Silent Night (Damien Rice Cover)

Maud, working on her blue steel

Quiet monday night. I played indoor soccer at the local presbyterian church, and Maud kicked it at home on her favorite blanket.

I've been trying to write more frequently, but also capture the simple moments, without putting too much effort into trying to make things sound more than what they are. I'm working on simplifying a lot of things.

Here's to that.

post thanksgiving feels

Maud's favorite place in the apartment is against the living room window. Most mornings she'll wake up before I do, and gets the coffee started.  I normally start to stir at the sound of the blinds being pawed back just enough to make space for her to crawl through, where she lays on the sill, sips her coffee and stares out into the alley.

We have separate routines, and I don't ever bother her to join me for breakfast. I can tell she's deep in thought, sending her solidarity to the folks at Standing Rock, and contemplating the deeper challenges of the modern era. I imagine she says a small prayer for mom and dad to be happy, and wonders how her brothers and sisters are doing, out there somewhere in the wild.

Maud is balanced, and while she has her hesitations about certain things, as well as her limits on uninvited affection, she is warm and playful, and is constantly looking for ways to contribute, even where she hasn't figured out how.

When I first thought about adopting a cat, I had all these fears, as if taking care of an animal was going to somehow take away from all the other things I intended to do. The hypothetical world had me by the balls. But over the past six months, I've realized that having her around to take care of, and letting her take care of me, was what I'd really needed all along. Thinking it over - I'll take reality, my tiny framed, cheery, skeptical, and contemplative ball of fur, the litter box, the canned tuna, and the mid-night hairballs on the hallway rug; all day, all night, period.

Maudie, helping to read a script with Ben

Ben is one of the newest folks to move into 1823 Garfield. For work, he had to have a 150 page script read by the morning, and Maudie took time out of her evening cat-nap to help him take notes. Maud Brewster doesn't miss a beat. She's up at dawn, eats all her food, loves her toys, and is constantly a part of the action. She's thankful for what she has, is kind to everyone, and would give you the hair off her back. Couldn't be a prouder cat dad. 

Halloween 2016

july 18, as good a day as any

A couple of developments over the past few months. I started a new job with a small coffee importing company in Orange County, called Bodhi Leaf Coffee Traders, and rescued a young cat; (not the one that nearly gave me rabies), but this one. We call her Maudie, she's nearly 10 months old, and is as happy as a clam. Guess that makes two of us.

if Maudie could talk between her Sunday naps, she'd say

i like mice. 

i like to kill mice, 

toy mice. 

i like to pretend kill my toy mice. 

i like to tear things apart. 

i like to tear cardboard apart mostly. 

i like to shred it in the night, 

and leave the debri scattered about the rugs. 

i like to wake up very early in the morning. 

i like to meow until my breakfast is served, 

eat precisely half of the bowl, 

then meow until i am pet. 

i like to scratch my scratch post.

i like to jump onto the bed and walk across your chest,

put my face against your face,

and meow until i am pet.  

i like to poop after my breakfast. 

i like to cover it up and then rub my paws on the bathroom walls. 

i like coffee bags. 

i like laying on them, 

biting them, 

digging my nails into them, 

and using them to claw my way around the bottom of the living room table. 

i like balls. 

squishy balls, 

aluminum foil balls,

rubber band balls. 

i like anything that rolls. 

i like strings. 

i like strings tied to feathers,

strings that hang from the bed sheets and the blinds.

i like computer cables, 

and anything that moves back and forth when i swat it with my paws. 

i like naps. 

i like my spot on top of the sofa, 

and my grey knit blanket. 

i like to lay here, unmoved,

to fall in and out of sleep. 

i like to fall in and out of sleep. 

i like…