Daily Doodle # 14: Kit’n Ka-Doodle

Jellybean, our cat

Kit’n Caboodle.  Kit’n Kadoodle.  Our cat drawn on scrap paper torn out from a magazine.

 

In Praise of Idleness Drawings 82 – 84

Snoozing cat

Crow

Snow goose

Merry Christmas Eve

Folk art angel cat

Purrfectly Happy Reading

 

Cat on a (Not Tin) Roof

Neighbor’s cat on a roof

Home Again, Home Again

“I think the best vacation is the one that relieves me of my own life for a while and then makes me long for it again.”
— Ann Patchett, from “Do Not Disturb,” Gourmet, August 2006

A month is a long time to be away from home and husband.  I am glad to be back.

Photo by M. Vauterin

But before I move my thoughts back to my life here, I’ll share a few photos of cats from my travels:

Israeli cat, Gypsy

Haarlem cat in a window

Amsterdam cat with cool bow-ties

Another Holland cat

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ideal of Calm

Jellybean looking out of our dirty window

Jellybean through the window

“The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.”
— from The Journal of Jules Renard, edited and translated by Louise Bogan and Elizabeth Roget

It’s in the eyes

Watercolor sketch of Jellybean

 

Enough, with Cat

Our cat

Jellybean

What It Takes
by David Budbill

Enough
of a house
to keep
the bugs and rain
out
in the summer,
stay warm
in
in the winter.

Books
a few
musical instruments,
a garden,
silence,
some mountains,

maybe a cat.

Paving My Commute with Good Intentions

I struggle with my commute.  The library where I work is three miles away, and my intention is to walk or take the bus (two transfers) rather than drive.  The benefits are real and important — walking is good for my health, gets me outside, is non-polluting, and the savings on gasoline help my budget.  And yet . . .

And yet both options — walking or the bus — take time.  They add 40 to 50 minutes, each way, to my commute.  And after working 8 hours, that feels like a big chunk out of my day.

Still, I am resolved to walk to work as much as possible.  I do have to work on my attitude though.  I remind myself to look with new eyes, to pay attention to what is going on in my neighborhood, and to enjoy the rich variety that nature offers even in the city.  My camera, an SLR, is rather bulky and heavy.  But the days I feel up to carrying it with me are inevitably rewarding.  Here are some photos that I would have missed had I been driving rather than walking home from work:

Crow at Green Lake

Pasque flowers

I love this garden gate, with plants growing on top of the stone pillars.

Beautiful cat rolling around on the sidewalk.

Words I Love: Creature Comforts

Cat on my lap

I love my creature comforts, especially this spring when the weather refuses to warm up.

My creature comforts:

• flannel sheets (they still feel good)
• the cat in my lap as I read on the couch
• a good cup of coffee
• polar fleece caps (I wear them around the house all winter, and even now, when it often feels colder inside the house than outside)
• a pile of books to transport me
• natural light through paned-glass windows
• handmade lap quilts for watching TV and DVDs
• woolen socks

What are your creature comforts?

Cat in the window, a pile of books on a chair