The Great Forest in Late Summer

 

            The day was perfectly ripe. Soft and warm and golden. He thought of apples, and orchards he had visited from time to time. The trees, dusty and warm, the fruit peeping out succulently gorgeous, red and green, striped and speckled. Devastating! The juice like wine.
            It was still warm in the sunshine, but evenings were coming earlier every day, and there was a breath of mist in them, and the wind when it blew was cooler.
            The mighty firs stood as always. Looking up, he saw the year’s cones, and he saw that it was all very good. There had been summer, and now there would be the fall of the year.
            He was walking perimeter, so to speak. A late summer tradition.
            Things were always changing. He knew that. He could see it easily. He thought that someday the people by the water would come further uphill, into the Cascades and build more roads, and then there would be more people following the roads. A stance to take, that was the question. Peace, surely.
            Out in the meadow, the bees were busy, preparing for winter and rest. Ralph greeted some of them by name.
            “Winter is coming, Twigg’s Father,” said a Betty near his ear.
            “Yes, soon, soon,” he whispered to the small creature, lest his breath send her tumbling through the air.
            Several crows saw him coming and called to him. He raised a hand in answer. They flew to tell their friends that the lord of the Forest had noted them in passing.
            A couple of small brown rabbits followed him for a while, giggling behind his feet, then scampered away. Ralph smiled, pretending not to notice them.
            He walked through the trees to the other smaller cleared area where Uncle Bob’s Stump House stood. Coming closer, he saw that Suzie was home. She was weaving a basket of slender green branches.
            “A fine day to you, Firekeeper,” he said in the old language.
            “And to you,” Aunt Suzie said. “Perhaps you will meet Bob if you continue up this way.”
            “I pray that I do, dear lady. A walk with my cousin would be a fine thing today.”
            He found Bob standing in the sunlight, with his eyes closed and his hands spread in the air. He was singing in his sweet light tenor a song with no words, or old words, or angelic words. A wonder and a mystery.
            “Bob, shall we go walking about?” he whispered, so as not to startle the worshipper.
            “Oh, hi, Raphie! This is a good day for a walk,” said Uncle Bob, opening his eyes and smiling. The bright sunlight glinted off of his greyish hair, and seemed to linger around him for a few moments.
            “Where are we going, Ralphie?” said Bob.
            “Oh, just to explore a moment in time, Bob,” said Ralph, smiling.
            They circled back down the path and walked out to the beach of the Silver River. They sat on a couple of round boulders right near the river’s edge, with their feet in the water.
            “What do you see?” said Ralph. He was looking over the river as he spoke.
            “Well, something that never changes, but is always moving,” said Bob, also gazing out over the water. Then he frowned.
            “What is that, Ralphie?” said Bob.
            “Looks like a head, Bob,” said Ralph. “Wonder who it is? Only one way to find out!”
            Ralph and Bob waded out into the middle of the river. There was a large reptilian head rising up out of the stream.
            “I remember you!” said Ralph. “What are up doing clear up here?”
            “Oh, I thought I might find you, and here you are!” said a great long writhing, shining sea serpent. “You saved me when I was little.”
            “You’ve certainly grown into a fine great serpent!” said Ralph.
            “Well, thank you. I never knew your name!” said the serpent. He seemed to smile.
            “I’m Ralph, and here is Bob,” said Ralph.
            “This river water is a little hard on my scales, so I’ll swim back down to the salt water now. Thanks, Ralph!” said the serpent. He splashed and was gone in a flash of time.
            “I can’t wait to tell Ramona about this,” said Ralph. “She might think I’m pulling her leg!”
            “I’ll vouch for you,” said Bob, who was laughing.
            “This was a very good day. Thanks for walking with me, Bob,” said Ralph.
            “Any time,” agreed Uncle Bob.
            “Let’s go see what Mona is making for dinner. Oh, do you want a few fish for Suzie while we are here?” said Ralph. Bob thought that sounded like a very good idea, so Ralph charmed some eager trout up to the very shallow water and strung a dozen of them on a sapling branch for Suzie.
            “Suzie will love these. She gets tired of cooking turkeys,” said Bob.
            As the friends walked back into the forest, behind them, shining in the later afternoon sunlight, the river moved on, as always.

🍃🍁🍃

The Best of Summer to All 🍉

 What could be simpler?

A box of homegrown tomatoes.

Summer is right there, and fleeting!

They were a gift from my son, in a berry box one year!

I wish you the best of it all!

🍁💚🍁

Meow!

A Kittens' Tale 🐈‍⬛🐈🐈🐈‍⬛🐈Part 3

 

           The next time I opened my eyes, it was still dark. Morning was just starting. I lay very still so that I wouldn’t disturb Koba. When I listened, I could hear his mother and father breathing in the other side of the round room. It was all very peaceful, until I thought of my mother and sisters again.
            I tried to be quiet, but I started crying again. Then Koba woke up. He patted and petted me and said soft words to calm me.
            “Today, when morning is really here, we will try to find your family, Joey,” he said. “Try to be brave.”
            We rested together until the sun began to rise, and birds began to call outside in the meadow. Then he carried me over to his parents’ bed.
            “Daddy, can we go look for his family now? He’s sad,” said Koba.
            Twigg sat up and looked at his son and I standing there by the bed. Leely woke too.
            She said, “Let me make something quick to eat first. Better not go out hungry! It might take a while to find them!”
            Koba and I watched as she made a small fire in her stove. Then she broke a dozen eggs into a bowl and whipped them with salt and pepper. Then she set a sort of flat pan on the stove and put butter in it. When it was hot, she cooked the whipped eggs in the butter. That was my first time eating eggs.
            When we all went out to search, the sun was peeking through the trees, and shadows were still long over the meadow. Everything was still wet with dew. Koba was still carrying me, because the grass was wet.
            “How will we find his family?” said Koba.
            “I think we should follow Joey. Set him on the ground, Koba. Even though he got lost, he might still know which direction to go,” said Twigg. “He knows what his home looks like, and he will know it when he sees it.”
            So, he put me down in the grass, facing away from the sun. I began to walk deeper into the meadow. I was looking for the tallest thing out there, our stump. I was sniffing for a trace of my mother’s scent too.
            “Look, Joey smells something!” said Leely.
            “Maybe we’re getting close!” said Twigg. He was smiling, his brown eyes twinkled as he looked down at me.
            I kept walking and sniffing. I thought maybe I was getting just a little whiff of my mother’s sweet familiar presence. As I walked and they followed, it got stronger until I was sure. That was her, no one else.
            “Look,” said Koba. “There’s the big stump! I wonder if he came from there?” He picked me up so that I could see over the grass, and then I knew! My mother and my sisters must be right there in the nest under the stump, just like always. Oh, my heart beat so hard! I was barely able to breathe as we rushed forward.
            Koba carried me in his arms, because it was faster that way.
            But, when we got there the nest under the stump was cold and empty. No one was there! The old burnt-out stump had no way to tell us where they had gone, or why.
            I began to cry in desperation. Koba began to cry, too. Leely sat down on the grass and held both Koba and me in her arms. Her long hair hung down over both of us, and in my grief, I clung to it.
            But Twigg was looking up at something in the sky.
            “Maeve!” he said.
            “I hear a kitten crying! This must be the lost one!” she shouted.
            “Yes, he is a lost kitten. He came to us yesterday. Do you know something about his family? He must have at least a mother somewhere,” said Twigg.
            “His name is Joey,” said Koba.
            “Oh! Well, I met his mama yesterday right here at the stump. She was looking for him, and very frightened.” said Maeve.
            “Maeve, dear,” said Leely, “Where can his mama be? You must know!”
            “Evermore! I moved them. Mama was afraid that her other kittens would be taken from her, so I led them to Ramona. That’s where Mama and three little sisters are right now, playing with Cherry and hoping that I will find the lost one!”
            Twigg told me that all was well, but of course I only understood his heart, not his words. The words and the whole story came later.
            Maeve flew on ahead to give the Home Clearing the news that the lost kitten was found. No one wanted them to worry a minute longer.
            Twigg and Leely and Koba, carrying me, all made our slower way to the Home Clearing. I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to see my mother and my sisters again!
            What a place the Home Clearing was! It was a big open space in the forest. I had never seen such trees. Our stump must have been a tree like one of those when it was alive. There was a fire burning, and seated by the fire, were Twigg’s father and mother. I learned their names later.
            My mother and my sisters were sleeping in a box, full of leaves and moss, being watched over by Twigg’s little sister. Koba set me down, and I went to them and climbed into the box. It was like we had never been apart. I just snuggled down in my usual spot, and my mother greeted me as cats do. Her eyes were full of happiness.
            The great black bird was seated on the father’s shoulder watching everything with approval.
            “Oh, we are so happy that the little one has been found. How did it happen?” said Ramona.
            “I heard him crying in the meadow yesterday,” said Koba. “So, I flew up to see where he was, and I brought him home. Mama fed him fish and he slept with me, then we went to find his family, but Maeve found them first!”
            “Wonderful!” Ralph said.
            “I want them all to live with us,” said Koba. “Please! They all need names!”
            “Of course they can all live with us!” said Twigg, with a grin. “And they do need names!”
            “Oh yes, they must come home with us!” said Leely. “A family of cats in our house would just be wonderful!”
            “I will miss them,” said Cherry.
            “Come to see them at our house, and you can help name them,” said Koba.
            So, it was decided, and everyone was happy, me most of all.
            And that is the true story of how I got lost and found, and my family was rescued and came to live in the Alder Tree House in the meadow near the old stump, and how that became our home.
            Mama became Lois. Leely named her.
            One sister, the black one, was named Olive by Cherry, who really likes olives!
            Koba named my nearly all white sister Luna, because the moon is nearly white.
            Twigg named my tabby sister, Cocoa!
            That’s how we all got our names too.

🐦‍⬛❤️🐈‍⬛

What Cats Care About ❤️ A Kitty Sympurrsium

 

Well, something approximating this meeting!

            “Is everyone here, and listening,” said Toots to the usual crew members in PurrSpace™.
            “Well, I certainly am,” said Suzy, who was just waking up from a long nap in hiding. “So. What’s the question on the table today? I think I slept through the notice.”
            “YO!” said Buddy. “I heard it! We’re going to talk about what cats care about!”
            “Oh, that should be fun,” said Charley, who had just tuned in. “I, for one, would love to have a say!”
            “I’m here too,” said Sammie.
            “I’m here!” yelled Sweetie.
            “Me too,” said Booker.
            “It’s better to listen than yell, you two,” said Suzy, giving the kids a look. They both broke out in muffled giggles.
            “I know what I care about!” said Mr. Baby.
            “No doubt,” muttered Suzy under her breath….
            “Alright! Let’s begin then,” said Toots, who was in charge this time. “Most of you have spoken up. I know Serena is listening. Hi, Serena!
            “What we’re about here is a re-examination of assumptions. ‘Everybody’ knows what cats like, don’t they? But, ask yourselves, is that really all? A warm spot to sleep in? Decent food and clean water? Shelter and safety? Yes, those are important base level considerations, but isn’t there more?”
            “I’ll go first,” said Sammie. Everyone sat up straight because she always had something important and brief to say. “We cats desire knowledge above all things, and the wisdom to apply it! We will not spare any effort in our attempts to gain knowledge!”
            “That’s called snooping!” giggled Sweetie into his paw. “I like caves best of all! Nice cool caves full of food!”
            “Me too,” laughed Booker right out loud. “M’WOW!”
            “Order!” said Toots, but she was smiling. “Mr. Baby, you mentioned knowing what you cared about? Would you like to speak?”
            “I would,” said Mr. Baby. “Freedom. That’s what I care about. Is that not the true essence? To be free to walk in freedom? To listen to the wind’s calling and to follow at will? I ask you, can food and shelter beat that?”
            There was silence and then general purring of assent, as each heart asked itself if there was anything better to be desired in life.
            “Yes, a strong point,” agreed Buddy, “But sometimes freedom is a lonely place! The wind calls but that’s all. Isn’t there something else? Something more? Isn’t there some remedy for the essential alone-ness of life, even a free life?”
            “Knowledge, wisdom, and freedom are on the table,” said Toots. “But then, as Buddy says, we must confront loneliness. Is there a remedy? What are we missing here?”
            “I know!” said Sweetie, waving his paw wildly.
            “Me too!” yelled Booker, loudly.
            “It’s love, isn’t it, you kids? You know why you know that? It’s because love is all you’ve ever known in your short lives!
            “You’ve been handled gently, held and stroked. No one has ever harmed you, or even yelled at you. Well, not much. You guys need to stop leaping in the fridge. I’d yell at you too….
            “You are thought of constantly. You are praised, and always given consideration. Those are manifestations of the heart, little guys. Love is what you are, and what informs your life. Now, we older cats must admit that though our lives have had some ups and downs, that the greatest thing is that we know we are loved..” Suzy finished speaking with a little tear in her eye.
            “Yeah, you’re right, Suzy,” said Mr. Baby. “Freedom without love to come home to would be empty and meaningless.”
            “That’s right,” said Buddy. “When I suddenly feel alone, I just yell, and he runs to me, and I know then that all is well again.”
            Sammie laughed and said, “How about the knowledge of love? The best knowledge of all, and the wisdom to see it that way!”
            “I was going to list some complaints,” said Charley. “But I won’t, because no matter what crazy thing happens, or where I find myself I know they love me. How can I complain?”
            “What wise cats you all are, even those two younglings! I am so impressed with your wisdom, and knowledge, and your perceptions. I ask only one more thing! I hope that you will all return love in kind to those who care for you!”
            PurrSpace™ was filled with contented purring. Eyes began to close and it seemed as if napping was the next order of business.
            “I think this meeting is just about over,” said Toots, “How about you, Suzy?” But Suzy was already asleep, so Toots just called it, and the signal dropped. Everyone went about their own business, which in Sweetie and Booker’s case involved a lot of giggling and shoving each other!

❤️Mrrrt!❤️

🍁🐈🐈‍⬛🖤A Kittens' Tale 🖤🐈‍⬛🐈🍁

            When I woke it took a minute to remember where I was; Koba’s basket bed. Then I remembered all that had happened since I left the stump nest and my mother and my sisters. I began to cry. I knew I was safe here, but I missed them terribly.
            The boy woke and held me in his arms as I cried. Soon his mother came to look, and then the father. The father was very tall and covered in soft brown hair. He might have looked frightening to someone else, but I saw his kind brown eyes, and his smile, and that smile calmed me so that I was able to stop crying and look around inside the house. I had never seen such a place. Much was confusing to my eyes then, but the effect was much like a small forest of alder trees, full of interesting objects.
            “He needs a name,” said Koba, as he held me against his heart where I could hear it beating. He was looking earnestly at his father.
            A voice I came to know later as Twigg’s voice, low, gentle, and soft, said, “Yes, he should have a name. That’s right. What do you think it should be?”
            “Fish! He liked the fish. Is that a good name?” said the boy. His father smiled down at him.
            “That’s pretty good. Fish. Hm. Let’s think some more,” said Twigg. “Where did you find him?”
            “Out in the meadow, Daddy!” said Koba.
            “What was there with him?” said Twigg.
            “Grass. Flowers. Birds,” said Koba.
            “What else do you know about him?” asked Twigg. I still didn’t really know what the word ‘name’ meant, but I was very interested in this conversation.
            “I think he was lost and he was making a sad little noise. That’s how I found him, when he was making that noise,” said Koba.
            “So, he needs a happy name, to cheer him up,” said the mother, Leely.
            “Happy!” crowed Koba. “Can we call him Happy?”
            “What do you think about Joey, because it sounds like Joy?” said Twigg.
            Leely and Koba laughed because it was such a good idea and they knew it. That’s how I came to be called Joey. I realized pretty quickly that the word Joey was my special word, a name in fact.
            Then we all ate more fish cooked in butter on a round wooden table with chairs for them, and I just ate on the table because I was still so small. I had more water too.
            While it was still light outside, Koba and I went out of the doorway to look around a little and he ran and I tried to catch him. He was much faster than me with my little short legs, but we had fun, until I looked into the meadow again and started thinking about my sweet lost mother and my three little sisters.
            It was so sad that I started to cry again. Then Koba cried too because he didn’t know what to do or what was wrong with me.
            Twigg came to the door and when he saw what was happening, he said, “Tomorrow we must try to find his family, so that he can be like his name!”
            I didn’t understand their speech yet, though I would soon, but I understood that the father wanted to help me, so I was comforted. I slept that night with Koba in his basket bed with hope in my heart. I felt love all around me as I drifted off to sleep near Koba, just listening to his breathing.

🍁💚🍁

🐈🐈‍⬛A Kitten's Tale🐈‍⬛🐈

For display purposes only!

          Our nest was under an old stump in a meadow. There, my mother gave birth to me and three others. I am the only son, and I was first born. I am striped and I have spots too.
            Our time together there was very nice. When mother was hunting, we waited for her, as quietly as stones or flowers. That was her instruction, to make no sound. Mother put me in charge when she went out to hunt. I took it very seriously. My three sisters obeyed me and all went well during our time together under the old dead stump.
            Among ourselves, cats don’t have names. That’s not how we know each other. It’s appearance and scent, and even sometimes, in the dark, a typical mew or purr. So when I set out into the world, I was known by no name, such as speakers use.
            Midsummer came, and I was out using my legs a little. Mother was home under the stump with my sisters, who were not ready to go abroad yet. So, I was alone. I had never been alone before.
            It was so entrancing out in the open meadow that I just kept walking! I made little burrows in among tall grass stalks. I climbed over sticks and rocks and vines. I climbed into a huckleberry bush, and I was astounded to see all that lay before me.
            After a while I thought of my mother and realized that I had become hungry. I no longer had her scent to follow home. One way seemed much like another. So, I walked. I suppose I thought that if I kept going, that I would find her, or at least her scent, or she would find me!
            It was not to be.
            I walked, and I cried out too, for a long time, but I was truly alone, except for a few robins and crows, who were no help at all. I saw some insects, but they have no power to help at all.
            After all this searching, I came upon a strange thing. I didn’t understand what it was. It was a ring of trees pulled together at their tops where they seemed to be woven together. There was a circle of rocks at the bottom of these trees, and there was what I knew later to be a door in this strange sight. I didn’t fear it, I was too desperate. Maybe there would be help here.
            My cries must have been noticed by someone, for a very amazing thing happened. Now, I knew the sun; I knew what the moon looked like, and my little eyes had even discerned stars very far away. But it seemed that a star came to me then, with tears in my eyes alone in the meadow.
            It was blue and gentle. It caused no fear. It came down near to me and rested near the ground. It was the color of the sky, but deeper blue, and maybe the size of the full moon seen from the ground.
            It moved over the grass a few inches and waited. I followed. Then it moved again and stopped again. I followed. I was beginning to understand that I was to follow it. So, slowly this blue star led me to the very doorway of the strange thing made of woven trees. I really had no choice except to follow and hope for the best.
            I followed the blue star through the doorway.
            As I followed it in, its light faded and in its place was what I later came to know was a child, a boy. He turned and smiled at me, and he said, “What a good kitty you are!”
            He was just bending to stroke me, which was a new experience, when a much larger person, who was smooth and hairless, wearing a dress, saw us there together.
            “Koba, my son, what have you got there?” she said.
            “I found a kitty crying in the meadow, Mama,” said the boy. “I think he needs us!”
            “You are right. He looks thirsty and hungry!” said the woman, who I found out later was a mother, in fact, the boy Koba’s mother. I felt safe because she was a mother.
            Koba got a bowl, and the mother poured water from a jug into the bowl, and Koba set it down before me. Now, I had never lapped water before, since my sole drink and food had been my mother’s milk. However, the woman knelt and splashed the water a little and then touched my mouth with a wet finger, and I made the connection and learned to lap water right there. I was so relieved to have just a drink that when I had lapped a bit longer, I just sat with my eyes closed and rested.
            “He’s hungry, Mama,” said Koba.
            “I know, but I bet he hasn’t had solid food yet. Let me think,” said the mother. “Maybe he could eat a little fish if I break it up for him.”
            Later I learned that her name was Leely. Leely saved my life that day, and I will never forget it, or that Koba found me and led me to her.
            She got a little plate and on it she put some pieces of cooked fish broken up into small flakes.                She placed the plate before me. I sniffed it and walked around the plate because I knew it must be food but had never eaten solid food before.
            Koba took a little flake of the fish and showed me that he put it in his mouth. I took courage from his demonstration and took a bit into my mouth too. It was a revelation. It was so good that I ate all of the small plate of food.
            “Now he will be sleepy,” said Leely.
            “Can he sleep in my bed?” said Koba.
            “Yes, why don’t you put him to bed,” she said kindly.
            Koba carried me to a sort of big basket full of soft cloth things. I didn’t know about quilts yet. He laid me carefully in the basket bed. He said, “Go ahead and sleep. We will take of you.”
            As I was dropping off to sleep, I heard Koba tell his mother that I needed a name.
            I felt safe for the first time since I had become lost.
            “When your daddy comes home, you and he can name the kitten, Koba. I think that would be very nice,” said Leely, “Don’t you?”
            “Yes!” said Koba. “I think I will go sleep with the kitten while I wait for Daddy,”
            That was my first nap at home with Koba and his Mama and Father.

✡️

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁Fall Is Coming! 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

 

          This is just some photo I took driving around in the mountains one fall day. Nothing special, just snooping as usual, trying to get a little bit lost. Like that. It never works though, because if you know where the Cascades are, you know where the salt water is, and you know where Mt. Rainier is, and Mt. Baker, well, that would be like getting lost in your house.  

            The same day, Oct. 26, 2012, we saw this guy taking care of his Angus steers. They ran right up to him!

            Same day. A very tempting stream. This is prime territory for our Forest Keepers! You can bet they are keeping an eye on things out there.

            I didn't want to drive home wet, so I didn't "fall in." Sigh.

            Have a wonderful Cat Buttering Day! As my grampa used to say, "Tell me a story!"  If you want to!

🍃🍁🍃🐦‍⬛