Goodnight, June.

We found the little birds! They are ensconced in the orange tree over the fence. They are teasing Alice wildly and she is going crazy trying to reach them. Then she meows in frustration. I, on the other hand, made a nest in their last hideout under the pampas grass leaves just to make sure they know I have reclaimed it.

The good news from here is that the keeper finished the grant proposal and got it to Fed Ex in time. It is amazing to think that at 5 Pm it is in Seattle and at 10 am it is sitting on someone's desk in NYC.

She celebrated by going to the library and checking out 8 books! She says she likes the feel of the library. It was packed today and everyone was reading magazines, using the computers, mostly adults inside on a sunny day. She actually can find the books she wants to read too! And it's free!

We spent the afternoon outside and the keeper was marvelling over her zinnias popping up and the strawberries are getting red, and the clematis climbing the poles really well. The holly hocks are even starting to bloom.Then she found her favorite "lambs' ear" making good progress under the fig tree. She did a lot of watering today. But with July here, she plans to let the garden do its own growing, she feels she has fussed enough.

We have all decided that

we are tired of the Michael Jackson hooplah.

let him rest in peace, and everyone else should get lives.

We also just found out that Friday and Saturday are holidays so the keeper will be around a lot. We will have a quiet 4th, though. We want to say we had a very good June, despite our trip to the vet. The weather has been lovely.

Bo-oooorinng!

Well, we got to play outside all day. We got

bored and came in to watch our keeper slave away on her grant. We thought sermons anddissertations were hard. This looks painful.She broke it up by watering plants and playing spider solitaire. She didn't even eat. Just kept saying, " Almost done, almost done." We think she's almost done because she let us post this blog. She said it has to be at Fed Ex tomorrow.

Last Sunday in June

This is the dogwood tree at Bindy and Libby's house. Alice snuck over to harrass Bindy for all the times she harrassed us while we were stuck inside, but the keeper heard her growling and went next door and carried her home. Humiliation... almost as bad as being carried in from our own backyard when we are not done hunting birds. ( and the birds laugh at us.)

Today the keeper went to the Cathedral and it was a little heavy there...summer, lots of people gone, and many visitors, but also everyone seemed weary. They had celebrated two staff funerals at the end of the week. heavy. Even though they were celebrating the end of the pauline year, it didn't feel wildly celebratory. In fact, while the keeper understood that it was a pauline feast of sorts, she said she was a little disappointed to discover that after listening to the long version of the Gospel of the sick little girl and the woman with the flow of blood, neither of these often forgotten feminine Gospel characters were mentioned in the homily.

Also it was Gay Pride weekend and the parade was taking place as Mass was ending, and still hoard of folks were flowing out down Capital Hill toward Seattle Center and downtown. She said it looked like a lot of crazy fun and some stupidity too.

The real focus of the keeper's energy this weekend though, needed to be at the computer finishing off her grant proposal. It's still not done, so we suspect she won't be in bed too soon tonight. She only has til Tuesday to finish it. She's good at marathon writing projects, and we will leave her alone.

Perhaps she will let us stay outside all day tomorrow!

Moths and Motor Oil

Last eve we had a visitor. A huge moth that wouldn't leave. It hung out on the walls of the den. It was actually very pretty and its coloring was kaleidoscopic. We tried to chase it but it was wildly out of our grasp.



Today we spent most of the day in while the keeper was at a funeral for a former parishioner. It was lovely except for a eulogy that didn't stop, the prayer for the Husky victory at the Apple Cup, and the Husky fight song at the end. She wishes people would just consider style and taste over cuteness when it comes to funerals. The ride to Holyrood was wild, as they weaved in a non-escorted parade down 405, I-5 following the hearse. She said that Holyrood was very warm today--no wind, chill, no need for a coat.

Then when she got home she realized that she hadn't had her car oil checked in months and when she checked, she couldn't even find a sign of oil on the dipstick.It was all dry. So she walked to the 76 station and bought some oil. 2 quarts low...oh my. She said she was very lucky to have thought of it. She said that she enjoyed the walk on the new South Woods walkway. Lots of wild madrona, oregon grape, ferns, salal, and blackberries.

Tonight we are watching the Hetty Wainthrop Detective Series. Nothing like Patricia Routledge on a Saturday night.

More Like It!

Sweet summer is back and the basil is taking to the sun. It;s hard to believe the difference in 24 hours. The keeper let us stay out this morning while she went to a meeting and later on when she came home. The little birds have now moved out to the back part of the back yard and are hiding in the laurel bushes. Alice started climbing the half dead lilac tree to peer in to their lair. She wasn't very quiet though. They flew away. It is clear she is missing a few hunter genes.

We are amazed and somewhat disgusted with the 24 hour news coverage about Michael Jackson on mainline TV. It makes us wonder why the keeper ever got that converter box.

The keeper is writing a sermon tonight so we have to be quiet and not fight. She is a little out of practice. At least we won't have to watch Michael Jackson. She is also supposed to be watching the neighbors' house to make sure their son doesn't have a wild party while they are gone for the weekend. So far, it looks pretty boring over there. The dog is even quiet.

Grey Day

Today is a grey day. It has dark sad sense to it. And we are not talking about Michael Jackson's demise. It was cold and windy and the sky looked like the insides of a vacuum cleaner bag. A pall of heaviness. The first days of summer feel like fall.

We went running out for a while when the keeper came home, but came right back in. It didn't smell or feel welcoming out there today. The keeper said it feels like Hoquiam does when she drives through it. Then we heard people yelling at each other in the park. She went to U Village for a little bit and said that even it in all of its glitz was not crowded and people seemed to wander through stores. It seemed dull and mechanical, she said. Vacuous.

We thought we would turn on the telly to see if we could find British comedy. But no, it's all Michael Jackson. What a world.

Maybe we will all go to bed early tonight.

Chilly Pondering Day

Today was chilly, at least for us. In fact, we didn't stay out too long since we have lost a lot of fur due to grooming. The little birds have settled down again. We are not sure where. The neighbor cat came by this morning to look for them too. I chased him away.

The keeper noticed a little plum tomato and a little green pepper growing in the garden, along with apples on the tree that didn't have too many flowers. She also wanted us to know that the zinnias were popping up. Now she is talking about building (or having someone else build) a potting bench for her that she can place against the exterior back wall of the garage. Next thing we will see a greenhouse! Theodore Roethke, save us!

She also tells us that lots of very good people are dying right now, people who lived very good lives, but who were cut down by cancer, mostly. That is sad. She also says she is very sad about what is happening to northern Mexico because of the narco- traficantes. She is trying to finsh a grant proposal and is very serious about it so she will not play with us. Although she buys us all these toys, we prefer her best.

Birds!

Those birds must be having a convention or a family reunion! They are everywhere, and are now hiding in all the vines, dancing and flitting on top of all the fences, the clothesline, the laurel bushes. Everywhere. I am exhausted. I went into the bushes behind the guardin' angel and fell asleep. Alice kept watching for them. Now they are teasing her. She will sleep tonight. A man came and tuned up the furnace today. Alice tried to get in the crawl space with him. The keeper was excited because the furnace man gave her the name and phone number of his handy man, whatever that is. She has all kinds of projects and things that need fixing she says.

Speaking of fixing, we think the back yard shade garden is almost done. The keeper bought in pea gravel today to make a pathway, but still needs some more. And she wants to put a bench out where the old lilac tree is standing. She also brought river rocks for the other side yard, and now isn't sure if she likes them now that she spread them all out. But she only brought in about 1/5 of what she needs, so it may not be too late to get other rocks. We just want something soft and warm in the mornings.

The keeper also said that 50 years ago on this very day she remembers starting her first official riding lessons on a horse named Rob Roy at a riding club in Portland. She says it was one of the biggest days of her life up to that point. She says the day is still like yesterday, and Rob Roy was 16-17 hands high. A little too tall for us cats.

Reverence

The keeper asked to share this lovely portion of a longer piece by Mark Slouka in this month's
Harpers:
" . . . we have not yet found the language with which to front the word we inhabit. . . We have not even begun to learn this language, its alphabet is a mystery, its declensions unknown.

"There are times, sitting up to my chin in a warm pond watching a damsel fly the precise iridescent green of cheap tinsel perch on a spear of weed protruding above the water . . . when I can almost feel it . . . A music just beyound my range of hearing. . . And I think to myself: This is beyond us. Only reverence is appropriate here."

She tells us that this is the sense she gets in the garden.

Summer Birding

Yes, here I am trying to catch those little birds. I found the nest, but they brought reinforcements! Those little brown things dive bombed me, and started making a clicking sound that must have alerted the whole neighborhood. Pretty soon the whole clan was there scolding, clicking, bombing me. They would tease....fly really close and leap up before I could. Then the crows got involved, never wanting to miss a demonstration; they didn't bomb, they just cawed for hours from the tall branches. I gave up and went inside. When I went out in the evening while the keeper ripped out the rest of the ivy and planted some hydrangeas, they started in again. The vet called and said my blood work was almost normal. What do you expect from an old cat?

Border Crossings

Well, friends, today is our longest day and we cross

over to summer. We love summer as much as the

keeper does! It's a great passing over. The keeper's

friend who was dying passed on this morning early

very peacefully after a long hard battle with cancer.

She was such a fighter and such a fierce advocate for

hospitality and community. Funeral is Saturday, we hear. We

send love to her family and collection of hundreds of friends.

The keeper was off to a special first Mass at SU this morning. Fernando A was ordained in Spokane several weeks ago and has been celebrating with his family and friends in Texas and Cd. Juarez, Chih. The readings for today's liturgy were all about who's really in charge of the universe, and how God is with us in the all the ways we are to cross to the other side of situations, of our lives, and in the ensuing storms, storm invites us to trust in the power which created the wind and seas and us. Fernando in his homily talked about his trip to celebrate his first Mass outside Cd. Juarez, Mexico, the site of so much violence and desperation these days. He talked about how out of fear he almost didn't go, but it was his family's sadness and broken-heartedness and questioning if God had indeed abandoned all of them to the evils of the narco-traficantes and swine flu and femicides which called him to indeed cross over to the other side in spite of fear. He said there were over 1000 people at his first Mass there, including TV and radio coverage in this little outpost. And he believed that for the three hour celebration with bread and wine and the presence of the Living Christ his people were able to sense that Christ was still in the boat with them through this stormy passage, and they had a taste of hope, of joy, of some peace. And in his telling that story, the keeper said that his storm tossed family gained a whole new community in solidarity with them.

On a different note, I have discovered that the little sparrow has a nest at the base of the pampas grass. I was trying to hunt down those little birds, and the bigger ones hovered over me clicking in panic. It didn't help that the keeper kept taking my picture. And then she lured me away with chicken and "da bird" toy and I fell for it. However, I am sure they were impressed with my leaping skills. I am pretty quick on my feet.

Rain and Requiem

It rained yesterday and it was welcome. The sky was all plumped up with thick silver batting. As the raindrops began to fall, the earth smelled so fresh, warm, and all of the scents of the flowers and the growing things blended together and wrapped around us. Oh sweet heaven! We love sitting under the glass green leafy canopy that the maple tree provides us for shelter in the rain. We marvel at the light filtering through while we listen to the thrum of the droplets. The plants seemed to grow a foot within hours of the rain. The birds flittered in circles twittering and screeching.

The keeper went to something called TGIF at Libby's and Bindy's house with their keepers and others and ate chicken and tried Croatian grapa. We think she should have had more chicken and less grapa! But on her way home she found our friend the possum who visits the back porch every night lying on the road, curled up in the death sleep. She buried him in the middle of the night. We liked him, he wasn't bright, and wasn't bothered by us. He would press his nose against the back door and look in and we would look out. He should have stayed off the road. We thought he had better night vision or better sense. Maybe some of his friends will visit us now. We offer our condolences to the possum clan.

Summer Solstice (almost)

The tiger lilies have appeared. They are growing (and it is no accident) over Downs' grave under the empty birdfeeder. Downs was my best friend for ten years. He and I were inseparable and when he died at age ten while the keeper was out of town. I still miss him. I think the keeper does too. It's been a crazy few days. The keeper has been so busy she wouldn't let me get to the computer to post my blog. So here I am. While the blogger took a break, the keeper finished up her recycled concrete border for the shade garden, and planted some new salal and lemon balm. She carried all of that broken concrete someone had dumped in the parking lot across the street, and it fit the side border perfectly. And it looks organized. She will start adding other plants soon. More ferns, a tree, Oregon Grape! Our wild hiding places are all disappearing. Will she ever stop?

Fern Garden

Good news. Alice is better after a very long night of panting and crying. The keeper kept dribbling water into her mouth. By morning she was able to jump up onto and off the keeper's bed. And she slept next to the keeper who was a litle tired after the long night. The keeper called the vet and told him and they were concerned. But she is able to walk now and is butting into everything. So I guess she will live. Honestly, I am happy that she will be around, even though she can be such a pest. They said that next time she will get the shots in a different place, though.

The keeper came home from the office a little early to check on Alice and we got to go outside. She said she saw an eagle dive into the lake and go fishing on the drive home. Have you ever smelled the inside of an iris? It is perfume! We have a few blossoming in the bed alonside of the driveway. The keeper says it reminds her of her childhood when she used to stop and smell all the irises growing in the back yard every morning because their scent was magical. She also spent time yesterday ripping out the ivy along the back fence. And she found a treasure--- someone dumped a whole pile of broken aggregate concrete pieces in the parking lot across the street, so for the last two eves she has been dragging them across the street to our back yard and is making a new garden enclosure out of the place that was all wild and wrapped in that ivy. She says her back is a little sore. It looks pretty good, but the raccoons are going to be surprised. The keeper is planting lots of ferns and shade plants, and mixing in a little miniature forest of colored bottles and rebar with the green things. We think it is peaceful. Tonight we are all watching Praying With Lior. It's about Lior, who has Down's Syndrome and is preparing for his bar mitzvah. We think it is very touching.

Systems Maintenance II

Here is Tim trying to make our washer fit into the space. Go American Meter!His cat had been in a fight and we hope it is better soon too.

Here is the hose that made noise and sucked out all of the dirt and fur from the vents! GoHowie's Power-Vac! We hope Keith's cat gets well too.

Systems Maintenance

(last night)

Alice: Stassi, I have this really sense that tomorrow we should be prepared---remember how I overheard the conversation about the vet? I think tomorrow's the day.

Stassi: Alice, I don't think so. You are imagining things. Go to sleep!

( this morning)
Alice: So, was I REALLY imagining things? Here we are at Northgate Veternary Clinic. Are you happy now?

Stassi: All right, already! Stop crying. I know we're supposed to hate this place, but I know that Dr. Smalley saved my life more than once and they saved yours too when you had just arrived at Whisker City and were starving to death.

Alice: Will we be here long? Stassi: Not unless they operate on us! I lost 6 teeth here last summer. I think we are supposed to get shots, that's all. Alice: Then why did the keeper leave us here? Stassi: I think she had errands. She'll be right back.

( 9 hours later)

Stassi: We are home now. Yes, we had our shots, and of couse, because I am old there were all kinds of rude tests. And, I heard the word DENTISTRY again. We got home and it smelled different. Alice did not feel very good and when the keeper picked her up she started growling and limping. The keeper thought it was a bee sting, but she checked the vet book and realized she had gotten a shot in each leg, and ws having a reaction. I have never seen Alice like this. It is scary.

But the keeper showed us photos of what happened today. The airduct man named Keith came from Howie's Power-Vac and cleaned out all the airducts and the furnace so we can all breathe better. He was very concerned about his cat who had been mauled or beaten in the face and almost died and was recovering at the vet in Kingston. Howies' Power-Vac is a very fine business, she said. And we will pray for the poor kitty.

Then, Tim from American Meter delivered the new washer and dryer. He has cats too. At first we thought that the dryer wouldn't fit, but he made it fit into the tight space. She showed us the new dryer, but Alice wasn't up to exploring it, so I feigned indifference.

Our Brown Friend

We have a little brown friend who is the essence of hope springing eternal. We are not sure where she lives, and she may be the bird with the home in the hollow of the dead palm tree, but everyday she shows up at the empty birdfeeder. And she has something hanging out of her mouth--a little bug, a small worm, piece of plant. She perches on the fence, and on the wisteria and on the bird feeder, hoping that the bird seed will finally flow again. Sorry, little brown bird, but the keeper has sworn off the bird seed after the several thousand dollar rat invasion eradication this winter. But we hope you keep coming to tantalize us at the window when we are cooped up, or when we are on the porch. We like your company. You do not seem afraid of us--- fierce feline guardians that we are. That's ok. Just don't tell the rest of your family we are wooses.

On a zoological vein, the keeper is reading The Zookeeper's Wife, a true account of the wife of the Warsaw Zoo who, after all of the animals were shot or killed or shipped off to Germany by the Nazis, used the empty cages to hide Jews from the Nazis. The zookeepers learned about camouflage, survival, deception, mimicry from the animals they lived with and used those learnings to save so many. She says it's a book of courage and such tender respect for he animals and all creation, including those humans hunted by the Nazis. The true tales of torture of the animals are heart rending, and she had never heard them before, because the more familiar cruel stories of the torture and anihilation of the Jews is the story we know in all of their horror. It's a well written story which is difficult to read.

Tomorrow we understand that the new washer and dryer are coming along with the vent cleaners. We also suspect that we may be going in the cages to the vet. We heard the cages rattling in the garage. Stay tuned!

Corpus Christi

The keeper told us that this had to be the wildest Corpus Christi ever. ( We thought it was great because we had poached chicken for breakfast and dinner and didn't .) But she was speaking about more significant things than our food.

She said the liturgy at the cathedral was stirring and that Fr. R told the story of Mordecai who did not want to go to school until his parents took him to the wise old rabbi who did not scold or push, but who held him close to his heart. And how the Eucharist for us is a way for God to pull us close into the life of the Divine Heart and its fiery love. And how this love can push us through our reluctance to embrace the complexities of this world in the spirit of divine love. So after Eucharist with bagpipes, choirs, flowers, banners, they took to the streets with the Sacrament. And what a dramatic engagement it was! She said as they turned the corner, they met the GLBT community and their gentle signs and greetings, followed up on the next corner by the notorious hate group with their ugly chilling demonstrations of hate for most everybody. In some ways the two groups were chanting to each other as the Church processed chanting and singing. Yes, that is the world we engage--the excluded extending hospitality and asking for acceptance and the excluders exuding hate and intolerance. And so the Body of Christ in all of its lively and lovely diversity carrying the BODY passed through the valley of this world with all the love they could muster. A very profound experience, she said. An experience of the broken body crying from the streets for healing. Oh my, we need Euchaarist to embrace all this, she said.

Then she dropped into her old church for the picnic and visited and was impressed by the size of the crowd and the talent show in which the new pastor played and sang La Bamba-GUITAR HERO! Corpus Christi, a little pooped after the procession through the neighborhood, speaking in Spanish, English, Tagalog, baby gurgle, wearing the faces of teenager, elder, surrounded by fragrant smoke of grilled meats and Mexican music. Not bad, she said. Of course, then Corpus Christi became academic with SU's graduate school graduation. Again, a rich diversity of graduates, areas of study, so many hopes for changing the world, so much pride in accomplishment. The body is indeed gifted and equipped to turn the world right side up if we believe it. We need eucharist, she said.

Webs of Life

First I must apologize for neglecting my duties yesterday. The truth is that the other day when the keeper let us stay out alone I jumped up on the birdbath and drank a little bit of the slimy water. I should have known better, the keeper had even left us a bowl of clean water on the deck. So, I have been a little under the weather. I am feeling better tonight because the keeper knows that the cure for my bad drinking habits is poached chicken. I am deliriously happy this evening after feasting on pieces of chicken breast. Alice is too.

The keeper received a phone call from friends of a former parishioner who had been very active in one of her old churches. The woman is dying, and they called the keeper to come and see her. It seems to have been a wonderful reunion. The woman is near death with lots of cancer but is in the most beautiful hospice ever. When the keeper showed up the woman had tears in her eyes, and after they said the prayers and blessings with holy water, the woman, who hadn't spoken much in the last few days, cried some more and said she was very very happy. The keeper says she is ready to die and now is just waiting. There will be a Gospel choir at her funeral, and hundreds of her friends. The keeper also said she gave her a few assignments to keep her out of mischief in heaven--like making some pointed suggestions about ecclesiastical changes needed in the church on earth. The woman seemed pleased to have some tasks for the other side. She is a real go -getter. She and the keeper hadn't seen each other for 11 years, but in the hour-long visit all the time and the disease just melted away. The woman is in her mid-sixties, but she has touched more people than three normal lifetimes could bear.

Tomorrow is the Feast of Corpus Christi. People, not us, will process around the neighborhoods of the churches. We will let the keeper and all of her friends do that! We will wait for her to sashay right on home so we can process around the yard!

Mock Orange

She finally smelled the mock orange today. We have been aware of it making its subtle and delicate way into the yard, but today it made itself known fiercely. Oh such sweetness! It seemed to arrive earlier this year, but June has been so warm. The flowers are so white and crisp against all of the green foliage. She let us go out when she ran errands tonight. We are always a little more careful when she leaves us outside alone because we are never sure when she will return. And we don't want to stray too far. When she came back, we helped her water all of the plants in the yard. It takes a good hour. When anyone asks her why she doesn't just turn on sprinklers she says that she finds it very reflective and meditative. And she can also check on her plantings.

We understand that we are getting a new washer and dryer next week. That will be good. The others are noisy and don't work too well. The housesitters will be happy too. We also heard a rumor that we may have to go to the vet the same day we get the washer and dryer. Alice overheard a phone conversation about this. Last time I went to the vet I came home missing 6 teeth, but I felt a lot better. What will we be missing this time?

520 Crawl

We waited a very long time tonite for the keeper to get home. She said she had spent the last hour or more on 520 and has no idea why the cars crawled into the sunset. She had gone to Redmond to a beautiful home in order to interview a couple. They have bobcats in their yard and deer. It was so peaceful there, and the freeway was more peaceful than she expected, given the high frustration.

Other than that glitch which stalled our supper, we had a great day inside, and then Alice took off to the neighbor's yard to terrorize the dog. We also found out why the sunset was so spectacular last night: smoke coming from British Columbia!

Black Mole and Fireball

Today was one of those days that felt like summer! The clothes were back on the line flapping, the keeper had breakfast outside, and we flopped around batting at bees and at nothing much in general. The keeper was back in the garden mixing up compost and soil and finishing planting vegies in pots and nasturtiums along the north side of the house. Yesterday she had rescued 8 discounted pots of pansies which were being strangled in their pots, and so she liberated them into the ground around the apple tree and the deck. By nightfall they already looked happier.

She rushed off to have a celebratory dinner with P and V and T who had just finished her last paper for her M Div. T had prepared chicken in black mole which had been sent up from Oaxaca for the occasion. DO you know there are 5 kinds of mole from Oaxaca? T's apt. is on Beacon Hill and has a small view of the bay and the port and the sunset. They sat around talking about liturgical theology and the keeper says she now MUST read Victor Codina and Corbon. She said we would have been bored with the conversation, but that tomorrow we might get to taste the mole. On the way home she looked out from Beacon Hill and saw everyone staring to the west at the magnificent fireball sun which was sinking in to Elliott Bay. She pulled over on the hill by PMC, and tried to capture it on film before it went away. She says that the photo is nothing like what they all witnessed. The real thing was orange and glowing and fiery as it slithered down into the drink.

Fava Beans, CatBirdjumps, Cedar Barkie Barkie

What a great day! It was perfect weather for all of us. The keeper was out all morning visiting with her friend J. J showed the keeper her fava beans which have grown considerably over the past months. J also introduced the keeper to a "fabulous" little corner grocery called the Urban Market on 8th NW. It is a "corner grocery" with a built in restaurant. Lots of cold drinks, sandwiches, even dinner, homemade desserts, wines, fresh fruit, specialty canned tomatos. She said it reminded her of the old Plenty in Madrona which was the gathering place for many people for several years. She loved that place.

Eventually the keeper came home and we spent the rest of the day outside. She did more planting and weeding and our favorite memory of the afternoon is seeing her all covered with the bark dust which she was spreading over the ground on the street side. It looks better on the ground than it does on her. But it looks good with the lavendar plants and the laurel. Tomorrow we will plant more vegies in pots and finish up the rest of the flowers.

Tonight she brought out "Da Bird" and we chased it and jumped up and down all over the yard.

Alice got an asthma attack and had to rest. But I was very impressed with the way I was still able to jump and twist in the air, just like I never did. But I wanted to impress Alice. Downs used to do the jumping, and I kept close to the ground. But for an old guy, I am in incredible shape. I haven't lost it.

Sleepless Night

We are looking a little groggy here because the keeper kept us up most of the night. She couldn't sleep. Was it the green tea? She was wide awake like we often are and sat in the living room amazed by the brightness of the night sky which made it seem like a late winter afternoon and which bathed all the lawn furniture and fences and railings in white light. It was very still and she sat there drinking warm milk while we watched her and wished we could share in the milk. Finally we all went to sleep at 5. Needless to say we had a very rushed morning as she clattereed around trying to get ready for her church gigs. It is Trinity Sunday, and she told us it was a mystery. And she remembered something which Paul Coutihno said about the mystery of God--not something to be discussed and pried apart like a machine, but to be pondered like koan...even moreso than the fish dwells in the water, surrounded by it, breathing it, we live in, breathe in and out God's mystery. We are swimming in God and so wrapped up in it all we can't fathom the mystery. We are not fond of swimming ourselves, so it's a little hard to wrap ourselves up in this image. She likes it, and that is good for her. We would prefer to use the idea of sleep and dreams since we are fond of that activity and we often find ourselves caught up in the dream of the cosmic cat. We hope we will all enter the mystery of sleep tonight.

Maple Leaf Chair

Lazy day for cats. Overcast. We spent the day inside since the keeper was tearing all over the eastside. But, we wanted to point out several things...there are some very ignorant young raccoons out in the neighborhood who think they can run the streets in the afternoon. They had better look out for cars. Second observation: the director's chair which the keeper forgot to bring in this past winter lost its seat in the cold. So, she started weaving a new seat and back out of the budding maple vines. They are growing well and doing a nice reupholstery job on their own. Pretty soon we will be able to sit on it again and watch the birds. And later when we are tired of green it will turn red. Very Harry Potter. The keeper told us tonight that she had finally found a place which she was able to take guests which was in the neighborhood---the LFP Bar and Grill. It just opened she said and everybody is there checking it out. And it is good.

First Peonies

Well, it is cooler and we are very happy. Alice started playing with her catnip mouse again. We are not so crabby anymore. The keeper told us about her friends' cat Penny who is really old and experiencing heart problems. She has the same vet that we do. Although we hate visiting the vet, we always come back better for having withstood the agony of the visit. We know that she will get help and feel much better too. Getting old is no fun. I should know. I am 14 this year, and in people years, that's 98! And look at me, I am still mousing and birding and climbing the fence! But it hurts sometimes.
The keeper was all excited about these feathery pink flowers. She has a huge bush of them this year. She cut the first three and put them in her mother's vase. Then she went to the neighbor's first Friday of summer party. We had to stay inside while their animals were outside. They were all very noisy--the adults, not the animals. One of the neighbors, a Canadian, had gotten his green card after spending thousands of dollars in legal fees. They had a fire which was blowing embers all over the yard. We were nervous about them setting our home on fire. Finally she came home smelling like smoke and she quietly took our dictation for this blog entry. It's nice how a little red wine can make her more docile. She also brushed us. We hope she attends every Friday party.

Yellow Heat

It was so hot! We found new hiding places in the shrubs and under the deck. I was too hot to chase birds in the laurel bushes. The keeper even sat in the shade this afternoon. After she worked out she poured a pitcher of water over her head. Then we waited under the hummingbird feeder, hoping for a breeze from their wings beating a thousand times a minute! We are grateful for the wind that picked up this evening. Tonight we will all sleep. The keeper celebrated her friend J's birthday by eating Greek food for lunch with J and W. She had a good time with them food ( she brought some chicken home) and realized that she misses the days when they all spent more time together. She came home and sat at the computer all afternoon working on grants. We left her alone.

HEAT!

What a day! For once we were grateful to be able to stay inside while the heat wilted flowers and plants. Alice threw herself on the carpet in the dining room and just lay there looking like the Queen of the Nile. When the keeper came home, I ran out, over the fence to look for birds who are living in the laurel bushes. Alice chased little butterflies. The keeper watered all of the plants and found the first roses of summer and put them in a vase. She realizes that she relied on Eloy for all of the work with the roses, and she didn't ask him any questions about it. Now she will have to learn quickly because we have at least 30 rose bushes. Wish us luck! We think we have sunflowers and hollyhocks starting to sprout up!

"After the Ecstasy the Laundry"

These hot days are very difficult for cats, especially when we can't find a breeze outside. Alice started the day climbing up on the roof of the garage, and then couldn't get down. The keeper told her to figure it out on her own. So she ended up jumping down most of the way, and ended up panting and gasping. But she recovered later. The keeper was very busy around the house today, and did laundry. The dryer is dying, and so she decided to hang all of it out on the line. As she says, there is nothing like the smell of clean laundry which has been hanging in the sun all day. Heavenly, even though it takes longer. She also got very dirty planting more seeds and plants. She loses track of time when she is out there. We hear her talking to the plants and making sure that they have 'friends" nearby, especially when they all came from the same nursery. She pointed out that the peonies are all ready to pop out and that we have ladybugs helping us.

The keeper also decided to stop buying books. She has so many that she has run out of room at home and at the beach. So she headed to the library and found all of the books she was going to order. She told us about how every summer when she was younger she would start reading books on June 1 and try to read at least 100 by the time school started again. We don't think she can do that anymore. But we think it is going to be a wonderful summer. The smell of library books and laundry on the line, mixed in with a little fragrance from the grills at night. . .

Awe

The keeper went off to work this afternoon and came home later in the evening. We had a lovely day just lounging around outside until we had to come in so she could leave. But it was hot. When she came home she couldn't stop talking about the evening sky over Redmond and Woodinville, and the layers and layers of green exploding all over with the tallest fuschia rhodies she had ever seen rolling down the hills. She said she had to stop the car at a fundamental Bible church parking lot on a hill and take photos because it was so breathtaking. She said it was hard to keep her eyes on the road. There was so much to take in. She said it was so beautiful she wasn't even hungry for dinner. Even though there is a lot of driving in her work, she says the awe and beauty of it all is an unexpected gift.