Butterfly Watching a Cat, Close-up

The Story of a Love

"The story of a love is not important--

what is important is that one is capable of love."

--Helen Hayes

Never Yet a Philosopher

"There was never yet a philosopher

that could endure the toothache patiently."

--Shakespeare

Summer Will Have Its Flies

"Do what we can, summer will have its flies.

If we walk in the woods, we must feed mosquitoes."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Two Weeks Ago

Two weeks ago, my viewing of The View was interrupted by a knock at the door. A woman who introduced herself as my neighbor from up the road inquired if I had been missing an orange cat with a fluffy tail. Apparently, several weeks ago, the woman's orange cat with a fluffy tail had gone missing. Then one day the woman's husband discovered the cat, muddy and soaking wet from the rain, killed by a vehicle on our road. The man quickly buried the cat, and his wife went to work in a distraught state the next day. A little time passed, and then, much to their surprise, an orange cat with a fluffy tail showed up at their door. It was their orange cat with a fluffy tail, which meant that they had buried someone else's orange cat in their yard.

I thanked the woman for searching for the deceased cat's owner, since I certainly would want to know if it had been one of my cats. But I referred the woman to my next door neighbors, because it has been many weeks since their orange cat with a fluffy tail has been in my yard. She laughed and said that perhaps it had been her orange cat visiting my yard because these two cats were identical. Anyway, while I still do not know whose orange cat lies in a grave up the road, it is heartwarming to know I have neighbors who care about their pet-loving neighbors.

Where's Waldo?

A few hours ago, Ponzo and I had just started to view 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama on Netflix on the computer, when Rebel started carrying on, barking the way he does when there is a black bear in the yard. So I grabbed my camera and, after ordering an excited Rebel to stay indoors, I went outside.

The black bear had already made his way into the ditch across the road; every now and then I would see his head, as he made his way slowly down the ditch. I waited for him to emerge out of the woods, which he finally did, more or less, and I noticed he was a full-grown bear, although he was still partially hidden. I figured I would wait and take my photos of the bear when he was clear of the woods, since it seemed that he had decided he was going to walk on the road. But the bear was very interested in something down the road, because he suddenly stopped in his tracks and he did not even glance my way.

A minute later, I learned what had captured the bear's full attention: a man and his black dog had been walking up the road. With the exception of the racket that Rebel was making inside the house, silence prevailed. The black bear, the black dog, the man, and I were silent, as I watched in amazement: the man allowed his medium-sized dog, who was on a retractable leash, to run right up to the bear, who turned and left quickly through the woods. And then the dog and his owner continued walking in silence, as if they had never run into the black bear. Nobody had even noticed my presence, but I decided that Waldo would be a good name for the bear. By the way, he is in the photo--or is he?

Charlotte, Featured Cat of the Month

Charlotte, the fourth of Ginny's kittens, was born at exactly 6:45 pm EST on April 17, 2008. Watching the kitten struggle immediately upon birth, the seconds seemed like minutes to me, and I was on the verge of peeling the fetal membrane off the kitten's face, when Ginny suddenly turned her attention away from the other three kittens and picked up her newest one, which had been behind her back since coming into this world. Skillfully, Ginny removed the membrane from the kitten's body, thus, relieving me of my duties as an inexperienced midwife.

I named the calico-tabby kitten Charlotte, after my favorite college professor, whom I greatly admired as a person. Many years later, I met another nice person named Charlotte and, of course, there is the famous Charlotte of Charlotte's Web. Besides, I thought the name Charlotte would go well with the names of two of her siblings, Darcy and Emma.