cat poised in window live interactive sculpture pet performance art
Feline Form
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Author Archives: Maggie C
Writer’s Slump
muse swelters in heat thoughts slide limply from my mind melt on hot pavement
Weekend Coffee Share 6/4/16
If we were having coffee, I would tell you I am worried about my dog. He hasn’t been well the past few days; lethargic, eating grass (to ease his tummy, I think), and vomiting his food on a few occasions.
Okay, maybe that’s not suitable conversation over coffee. But it’s what’s on my mind.
I grew up in an environment where cats and dogs were primarily consigned to the outdoors. Cats were mousers and dogs were watchdogs. I didn’t understand people’s close relationships with their pets. Something happens to your dog or cat? Okay, feel bad, but then get over it. It’s not like it’s your child or something.
Now I realize that any relationship we hold is a valuable part of who we are. Of course I care more about my children than I do my pets – and I certainly hope all parents would feel that way – but that doesn’t alter the relationship I have with my pets.
You know that phrase “it’s all relative”… not true, in my opinion. If something happens to your pet, if a baby bird falls out of its nest, if the centuries-old tree down the block is cut down… it can all matter to you, if you are in relationship with it.
So baby birds fall out of nests all the time. It’s part of nature. And it’s not like an endangered silverback gorilla being shot and killed in a zoo (which happened in Cincinnati this week). No, it’s not the same. But it’s also not relative. I can care about both.
I can care a heck of a lot more about the gorilla than the bird. And I can care a heck of a lot more about the safety of the boy who was believed to be in danger in the gorilla enclosure. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care about a bird.
Caring about a bird or a pet does not take away from caring about any other living being. I can hug a tree and still care very, very much about world hunger and poverty and child abuse and war.
We obviously have priorities, and appropriately so. It’s all interrelated, but it’s not all relative.
Dang, here I go off on another rant during our coffee date. You’re going to dread coming over. I’ll stop now.
It’s supposed to get up to 100 degrees (F) today, something we’re not accustomed to here in the Pacific Northwest. I’m going to keep an eye on my listless little guy, and try to keep us both cool. I’ve got lots of yard work to do, but I’ll work on indoor projects and stay out of the heat as best I can.
I hope your weekend goes well. Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you Diana at PartTimeMonster.com for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare.
By the Numbers
One day I was
too tired to meet my
three friends
for drinks at
five o’clock, so I deep-
sixed that idea, and instead went to the
7-Eleven store and
ate
nine corndogs. Within
ten minutes, I felt ill, so I returned to the 7-
Eleven and bought
twelve indigestion tablets for
thirteen dollars. From now on, I’ll leave the junk food
for teens to consume.
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Numbers
Wordless Wednesday (Week 22)
Image
Life Imitates Art
Life Imitates Art
Dirt
blank canvas of earth plant seeds of inspiration grow a masterpiece
The Daily Post daily prompt: Blank
Weekend Coffee Share 5/28/16
If we were having coffee, I’d ask you to pour. I’m still rather stove up from falling off a ladder yesterday. It was more like I “flew off,” with a very hard landing on a cement walkway. I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a selfie. I know that’s protocol these days.
Instead, I had to ward off the all-healing doggie kisses from my eskie Chules, make sure nothing was broken (you know, like my ladder, the screwdriver I’d been holding, the cement walk…), and then make it into the house while I could still manage the porch step.
The good news: I had cold brew coffee on hand, so I didn’t have to set up the coffee maker this morning. And I have poppy seed muffins. Help yourself.
I’ll have to keep this brief, though. I need to try and get Chules out on a walk before the muscle relaxer meds kick in. He was very upset last night when I couldn’t chase him around the house and hold our nightly wrestling match. He’s very good at laying on the guilt, with his whining and pitiful puppy eyes.
Thanks for stopping by. Mind the ladder on your way out. It looks innocent enough, but it has a mean streak a mile wide.
Thank you Diana at PartTimeMonster.com for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare.
Entangled
Dear Morning Glory:
Despite the beauty of your blossoms,
in your determined quest to reach the sun
you appear to be strangling my currant bush.
While I find both you and the currant bush
aesthetically pleasing, I unfortunately
need to sacrifice one to spare the other.
Contrary to your innocent appearance,
I know you to be quite ruthless in your
climb to the top, and it seems to matter not
whom you strangle in the process.
Please consider this letter to be
your eviction notice. You must
cease and desist from wrapping your tendrils
around the stems of the currant resident.
In order to facilitate your departure,
I am uprooting you from the ground.
While I hope this resolves our conflict,
I suspect you will try to make a comeback.
Be warned:
I will be diligent in
policing my grounds.
Sincerely,
The Keeper of the Pruning Shears
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Spare
Drawing on Wisdom: What do you see?
I’ve decided to start drawing. Not because I think I’m good at it, and not because I expect to get “good” at it. Rather, I want to practice seeing. And to practice reflecting on what I see.
Several years ago, I started working my way through the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. My drawing abilities improved immensely, because the book teaches you to draw what you actually see, not what you expect to see or think you should see.
A sketch I made in 1998 as an exercise from the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.
Apparently drawing is one of those “use it or lose it” phenomena, however. At least that was my experience.
So I wonder… if I have regressed in drawing, have I also lost some of my ability to “see” things objectively? That’s where the reflecting part comes in. Looking at what I see, if you will.
It will be interesting (to me) to see how this evolves. I’ll keep you posted. And maybe even share my drawings. Like the one below that I drew yesterday. Any guesses as to what it is?
What do you see?
What Rhymes with Stanza? 