Holiday Moments

At our house, it's all about holiday trees and baseball...

Here's to being inside on a quiet snowy day, trying (and, so far, failing...) to get a lot of things done! Happy Holly-daze...

Inside this tree, the bird feeders are busy

Hand-made gifts, like earrings, make people happy

Night light collage

Full moon in Gemini last night... creativity abounds

A labor of love for me and a friend to give as gifts

Beautiful dark green magnolia across the street

A New Look!

On a whim, I decided to revamp the look of my blog... I love nature, animals and nature spirits, so I'm going with this lovely background and header, courtesy of another blog on Blogger that I follow by the name of Cute n Cool

I hope your Thanksgiving was full of love and laughter - mine was quiet (husband had to work - oh, the wonderful world of food service!) and on Friday I went to help a friend for the day and saw these lovely birds - so glad to see wild turkeys the day after "turkey day"

A family of 13 gobblers (here are nine of them)

Have been itching to create some pretty things for gifts, so am starting to make some Christmas cards, jewelry and other things... will post more photos soon

Happy end of November - bring on the holidays!

Of Epsom Salts and Cleavers...

Somehow, the cold weather has not yet killed off all the wild herbs growing in the back yard. There are still some lovely Kale plants and the large faithful Chives is dark green and healthy.  

I noticed the Cleavers that always thrives in the late spring/early summer months has returned for a last hurrah, so I am going to harvest some before it's too late.

Cleavers
Galium aparine

Other Names: Goosegrass, Amor De Hortelano, Barweed, Catchweed, Goosegrass, Cleever, Clivers, Everlasting Friendship, Gia Mara, Goosebill, Goosegrass, Grateron, Grip Grass, Hashishat Al Af'A, Hayriffe, Hayruff, Hedge Clivers, Hedgesheriff, Kaz Yogurtotu, Loveman, Mutton Chops, Robin-run-in-the-Grass, Scratweed, Sticky-willy, Stickywilly, Zhu Yang Yang

Here's what one website had to say:


Properties
   Cleavers is edible and medicinal, it has been used for centuries as an alternative medicine by indigenous peoples on many continents. It is edible raw, though it's said to be unpalatable, and is mainly used as a pot-herb or as an addition to soups. Using the plant as a vegetable has a slimming effect on the body. Cleavers seed is one of the best coffee substitutes, it merely needs to be dried and lightly roasted and has much the same flavor as coffee. 
   Cleavers has a long history of use as an alternative medicine and is still used widely by modern herbalists. It is used both internally and externally in the treatment of a wide range of ailments. The dried or fresh herb is alterative, anti-inflammatory, antiphlogistic, aperient, astringent, depurative, diaphoretic, diuretic, febrifuge, tonic and vulnerary. 
   A valuable diuretic, it is often taken to treat skin problems such as seborrhoea, eczema and psoriasis, and as a general detoxifying agent in serious illnesses such as cancer. 
   The plant contains organic acids, flavonoids, tannins, fatty acids, glycoside asperuloside, gallotannic acid and citric acid. It has a mild laxative effect and stimulates the lymphatic system and has shown benefit in skin related problems. The fresh plant or juice is used as a medicinal poultice for wounds, ulcers and many other skin problems. An infusion of the herb has shown of benefit in the treatment of glandular fever, tonsilitis, hepatitis and cystitis. The infusion is also used to treat liver, bladder and urinary problems. 
   The plant contains the valuable constituent asperuloside, a substance that is converted into prostaglandins by the body. Prostaglandins are hormone-like compounds that stimulate the uterus and affect blood vessels. More scientific research is being done on the plant, since it is of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry. 

Source: www.altnature.com

(I fixed some obvious typos, but I cannot vouch for the rest of the spelling or even any of the above-mentioned properties, although I did find many corroborations in Euell Gibbons' Stalking The Healthful Herbs and in Alma R. Hutchens' Indian Herbalogy of North America.)

I'm mainly interested in its abilities to improve the skin and, since the topical ointments the doctor has prescribed haven't done much to help alleviate my latest problem, I'm going to try a more natural approach, which includes bathing with Epsom salts and the juice from my Aloe plant. I'll keep you posted on the results either way...

Nap time, something they're both good at...

PS - The cats are doing fine. Silver is still very happy and content to be inside, and Copper is as spoiled as ever.

The Prodigal Cat Returns

Silver, just minutes after being brought inside

Once again, the number 7 figures prominently in my life: After being missing for seven weeks, Silver is home! 

Two weeks ago this very night, I walked out the back door not long after nightfall with the big flashlight in my hand, hoping to shine it in the back yard and see something else besides the random rabbit or skunk... a few moments earlier, I had called her name several times in the hopes that she might hear me through the window... no sooner had I stepped outside and taken the first step down than I saw a small cat leap out of the brambles and run past me into the darkness... "Silver! Silver? Silver!" I called out, stunned and incredulous. Could it be her? Or was it someone else's stray cat, a lonely, hungry creature far from home? "Silver, sweetie, come on, Silver..." On the other side of the garage, I heard a little voice, also (seemingly) incredulous, answering me: "Mew! Mew! Mew! Mew! Mew! Mew! Mew!"  My heart skipped a beat. Yes!

Silver, more relaxed after realizing she's home

I quickly turned and went inside, snatched up a bowl and some dry food and came back outside. By now the cat had come into view and was sitting at the end of the short sidewalk. I strained my eyes to get a good look, but I still couldn't make a positive identification. I knelt down and poured some nuggets into the bowl, saying her name over and over. "Come here, baby, are you hungry?" Whether or not it was her, I was determined to give this cat something to eat. "Come on, it's okay, come on, here's some food for you..." She walked slowly towards me as I kept pouring the food into the bowl. Finally she was at the bottom step, looking up at me. I put the bowl down on the step closest to me and she climbed up and began to eat. I petted her little head and she didn't flinch, she just kept on eating, so I kept on talking. By now I knew it was my very own sweet kitty, so I picked up the bowl and moved it closer to me, and she followed it up and kept eating. I stroked her fur and said her name over and over. "Silver, Silver, oh my little sweetie baby girl." Then I took a breath and gently but firmly picked her up, stood up, turned and walked inside, all in one fluid movement, closing the door behind me. When we reached the kitchen, I put her down and she ran into the living room. I stood in the middle of the hallway and started to gasp and laugh and cry. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I said, over and over. In just five minutes, I had rescued my own cat!

"Could a girl get something to eat around here?"

I called my husband and said, "She's back!" (he also sounded incredulous) then I called my brother and mother, who were ecstatic. (Later, I would post on Facebook "She's BACK!!!!!!! and yea, there was much rejoicing in the land.) After hiding under the couch for 10 or 15 minutes, she finally crept into the kitchen on her own, where I put some more food on the floor and watched her eat. Eventually she flopped down on the rug to be petted, so I happily complied, checking for injuries (none) and ticks (two). She had lost at least a couple of pounds, maybe a bit more, so I know she probably lived off her own body fat during her ordeal. I think she must have been nearby most of the time, but was too nervous to come out of hiding, or too wary. I'm glad the coyotes don't come around too much or that the owls I had heard calling during the last full moon didn't see her. (I saw a gruesome photo online of a large owl carrying off a full-grown cat in Minnesota, so it does happen...)

"You look familiar, do I know you?"

When Copper came downstairs to investigate, he didn't seem to recognize her, so there was some hissing, but Silver didn't even react - she seemed genuinely content and happy just to be home.

Catching up on her beauty sleep

Now that she's caught up on her sleep, Silver is eating and drinking water like nothing ever happened and has gained a few ounces, maybe even a full pound. She has remembered how to hop up into my lap and gives me long, contented looks; Copper no longer hisses, so things are essentially back to normal. I know how lucky I am that my cat returned to me, and I didn't realize how heavy my heart was until I felt it become a little lighter every time I see her curled up fast asleep. I'm so grateful to everyone who helped me through this difficult time. 

When someone you love is missing - human or otherwise - something inside you is missing, too, and you are never truly complete again until you find them or find out what happened to them so you can mourn their loss. My Silver girl came back to me, and my gratitude at being given this wonderful gift knows no bounds. Thank you, one and all. And thank you, Silver, for being a most resourceful feline!

The Needle In The Haystack

Silver girl, come back to me
I am like a ghost, searching for another ghost
Peering out of windows, haunting the streets
Boldly approaching anyone for news of you
Waiting for a silver flash, a wink of your sea-foam eyes

There is beauty all around me
I barely notice, so intent am I on finding you
Imagining that, if I keep calling
And the breeze blows just right,
That you will finally hear me, at long last
And I will see you emerge
From the sea of blue-green jewelweed
Or hear your answer, faint yet near, "I'm here"

Why did you run so far, so fast? 
Where did you go?
Come back...

I saw seven rabbits and asked them all to help me find you
And I say the same to every creature I encounter
Even the big blue dragonflies are out hunting for any sign of you
Everyone I talk to is kind, they seem to understand my anguish
They all tell me, "Don't give up, keep the faith"

I found a turkey feather in the cemetery
And a tenacious hummingbird hovered next to me one morning as if to say,
"Don't give up, don't ever give up"

Hide, then, if you must, to stay safe
But come back to me, little one
We need you, your twin brother Copper and I
Do you hear the wind chimes on the back porch? 
Can you smell the incense I burn?
I need you, I need to know you're alive and well, able to survive until you return
I want you back home, cozy and warm, with me

As I print more photographs of you and write these words
My eyes fill up with my own salty water and my nose stings 
I'll keep looking and calling and hoping, my little lost love

Please come back to me, my sweet Silver girl

The Beat Goes On...

Yesterday I went on four different searches AND worked for five hours - I got an email from a woman who lives three miles away, which seems like an impossible distance, but I went to look anyway. Talked to a few very nice people who promised to let me know if they saw her. And yet another friend offered to help me look, so Judy and I tramped around and got the word out to more folks. As it turns out, the original sighting that had me so fired up could be a case of mistaken identity after all, according to one neighbor. And this morning I got a message from a sweet girl at the local animal shelter asking if I'd found her yet.

At the window... perhaps she really missed the outdoors after all?

Last night I caught some eye-shine in my back yard, but the only creature I saw was a foraging skunk. I'm going to set out a "have-a-heart" trap back there tonight. Today I plan on taking some cards to a nearby pet daycare center as well as a the only pet store in town. There's still hope that she will turn up on her own, I suppose... and that's all for now - maybe another blog post with more photos of flora and fauna.

Tired Of Single-Topic Blogs That Are Way Too Long?

Yeah, I know, me too ~ sorry that my recent posts fall into that category! 

So... 

Thanks for putting up with my latest obsession... I'll attempt to write about other topics in addition to this search-and-rescue theme ~ Noise... Nature... the Cunningly Clever Methodologies of the Domestic House Cat! ~ believe me, I do a lot of thinking as I'm stumbling around my neighborhood before sunrise!

The Twins, my little cuties

Search for Silver UPDATE: Nothing new to report ~ still searching and hoping, though.

However, I do have one announcement: The vet called with the results on Copper's skin tumor. It was a type of skin cancer, but they are pretty sure they got all of it and I just have to keep checking him for any new growths.

Copper relaxing, post-surgery

At least he's not running around in this "jungle" like his sister...

Jewelweed as high as an elephant's eye...

I'm already tired, time to go to work.

 

 

Into The Wild

Not-so-wild thing...

On Monday, another brave soul joined me to search for my little lost cat - Karen and I went up and down side streets, walked down dirt roads into some heavily wooded areas and met a lot of wonderful folks who promised to let me know if they saw her. Karen even flagged down a woman who was speeding by on her bike - she stopped so suddenly I was afraid she was going to flip over, but she just smiled and put one of my post cards in her pocket, saying she would be happy to keep an eye out for my cat. 

The wild places behind my house

We also met a nice woman walking her dog who told us about another woman who also walks her dog AND her cat in that area. After meeting this other woman, she called me 10 minutes later, saying she had just seen a grey cat. We rushed over there, but it was someone else's grey cat. Shortly afterwards, I saw a woman I know who lives down the road from me who told us that she and her husband were out walking when a grey cat came up to them. The description didn't quite match, and the behavior was not consistent with Silver's timidity, so we ruled it out. But it's comforting to know that there are many more pairs of eyes out there looking for my girl.

From a distance, this looked like a grey cat hiding in the bushes

Lately, I've been getting up earlier and earlier, trying to go out before the traffic gets heavy and things are still quiet. Yesterday I went out at 6:30 for an hour; this morning I was out the door at 5:45 and came back an hour later to make coffee and rest before going out again. A few telephone poles are now decorated with small posters with Silver's photo and my contact information. 

The little green pond behind my house

I also try to go out at night, when the noise has faded, hoping she'll hear me whispering her name, and when I'm out there all alone and there's no response, I end up standing still for a moment letting the tears fall where they may, trying to reclaim that little spark of hope I had carefully wrapped up and put in my pocket.

The beauty of nature

Wild morning glory

Tricky terrain

Last night, when I got home from work, I went into the back yard to move the cat box further out next to an old blanket she used to sleep on, along with one of my worn-but-not-yet-washed T-shirts and a little yellow bowl with food and water, hoping to infuse the air with some familiar scents.  

In the darkness, I thought I saw an animal, so I aimed the flashlight at it and watched it run into the woods. It was a lighter color (was it grey?) and it didn't move like a skunk, an opossum or a rabbit (maybe a cat?). I went over to the corner of the yard and called for ten or fifteen minutes, with no results.

Spotted Jewelweed and Poke Weed guard the mysterious corner of my back yard

I much prefer to go out early in the morning rather than at night simply because it's before the relentless noise begins and there's just enough light to see by, There is beauty and serenity here in my little corner of the world, but there's also a darker side, the places I can't get to and don't even know about, the mysterious unknown energies, hidden deep in the wilderness that humans have always feared and avoided. That's where Silver is waiting, and that's where I must go.

The First 48 (Hours) and A Glimmer of Hope

My friend Jen, creatrix extraordinaire and fellow cat-lover, came over today to help me walk around the neighborhood and hand out post cards featuring my missing cat's photo and my contact information. We left some cards at a little museum and an antique store, put up a flyer in a busy seaside bistro, and then we started going up to nearby houses where we saw people outside. 

Even though I felt sort of like a traveling salesman, what I discovered was quite humbling: Everyone was so friendly and quite compassionate... "Oh, I'm so sorry, I hope you find her," one woman said who was walking her dog. "The poor thing, she's so beautiful," another woman told me. "I'm pet-sitting my mother's cats and someone's pet-sitting mine - I love cats," a young man explained as he took one of my cards. A lady who was tending her garden said, "I'll watch for her, and you might want to talk to my neighbor, he puts out food for cats." When no one came to the door, she came over and led us around to the back, where we met this sweet gentleman who said he would keep an eye out for her. "Silver, her name is Silver," I kept telling them.

Finally, when we were close to my house I decided to lead Jen into a friend's yard where I had already looked a couple of times. Two women were sitting on the back porch and I waved. "It's just me, the lady who's looking for her cat," I called out, knowing that my friend had spoken to his wife about my plight. "We saw your cat!" one of them said, and I walked quickly over to them to hear more of this glorious news. "You did? Really? When did you see her?" I asked. "Friday, it was Friday," she answered. "That must have been right after she escaped!" So, my first instinct about her choice of direction was correct all along, muddled and warped by doubt, sorrow and the passage of time. "Her name is Silver, she knows her name, call me any time and I'll be over in a flash!" And so I came home with my heart a tiny bit lighter, thanks to kind folks.

After today, I am focusing on the area of woods and wetlands just behind our house and hoping that she has not strayed any farther or hasn't been chased off by territorial cats or hungry coyotes. Mostly, I am in awe of how many people wanted to help or give me moral support. I can't wait to tell Silver all about it! And I'm sure she'll have some good stories to tell her brother if I can coax her back home. Wish me luck!

The Kindness of Strangers... and Friends

 
One of my worst nightmares has happened... Last week, I had taken one of my cats, Copper, to the vet for his shots and to have a growth removed. Then yesterday it was Silver's turn. We had made it there and back again and, just as I opened the front door, the grate on the cat carrier fell out and she bolted under some bushes. Trying not to panic, I went around to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. I looked and called, searched and started sobbing. Was she hiding nearby? Was she running as fast as she could and, if so, in which direction? I had a couple hours of daylight, but it was still wet and raining a little, so I alternated between feeling positive about finding her and sitting on the front step crying. 

By three a.m. I was exhausted, but my dear husband agreed to walk around the block with me, shining a flashlight, hoping to catch her eye-shine in some bushes somewhere, anywhere - it was very quiet and I hoped she would hear me - I saw a skunk and four bunnies but no glimpse, no sound, no trace of my sweet little girl.

Sister and brother, Silver and Copper, Sister and Mister

What I don't know is, can she hear me? Is she injured? What I do know is, she's hungry, alone and terrified. Even though she lived the first year of her life in the wild scrub of Florida, she has never set foot outside here in New England. She probably remembers how to hunt, but she's become quite plump and it would be difficult for her to catch much of anything except bugs or frogs, or worse... And the noises are much louder during the day - cars, motorcycles, fire engines, people mowing lawns, doing repairs, riding bicycles, walking dogs - things she would run even farther away from. 

I am grateful that it's not the middle of winter, that there's no hurricane bearing down on us, and that she has her shots. But I'm worried about her running into ravenous raccoons or cunning coyotes. Will someone see her, feed her, call me? I put up a flyer and gave out post cards with her photo and the basic information, but it doesn't seem like enough... not nearly enough. Even now, I feel like I'm wasting time, but I need to pace myself if I intend to keep the search going. And I wanted to express my gratitude...

Which brings me to the kindness of strangers... and friends. Everyone I've spoken to has been so willing to help, with promises to look for her, telling others to keep an eye out for her, saying what a beauty she is - thank you all. Yesterday I asked a passing dragonfly to help me find her... today I asked the souls in the cemetery to please send her home... even the little chipmunk who lives in my stone wall seemed interested in my plight. 

It's like looking for the proverbial "needle in a haystack" since she could be anywhere - I just want her back so badly, it hurts. That's all - time to search (and cry, and hope) some more.

Where Did The Time Go?

Well, at least I finally found some time - albeit the last day of July - to write about how I've been spending some of my time...

I changed jobs last month (returned to the place where I had worked for eight years, six years ago!) and have been trying to make enough things to fill up an Etsy store. I'm making a conscious effort to create a variety of things made of paper - yes, paper - like cards, bookmarks, jewelry, journals, thaumatropes (Victorian twirling toys), family trees, etc. I have quite a list of ideas...

Here is a sampling of papier roule (rolled paper) earrings:

In addition, I'm having a lot of fun making all kinds of paper "prayer flags" - actually, they're more like "inspiration flags" or even "haiku flags" - and here are a few of my early attempts:

It seems that a lot of people are making these things (most I've seen are lovely works of art made of images on fabric), inspired by Tibetan prayer flags that are hung from trees, temples and houses around the world in an effort to send prayers and blessings on the wings of the wind out into the world. Mine are small enough to be hung on a mirror, near a computer, or anyplace where the colorful messages are visible - other artists are making similar things to celebrate weddings and birthdays, as well as for other festive (or even solemn) occasions...

I'm learning as I go... One big challenge for me is finding simple sayings of only seven short words (as befits the Seven Sisters Arts motif) and using rubber-stamped images on colored paper to enhance the theme... here's another one in progress:

I have LOTS of rubber stamps, so expect to see more of these in the days and weeks to come. I should be adding some photos to the Seven Sisters Arts Ink web site (which you can visit by clicking on the link on the upper right-hand corner of this page) and I might see if a couple of local shops want to carry them... Future flags will feature nature, Christmas and the sea. The sky's the limit!

The weather's not quite as oppressive as it was earlier in the month (no air conditioning) so I hope to be even more productive in August - thanks, and enjoy what's left of the summer!