Archive | Cat Lady Matters

Venus Approaches

The_Birth_of_Venus_by_William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1879)

July approaches, and peonies still preside on my bedside table though their season used to end in May. I chalk it up to the unseasonably mild weather, and complain not.

The baby doves on my fire escape are not babies anymore but also are still hanging out, peep-peep-peeping while their mother fusses over them like all the other Brooklyn mommies. Every morning as I drink my coffee I watch her nag them into flying a little further while their father observes from on high. Grace watches too, ears flattened, a burr forming low in her throat. Twice I’ve had to snatch her mid-air lest she hurl at them through the screen window; she seems to have located her predatory instincts quite nicely, thank you very much. Continue Reading →

This Is Not a Rug

not a pipeIt never ceases to amuse me that permakitten Grace adores having the rug being pulled out from under her. Literally. Once a morning, she rumples my throw rug and then sprawls upon it, belly up, eyes slitted. When I slooowwwly slide her off to straighten the rug out, she purrs with the greatest satisfaction. Sometimes she even lets me drag her around on it first, as if she were lying upon a sled. Or a throne, come to think of it. Whatever her intent, this action impresses me. Living metaphors always do.

The Church of Green and Gold and Dolly

Screen Shot 2016-06-20 at 8.40.18 AMFour nights ago I dreamed that my friend K and his daughter were holding my hands as we went on a nature adventure. I woke up smiling without much more to go on. K, who is a painter and musician of some repute, was not leading me on; he was just leading me. I could tell he loves me, though. And while he loves a lot of people, this doesn’t preclude his love for me. Love is love is love is love, said Lin-Manuel a week ago, and he was right. Love is everything and it’s everywhere and it’s never “though” and it’s never “just.” When we forget that, we’re up a creek the likes of which—well, the whole country is up that creek as I type. Continue Reading →

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy