with mind and intellect."

We meditated in silence.
Ollie was especially touched. Later when he came to, he made lots of kisses and blew them in the air for you.

Ciao everyone!

Gentle kindness...

This is the scene from yesterday when I was leaving work, sort of exhausted, relieved, wondering. Thankful for this sight that made me think of kindness...sometimes kindness is in the beauty of friends, or what surrounds us, maybe words, maybe in silence.




Surrounded by their gentle kindness of the naughty sort we reflected upon this:

"O maid-servant of God! The mystery of sacrifice is that man should sacrifice all his conditions for the divine station of God. The station of God is mercy, kindness, forgiveness, sacrifice, favor, grace and giving life to the spirits and lighting the fire of His love in the hearts and arteries. I asked God to make thee a sign of mercy, the banner of kindness among His maid-servants." AbdulBaha, Spiritual Teacher

Cat boys made kisses for your weekend and wished you to be surrounded with kindness.

Ciao!

do you look through your leather bound book?

The cat boys and I listened to her. We missed you all.

They made big pawfuls of kisses and blew them into the sunny skies...

Ciao!