Jingle Bells
For my sins I have a dog and three cats. Three gorgeous cats each one full of its own personality and foibles. Bossy Bessy loves to sit one one's knee and yowls until you stroke her, Pickle is a scavenger always looking for an extra morsel of food, and Poppy? Well Poppy is quite honestly mad. She was feral when I adopted her and half siamese, she is extremely vocal when stroked and picked up yowling until she is put down again.
Pickle, being male, is quite happy to hang out in front or even on top of the television but the two girl cats, Bessie and Poppy are hunters. Wild, great hunters who have woken me up before with the agonised screeching of a half dead bird brought into my bedroom. A bird in extreme fear that jumps from corner to corner desperately fighting for its life and scattering feathers all over in a last cling to the cliff edge before oblivion.
For that reason, I have bought cat collars. Black cat collars with a wide reflective strip and yes, a large, loud bell on each of them. I love cats, but I do also love birds and whilst not wishing to curb the desire of my cats to wander outside, I do have a problem with them hunting animals that, in the noise and bustle of a large city, are therefore defenceless.
So Christmas has come early to my house as the two jingled cats peal up and down the stairs. When I close my eyes, here downstairs with my daughter sleeping away in her room, I fancy that I can possibly catch the scrape of reindeer hooves on the slates above, the flash of red through the window and the echo of an old man still bringing his magic to me on the wind.
Minerva
9 comments:
I love this, how sounds and "noise" can fill in the holes sometimes.
jingle bells to you !
Hi, Minerva: I just moved to Arizona here in the states and my downstairs apartment neighbor has a cool local cat a bit spoiled with water and food (he has an owner in the complex). Amazingly, he has an amazing capacity to tough it out until my neighbor appears, opens her dor and places food out. As I climb the stairs, I get a kick out of this cat when he jumps up on his hind legs and graps the door handle while looking at me as if to say, "If they'd only open the door..oh, and if you could assist! Nice to stop by as always! :)
I love cats and dogs and had both for years but am unable to have pets where i live. However I love the dogs and cats belonging to my children and grandchildren My youngest son's 11 year old cat was known to bring in a variety of half dead critters when he was younger, but since he's worn a collar with a sensor bell that opens his special door it seems he's given up hunting. These days he's content to climb onto a lap
and purr while being petted. He loves the Christmas tree and sleeps under it among the gifts. You might say he's a very special gift. Enjoy the magic of this Holiday and the jingle of bells your cars bring to it.
Evocative! How can one not have the Christmas spirit with the imagination you have?
Mighty Minerva minxes most merrily ;-)
Our almost two year old Frankie wears a belled collar because he likes to pounce on our almost 12 year old dog, and it gives her a bit of warning. Also since he is black as coal, it keeps him from being stepped on in the middle of the night.
When he goes tearing from one end of the house to the other he jingles madly all the way!
alan
Your writing is just phenomenally good. I've just sat and read the lot.
Leroy Sievers blog today--given 6 months..now 2 years later:
December 7, 2007
Defying Expectations
“I won't say I shouldn't be here, I don't think that's right. I wasn't expected to still be here, that's certainly true.”
Two years ago today, my life changed forever.
The day started out like any other. I had a job interview that afternoon for a position I really wanted. It was a phone interview, and the only thing that worried me was that I had started to slur my words. I couldn't figure out why. None of my friends said anything. I wrote it off to fatigue. I wasn't sleeping well. I was waking up with headaches, which was something new for me.
The interview went fine. But at dinner, it was clear that things weren't fine. One side of my face was drooping. We went to the emergency room and the doctor's first thought was Bell's Palsy, a temporary paralysis of the face. I remember thinking how awful it would be if that's what I had.
Then everything changed. I had a brain scan, and as I was wheeled back into the ER I caught the eye of my doctor. And I knew.
"We found a mass." I had a brain tumor and tumors in my lungs. I was told three to six months. I remember the room spinning, or was it my head?
Well, two years later, I'm still here. Thanks to the skills of my doctors, the strength of my friends and loved ones, and the generosity of all of you who have included me in your thoughts and prayers. And also a little stubbornness on my part.
I won't say I shouldn't be here, I don't think that's right. I wasn't expected to still be here, that's certainly true.
I'm a different person in many ways. Everything I've gone through, all the things I've learned, have changed me in ways large and small.
Who knows how this will play out?
Today I'm not going to think about that. Today there's really only one thing to say.
I'm still here.
-- Leroy Sievers
You have such a vivid style of writing! I can "see" your cats and thank you for sharing this snippet of your life.
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