HOWL!

We know now why we couldn't post pictures.  The keeper had used her 1 GB of free photo space.  Now she has to pay for it. They also raised my pet insurance premiums and devalued our property.  But the good news is that the keeper's favorite mechanics at Hilltop are giving her an incredible gift. After one of the newer employees forgot to replace the oil cap after filling it up yesterday, and after the oil spilled all over the engine and even squirted out the windshield cleaner all black, and after her car smelled like a Third World diesel truck today, they are sending the car to a professional steam cleaner and detailer to make up for the mistake.  She loves those people. They are so honorable. They admit mistakes and fix them. She was very panicked today, thinking she had burned out her motor or something, or feared she needed to buy a new car and she just didn't even have time to think those thoughts this week or next, let alone pay for one.

Two Prophets

Come to find out the two not so fierce prophets were loading up banners for the liturgies at the Sheraton Hotel for the St. Vincent de Paul  National Meeting.  The keeper is trying to finish a talk tonight which she needs to give down there first thing in the morning.  We all know what a morning person she is not! We can't wait to hear how it goes.

Street Prophet

The keeper was heading down to Freeway Park to visit with a friend late yesterday afternoon when they beheld a modern day prophet standing on the corner of Terry and Marion.  He was not very fierce, though. Very appropriate for polite Seattle.

Pear

We have not had a successful harvest this year in most areas.  But the Asian Pear tree is going bonkers and the branches are weighed down mightily with a feast of pears.  No bugs, no spots, just all pears. We may be giving some away eventually or setting up a little farm stand on the sidewalk. People would probably pay big bucks to buy fruit from cats, don't you think? Even for a photo op?

Eats Shoots and Leaves

Cecil is having a wild time this week.  He has taken to rolling in the dirt, chasing leaves, eating them, and continuing to graze on what few grass shoots we have.  So, while I am sneezing and snuffling and avoiding the keeper chasing after me with the medicine and the nose drops, Cecil is having the time of his life. All I do is scratch and bite the keeper. And I do feel a bit of remorse.

Happy Feast of the Martyrdom of John the Baptist

Hello, Friends,

We have some great photos to share with you, but due to circumstances beyond our control we can not get them to post from our phone, our I Pad or our computer. We don't think it has anything to do with the hurricanes or the Republican Convention. But who knows? We are hoping we can get this fixed soon. The keeper wants everyone to know we are fine, and having to stay inside while she goes hither and yon.  We do hear we are getting new tile in our kitchen and bathroom. We hope this does not change our feline routine.

Eggy Moon

We had a very good day today.  She stayed home all day with us.  She did not even go to the gym. She had one task in mind and was bound to get it started.  She let us play outside till dark, and actually, she spent most of day outside in the sun.  But while we slept she worked on a talk she is giving at the cathedral in a month or so.  She has a lot of it in her head but wanted to put it to paper.  She found this hard; we watched her pull out her  hair as she struggled to pull out all the ideas she had stored over the past months. She used to do this a lot when she was writing homilies. But by dinner there was an outline and she seemed somewhat happy.  We think this will happen all  over again tomorrow,  maybe at the computer this time.  She seems a bit anxious and very focused.

Yet we were able to focus her gaze on the moon this eve...the moon who watches over all people every night..be they in Florida, Louisiana, California, Boston, Haiti, Jerusalem, or Barcelona.

A Lovely Sunday

We all had a lovely day.  The keeper had a freer day since she didn't have to spend the weekend at CDB.  So, she left us earlier because she wanted to spend time with her friends at the Cathedral at 10 AM liturgy.  We hear that she met new people, ran into former parishioners, and met the "reflector" who gave a stirring invitation to support the work of Hands Together ---providing  basic food,  education, hope to the people of Haiti. The founder of Hands Together had spoken many years ago at her former parish, and they raised an incredible amount of money for the work.  Today's speaker came from the parish in southern California which she had been asked to lead, and had declined. Very few degrees of separation in the Catholic world, indeed!  But it caused her to reconsider her somewhat selfish plan to someday move to Paris.  Perhaps she should move to Haiti instead.  More or less the same language. And she might do some good. We hope this happens long after we are resting in peace in Kittyrood.

She promised she would be home earlier and she was, after she spent time with Spanish speaking community in Bellevue. The neighbors returned from several weeks in Croatia and brought Croatian wine. Eventually we took in the beautiful moon this evening.

Moon and Remembrance

Tonight we are remembering Fr. Phil who died one year ago.  He was a most remarkable man, we hear, and a pastor's pastor. The keeper got to attend an anniversary Mass for him this morning because the speakers for the event she was supposed to be welcoming arrived very late.  At the Mass there was a video with him telling his story, and although the sunlight blurred the video  everyone was riveted as they listened to his gentle voice. Many tears of gratitude for his huge heart, his courage, his spirit which was clearly present with them all this morning.

Lawn Service

Jesus came over this afternoon with all of his noisy machines and made our yard look better.  He wants to cut down the apple tree because it is diseased.  The keeper was not pleased to hear that, and he suggested she talk to some experts so she can understand what he is saying.  In other words, he is right, but he is being very clever with her.  We appreciate the fact that it is a cute tree and that the birds and squirrels like it a lot. It does provide us with some entertainment, which is hard to come by because she works so much.

A Few Flowers Remain

This afternoon the keeper came home from Bellevue and moved her home office to the deck where she proceeded to read, make phone calls, send emails.  We didn't complain.  We were thrilled that we got to go outside and enjoy the beautiful afternoon sun. She still seemed pretty pleased that she did not have to go to camp this weekend and instead was eager to complete her work. We just slept in the sunny spots and did no work at all.

Other Rewards

Instead of lemonade and cookies, she found the jaw droppingly awesome view of Mt. Rainier.

Much better than a cookie! ?No?

Reward

The keeper spent the whole day at home with us.  We don't think we were the real attraction, but we would like to think so.  She had a big talk to give for a national conference next week, and she had to put a Power Point Presentation together. We don't know why Power Point presentations have become so important these days.  They are like a badge of professionalism or something. All the photos she wanted to use were on the home computer.  So we watched her squirm and struggle at the computer for hours today.  We hope she doesn't do this at her office everyday she leaves us.  How painful. How B-O-R-I-N-G! She  seems much happier when she just can write.

Anyway, late this afternoon she finished and because she didn't have to spend the whole weekend at CDB, decided to go out for a lovely walk on the Burke Gilman Trail.  She found this enticing invitation, but decided it was a memento of  much warmer days.

Welcome, Baby Emma!

Baby Emma was born yesterday! The keeper seems very excited.  She is calling herself the great grand-aunt.  Emma is now the youngest member of the JACC young adult group! Welcome to our world, Emma!

"The" Shoe

The keeper brought home some fancy new running shoes the other day.  She has very thin feet with high arches and she found out her old shoes were not only hurting her ankles but her knees and her back.  So, she took a page out of her ultra-marathon sibling's notebook and went all high tech and sought shoes for her  "special needs".  So...she walked 4 miles yesterday and today, fast pace, slow pace, up and down hills...no ankle pain...no knee pain, and only a little back pain.  Something is working here. She might be able to walk the Camino yet! We like the color.

Visitors from San Francisco

This morning the keeper left us early to meet two former parishioners for breakfast who were on their way back home to the Bay area.  Karen had just finished a bike ride in Canada.  Anne is more  interested in walking for peace. They are a great couple. Karen is a scientist who used to work on pet pharmaceuticals. We hear she asked about us. How often does that happen?

Waiting for Baby Girl

Sorry for the posting deficit.  The keeper claims her camera isn't sending them again.  Well, we asked her to sit down at her desk and use her camera photos instead because we do not want to forget anything.  In the picture above are Brenda and Arturo.  They are leaders of the keeper's young adult group.  Their baby has also been part of the group for 9 months but doesn't want to reveal herself quite yet. We hear that the doctor will induce Brenda this afternoon.  We pray all goes well. The keeper and the  group spent part of Sunday afternoon inviting the baby to consider being born now.

Opera in the Grand Tradition

It was another one of those hot nights.  Yes, we were in most of the day, allowed to go out and bask in the heat wave and then lured in with food. Tonight she left us for a happier occasion--dinner and Seattle Opera's Turandot. In case you are interested, our night was quite unremarkable--we slept under the ceiling fan.  Alice's allergies seemed to dry up in the heat. But we know you really are more interested in the keeper's night.  She came home in awe of the whole evening--dinner was the least exciting, not for the company, but the quality of the food was not up to its usual standards.  But she was overcome, we hear, with the sets and the costumes and the choreography, and the lighting, and the "spectacle" of it all.  Incredible cast, her favorite conductor, and just a fabulous evening. They sang  their souls out! A long, long standing ovation, with lots of cheering.  She said she sat on the edge of her seat all night! What a start to the season!

Fare Thee Well, Josh!

Late this afternoon, we were lured back inside with more food and we spent the night inside---a  little toasty, but not much different from outdoors.  She was on her way to a funeral for a young man whom she knew from the time he was young.  The cathedral was packed, no one passed out from the heat, and they celebrated a short life packed with all of the enthusiasm and courage and love and friendship that those who are much older often shrink from.  Josh lived to celebrate his 18th birthday, but he didn't miss a minute of those 18 years.  The keeper was proud to say she knew him when he was full of that energy and attitude which sometimes put him in a bit of trouble, but which one day would drive him to push every limit and pour himself out for baseball, family, friends.  Life was too short for falsehood, for laziness, for hatred, and self-pity. We all are terminal cases, noted the keeper, and would that the rest of us might live with such focused intensity. We agreed wholeheartedly. She also said she loved all of the eulogies, but the ones given by the mother of his girlfriend and his girlfriend were particularly powerful.

Popsicles

Cecil is hot.  Water is boring.  The keeper offered him a Popsicle.  He was suspicious. He sniffed it and turned away.  He knows that it will turn his tongue orange, and  that it is full of bad chemicals.  The keeper, however, is not as smart.  She has gone through four of them since she got home. Purple, red, and orange tongue.  She probably should try something with a little protein, if you ask us.

Hot Town! Summer in the City!

Today we were grateful to stay indoors.  Last night all the power went off  in our whole area and so we went out with the keeper to lie on the covered hot tub to watch the meteor showers. She was thrilled because we could see billions of the stars last night without street lamps,  And it was very quiet.  No air conditioners, no music, just quiet. But we all got bored and came in to sleep until the power came back on early this morning. So did our lights, fans, and all of the noises. It seems that a whole block of trees fell down on the road last night and traffic was a nightmare this morning in LFP, Kenmore, Bothell. It was almost fixed when the keeper came home from the office this afternoon. But she said tempers were flaring easily especially at the corner with the big PEACE sign. She let us go out, but unless she turns on the sprinklers, we are staying in with her.

Feast for the Assumption

Today our keeper left us for her office and eventually, all points westward. She was dragging her feet about leaving this morning and we didn't help much. It feels like she has been off for a long time, but not really. She told us she spent most of the day returning calls and emails until she had to travel into town. Her office is in a basement and was cool. The roads were hot.

Today is also the Feast of the Assumption, one she has often not placed much attention  But given the intensity of the week and her new spirit, she stayed in town for a hot but lovely evening service which seemed a fitting way to ground the chaos and the grace. And she finally came home to us in a very peaceful place and we all ate out on the deck with candles and looked for meteor showers. None seen.  Maybe later.  She is thinking of camping out on the deck. We hope we can join her.

Kept with Fonder a Care

This is a stranger post than usual, it has roots in the Scriptures for this past weekend.  So beware. Our week with the keeper started off just fine on Sunday, continued well into Monday morning, hit a HUGE snag on Monday afternoon, when she realized she had missed a very important event.

We have not seen her like this ever. She paced and paced and kept saying, "Oh, Dios mio," and blaming herself, saying she deserved no less than the cone of shame. You know how dramatic she can be. Now, we knew the Elizabethan collars the vet gives us would be too small, so we weren't much help. But we realized she didn't need ours, she was already wearing her own imaginary cone.

Thank God she has friends (besides us) who love her on good days and on bad and who may understand her a bit better. One told her with such compassion,  "The world is still turning, and you are still breathing,"  and she knew he was right. Later, at a dinner, her other friends truly empathized, poured drinks, and then made her laugh through the night.

Then today on her way to lunch with two of those incredible friends, a woman whom she hadn't seen in 16 years appeared out of the blue on the sidewalk, and reminded her of time in which the keeper had been very helpful and present to the woman's family during a horrible tragedy. After the woman continued on her way, the keeper's friend turned to her and said, "I think this was a sign. You can let it go."  He was right. Angels, manna, bread and salad for the journey.

She came back to us  a lot more peaceful misquoting her old friend, GMH,  "That indeed, we are kept with fonder, finer  a care than we could ever keep our lives."  We are not too sure what that  means but it got us grilled chicken and a chance to eat and play outside together.

AMEN!

We Stand with Sr. Corita Kent

One of the marchers was a graduate of Immaculate Heart College in LA and was carrying a portrait of Sr. Corita Kent, the wonderful revolutionary artist, a favorite of the keeper!

Friends from CK

The keeper was so happy to keep running into former parishioners with whom she shared so many wonderful years. Another great reunion. The whole march was like a huge reunion, or cocktail reception, in the very hot sun, with lots of liter bottles of water.

Friends from St. Leo

She also ran into friends and key parishioners from her parish in Tacoma. They had a great reunion, and she thinks she has another one or two coming on the pilgrimage in 2014.

St. Therese Friends

We hear she ran into folks from all of her former parishes.  She preached at the wedding of this woman 19 years ago and was delighted to meet her children and catch up with all of their stories.

Then, Marchng with the Sisters

The keeper then headed to the March for the Sisters.  She ended up walking about 6 miles in the sun, since she parked her car at SU and walked to meet the marchers.  Estimates ranged from 500 to 1600 marchers.  Best sign on 15th... Jews for the Sisters!

Scenes from the Market

The keeper was only there about fifteen minutes, but she took it all in, and almost got run over by a non-observant driver backing up, but it was great fun and our refrigerator is full of organic vegies now. We aren't really into anything she brought home, but we were happy she got home safely.

Organic, Every Flavor

We watched her bring home several flats of berries.  Some will go to friends. Most of the others will be frozen so she can survive the other three months with sufficient Vitamin C  not in a pill.

Sunflowers

The bucket was full before the keeper bought a few bunches and brought them back to us.  These flowers are as large as dinner plates.

LL is for Llama

Here is a lesson which most of you already know: the llama is a pack animal, and the alpaca is not much into packing, but is very good for sharing its fur.  The keeper once had an alpaca coat in her fashion conscious days, we hear.

A is for Alpaca

This morning the keeper was still on vacation so she headed to the LFP Farmer's Market as soon as it opened. First stop: the alpacas and llamas from Duvall.  We note that she did not buy the cute little alpaca wool catnip toys for us. But we have to admit, they are pretty cute.

A Visit from Liam of Portland

We had company this afternoon when the petsitter brought over her first grandson, Liam, and his parents.  The keeper preached at Liam's parents wedding five years ago. We tried to be friendly but they wouldn't let us get near the baby. So we sulked in our corners most of the afternoon. But we are okay now. She offered us more salmon.

Others Waiting for Her

We weren't the only other ones waiting for her.  The flowers did really well in the heat, as did the tomatoes. Someone actually came to water them. They probably did better without her since she forgets to water when she is here.

She's Back.

Our sixth sense told us that we would see her this afternoon. And of course, we were right. She was later than we expected, though.  Something about traffic. But, we feigned indifference till it was time for dinner. Then we feigned indifference again till it was later and time for her dinner, which was salmon.  So at about 9 ish we wandered in looking a little famished.  It worked. Secretly, though, we were delighted she left all those other wild animals down at the beach.

A Windy Sunny Wonderful Day in Paradise

We hear that the wind picked up this afternoon and kept chasing the clouds like a good sheepdog. And the reeds were quite graceful in their dance with the breezes. She spent most of the day outside reading and thinking. What a dangerous combination!

We also are intuiting that we might see the keeper tomorrow. The petsitter is cleaning and packing some things. We just hope the keeper doesn't bring any of those cute baby animals back with her.