they have sleep advice for you....

I am really not sure what prompted this, maybe I was sharing with the cat boys that some nights I find it hard to sleep when they jump on me and do the Irish step dance.  So each their own way, which is always opposite the other one's way, showed me how to sleep.

Mr Sweet Pants showed me the first option which was to get into the kitten pose, tail tucked,

while letting the head hang from an opening so as to be semi-alert should danger present itself.

Ginger cat, Mr Puffy Pants suggested the corpse pose with glazed eyes,

which is not only entirely relaxing

but it also deceives the enemy and you don't have to be on guard.

So, there you have it again.  Very good advice from two city cat boys.

The cat boys wished to share this with you:

“Activity and rest are two vital aspects of life. To find a balance in them is a skill in itself. Wisdom is knowing when to have rest, when to have activity, and how much of each to have. Finding them in each other - activity in rest and rest in activity - is the ultimate freedom.” 
― Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Celebrating Silence

While resting they might have been listening to this.

Cat boys are recommending nap time and kitty kisses for all!

Ciao everyone!

This is how it was...

early this morning.  I decided to view the old stomping grounds down the street so we three went there for a few moments and then we returned quickly.

 Mr Puffy Pants likes to eat salad every chance that he gets and so he got busy eating.

 Mr Sweet Pants just crossed the gate to say that he had done so but really was not interested in the open fields and the ditches.

They look very funny when they explore new or old new things and places.

Unfortunately this time of the day is too dark for decent photography of the rascal cats so you have to come along and walk with us for several moments.

We share with you a thought form Tagore.

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.  (Rabindranath Tagore)

We wish you praiseworthy and memorable moments and floods of cat kisses.

Ciao everyone!

they have two moves for you....

Mr Sweet Pants did the downward cat stretch while

Mr Puffy Pants chose the more challenging lift the left leg up in the air stretch.

Their moves were characterized simultaneously by enthusiasm and hesitation.

We reflected on this while they continued with their fancy moves:

"Always do right, this will gratify some and astonish the rest."  -Mark Twain

The cat boys wished for you moments of gratitude and astonishment and they sent to you pawfuls of kisses this beautiful Monday morning!


Ciao everyone!

last saturday

when the skies were clear and the cat boys were electric we went to the backyard urban jungle...the leaves that were present were green, the way they faced the sunny skies made me want to have more than a memory image and so I took one picture.

Not far away the soft ginger cat was peeking through the neighbor patio drain

where his glances met those of the sweet jaguar cat..they pretended that they did not know each other.

Was there a way to reach across the wall?

When Mr Sweet Pants sprung up on the patio wall I noticed that he was now a big boy cat

with a little kitten soul but still a big boy cat.

Ollie was impressed.

Facing a different direction more leaves caught our eyes...yes, it is winter but somedays are just so bright showing us glimpses of the spring to come.

None of us had any profound thoughts that morning, so mesmerized by the beauty of the spaces around us and the warm spaces within our hearts.

Cat boys made cat kisses and blew them in the air for you.

Ciao everyone!

"Lost in awe at the works of the Lord of Oneness"

You wouldn't be able to tell from these photos that it is January, and that it is rather cold, for us that is, here in Southern California.  I suppose the bare branches might tip you off that it is wintery at least.

Augustus and Ollie sing cat songs when they hear and see doves flying above, you know that sound of soft flapping wings that is almost musical, not mechanical.  So, I took this picture for them, of the mauve dove that had just flown over their heads and perched himself on one of those peachy mauve bare branches that cool morning in January.

That morning we each had our own little pleasures to enjoy.  For me it was the cat boys, the light on the branches, the cool air, the shadows, the coming to life of the still early morning.

For Augustus the Sweet Pants, it was the higher ground scenery, the sounds coming from above.

For Mr Puffy Pants, it was the cold earth, the smell of damp soil, fresh shoots and dead leaves, the vibrations that his big paws felt in the ground below.

Ollie explored.

No sooner had he stepped out of the cold shade and walked into the morning sun's down pour that he forgot his morning plans and succumbed to the lure of the freshly warmed cold earth.

That dirty boy!  Someone will have to kiss him soon.

He savored, absorbed, and

delighted in that little piece of land.

We three the pondered on this little message:

O My Friends!
Walk ye in the ways of the good pleasure of the Friend, and know that His pleasure is in the pleasure of His creatures... (The Hidden Words)

I noticed the loving glances of Mr Sweet Pants who was also enjoying the warming rays of sun directed towards his mesmerized brother for some moments.

A new day was awaiting us....

Cat boys made you pawfuls of kisses and blew them in the air with their best wishes. Happy Tuesday everyone! Ciao!

A seemingly new year in our heads...

He was camouflaged ready for action using mostly his petal soft ears

and hazel eyes

while the other one was busy eating treats that had come down just like manna from heaven!

And then there was the manna hanging on the tree the shadow of whom

was actually talking back to him.

Curious things were already happening in 2013 was the notion on Mr Sweet Pants' mind,

and in one exchange of glances Mr Puffy Pants too got the same notion.

I went to a talk last night by a most inspirational woman, Tadia Rice.  She spoke of inner transformation being key to transformation of the outer world, and the element that would bring about that transformation was practicing the nobility that each individual was born with.

I shared this with the cat boys.  They suggested that they would be also willing to chase squirrels, mice and birds, and fight for justice too.  Naturally I was proud and touched but suggested a quick meditation to set us off on the right paw this year numbered 2013.

O MY FRIEND! Thou art the daystar of the heavens of My holiness, let not the defilement of the world eclipse thy splendor. Rend asunder the veil of heedlessness, that from behind the clouds thou mayest emerge resplendent and array all things with the apparel of life. (Hidden Words 73)

Cat boys and I wish everyone a happy 2013, and we invite you to visit the blog of kitty artist pal Nancy  Gronholm and enter her 2013 give-away for some beautiful hand crafted goodies.

Good luck and ciao!

Christmas

here in our complex is marked by a scattering of poinsettias here and there, in this case the lovely neighbor by the backyard where the cat boys like to hang out has several of them.

I was wandering about with the cat boys in that area looking for things, wondering too if I should force my thoughts into one box or let them spill out.  The air was the right kind of cool that was warmed to the right temperature, both for cats and humans.  How that is not considered to be the greatest gift of all is incomprehensible to us!  The fact is that I have always thought of that right air quality (temperature, purity, color) to be the greatest attribute of a location, sort of like when the early morning ocean mist burns off to the warming rays of sun and the evaporation of the mist brings in the air with the perfect level of humidity, temperature, and clarity.  Sun pours in bountifully and we take our fill.

Cat boys become intoxicated in this sort of weather as the light dances among the leaves.

I found the cat boys kissing...1

2

3

Cat boy reflections passage for Christmas was this:

And whensoever thou dost gaze upon creation all entire, and dost observe the very atoms thereof, thou wilt note that the rays of the Sun of Truth are shed upon all things and shining within them, and telling of that Day-Star's splendours, Its mysteries, and the spreading of Its lights.
Look thou upon the trees, upon the blossoms and fruits, even upon the stones. Here too wilt thou behold the Sun’s rays shed upon them, clearly visible within them, and manifested by them.

Shouldst thou, however, turn thy gaze unto a Mirror, brilliant, stainless, and pure, wherein the divine Beauty is reflected, therein wilt thou find the Sun shining with Its rays, Its heat, Its disc, Its fair form all entire.  For each separate entity possesseth its allotted portion of the solar light and telleth of the Sun, but that Universal Reality in all Its splendour, that stainless Mirror Whose qualities are appropriate to the qualities of the Sun revealed within It - expresseth in their entirety the attributes of the Source of Glory. And that Universal Reality is Man, the divine Being, the Essence that abideth forever. 'Say, Call upon God, or call upon the All-Merciful; whichsoever ye call upon, most beauteous are His Names.' 

Cat boys wanted to make sure that you got their kisses and Christmas wishes just in case they did not have a chance to present themselves to you once more during this month.

Here's Augustus

The Sweet Pants, 

and Ollie,

The Puffy Pants!

They wish you sun's rays, light, love and supreme felicity.

Ciao everyone!