Conceptual Frameworks...

In our world the early mornings offer a lot to see and to ponder. It is probably exactly the same in your world. On this early morning I was not surprised to see the two Misters busy doing their cat thing. After all I am the enabler, I disperse the seeds for the squirrels and I take the cats out back to the theatre.

On this particular morning Mr Sweet Pants was the one who noticed the rustle in the debris and his crouch signaled to Mr Puffy Pants that something interesting was about to happen.
I want you to know that chubby and fluffy as Ollie might be, and he is, what he is definitely not is being lethargic. Mr Puffy Pants is not familiar with the concept of inertia and so he always springs into action, promptly.
With laser like focus
and in their adorable hunter crouch,
the cat boys checked the little squirrel up and down with excitement,
and mutually arrived at the idea that he was not all that interesting or perhaps, "do we really want this dude?", and so they stopped having entirely enjoyed the game just for its own sake...
This posture I cannot figure out but then again that is Ollie!
While they were busy with their thing and I was clicking my camera away I was also thinking about my conception of the world around me, what was the framework I was conceptualizing for the world that shaped around me? What were those bits of 'acquired knowledge' that were not necessary and gave me a negative outlook and what were the positive ones. Was I laser-like in my analysis of the world or more like a hummingbird.

Hearing the tsk tsk of a hummingbird above I called the cat boys over to another corner and asked them to look above.
They observed the hummingbird swiftly zipping back
and forth,
up and
down!
Incredibly genius cats that they are they told me that this reminded them of dan roam
encouraging us to balance our fox and our hummingbird. Ha ha! Those boys are clever indeed, sly as foxes and aware of their environment as hummingbirds. I was forced to kiss them both on their funny faces.

I don't have really much to say except that I like to apply this to the way I restructure my conceptual framework of this world, what do I expect it to be like and what my role would have to be. This is all too much for a beautiful day like today but something to think about for later.

Cat boys sent kisses and best wishes like they always do...

Ciao!

The rhythm of our days...

I have noticed how important rhythm is to the focus and energy of cat boys. A disciplined ritual collects their random energies, and so this is why we walk, read and reflect together.
I bought these plants for the cat boys. They love beautiful surroundings. The plants need to be beautified but that will be another day's project. I love how each cat inspects the plants.

Inspections over the cat boys ran into the courtyard. Here's Sweet Pants Augustus
with his musical gait.
Ollie Puffy Pants hurried right behind
and the two set off like two horses onto the track.
Ollie split...games began.
They did ask me about the future state of life on earth, I researched, we read this from Abdul-Baha, spiritual teacher:

"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."

This they found pleasing, they made kisses and blew them in the air for your fat Tuesday!

Ciao everyone!

they have chosen our hearts....

The tulip tree outside our unit is hurrying towards full bloom, a treat for
Augustus Sweet Pants who likes to sit on the patio wall to eat his breakfast.
Later in the morning he reposes while I read to him a passage for his meditations.
"He hath chosen out of the whole world the hearts of His servants, and made them each a seat for the revelation of His glory. Wherefore, sanctify them from every defilement, that the things for which they were created may be engraven upon them. This indeed is a token of God’s bountiful favor." Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah

This is one of our Murs des Chats, or cat walls, with illustrations from lovely Carolina.
Mr Puffy Pants is calm. He said hello and made kisses for you.
We wish all a lovely Wednesday!

Ciao!

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!