I would give a dollar to ever know what is spinning around in their heads. Sitting back, watching, figuring hold what is about to go down. They sure know when the vac is about to come out!
Bunkerville, One of our cats doesn't worry at all about the vacuum cleaner: our alpha cat Cameo. Of course! She's afraid of nothing. But the others all flee and hide.
Cameo's brother loved to be vacuumed. How rare is that?
Our white, quasi-Persian-Angora, aptly named "Fluffy," just LOVED to be vacuumed with the little round upholstery brush on mother's 1945-model Electrolux. The very sound of the vacuum cleaner sent him into transports of ecstasy almost embarrassing to witness.
Baysider, Yes, Cameo does look like a card dealer.
The vet says how sweet Cameo is. Well, she IS good as gold with the vet. Very submissive and very cooperative. With Mr. AOW and me, however, she never fails to show us who's boss. SHE is! Swat!
Cats sleep, anywhere, Any table, any chair Top of piano, window-ledge, In the middle, on the edge, Open drawer, empty shoe, Anybody's lap will do, Fitted in a cardboard box, In the cupboard, with your frocks- Anywhere! They don't care! Cats sleep anywhere.
I'm not so sure about that. I've often had the feeling that their opinion of our intelligence and character might not be as flattering as we'd like to believe.
Most cats seem to have a secret store of wisdom and special knowledge they are perfectly content to keep all to themselves.
Personally, I regard them as little angels sent to watch over us to save us from taking ourselves too seriously.
I could never trust a person who did not like cats.
Over the hearth with my 'minishing eyes I muse; until after the last coal dies. Every tunnel of the mouse, every channel of the cricket, I have smelt, I have felt the secret shifting of the mouldered rafter, and heard every bird in the thicket. I see you Nightingale up in the tree! I, born of a race of strange things, of deserts, great temples, great kings, in the hot sands where the nightingale never sings!
They are alike, prim scholar and perfervid lover: When comes the season of decay, they both decide Upon sweet, husky cats to be the household pride; Cats choose, like them, to sit, and like them, shudder.
Like partisans of carnal dalliance and science, They search for silence and the shadowings of dread; Hell well might harness them as horses for the dead, If it could bend their native proudness in compliance.
In reverie they emulate the noble mood Of giant sphinxes stretched in depths of solitude Who seem to slumber in a never-ending dream;
Within their fertile loins a sparkling magic lies; Finer than any sand are dusts of gold that gleam, Vague starpoints, in the mystic iris of their eyes.
For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry (Excerpt from Rejoice in the Lamb)
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry. For he is the servant of the Living God duly ___ and daily serving him. For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East ___ he worships in his way. For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round ___ with elegant quickness. For then he leaps up to catch the musk, ___ which is the blessing of God upon his prayer. For he rolls upon prank to work it in. For having done duty and received blessing ___ he begins to consider himself. For this he performs in ten degrees. For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean. For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there. For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended. For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood. For fifthly he washes himself. For sixthly he rolls upon wash. For seventhly he fleas himself, ___ that he may not be interrupted upon the beat. For eighthly he rubs himself against a post. For ninthly he looks up for his instructions. For tenthly he goes in quest of food. For having consider'd God and himself ___ he will consider his neighbour. For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness. For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance. For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying. For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins. For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary. For he counteracts the powers of darkness ___ by his electrical skin and glaring eyes. For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life. For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him. For he is of the tribe of Tiger. For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger. For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, ___ which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, ___ neither will he spit without provocation. For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat. For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon. For every house is incomplete without him ___ and a blessing is lacking in the spirit. For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats ___ at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt. For every family had one cat at least in the bag. For the English Cats are the best in Europe. For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped. For the dexterity of his defence ___ is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly. For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature. For he is tenacious of his point. For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery. For he knows that God is his Saviour. For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest. For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion. For he is of the Lord's poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually –– Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat. For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better. For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat. For his tongue is exceeding pure ___ so that it has in purity what it wants in music. For he is docile and can learn certain things. For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation. For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment. For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive. For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command. For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom. For he can catch the cork and toss it again. For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser. For the former is afraid of detection. For the latter refuses the charge. For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business. For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly. For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services. For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land. For his ears are so acute that they sting again. For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention. For by stroking of him I have found out electricity. For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire. For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast. For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements. For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer. For his motions upon the face of the earth ___ are more than any other quadruped. For he can tread to all the measures upon the music. For he can swim for life. For he can creep.
~ Christopher Smart
[NOTE: The entire text of Christopher Smart's poem Rejoice in the Lamb became a Cantata, set to music by Benjamin Britain. A lovely-if-highly-eccentric work filled with subtleties it is not heard frequently enough.]
I believe Christopher Smart was considered mad in his time, but Benjamin Britten found much wisdom and beauty in the strangely naive, almost child-like tone of this unique text. I find it very touching, myself. No man who truly loves and appreciates his cat, as this man did, could possibly be mad.
If you'd like to hear the whole cantata, you'll find it at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vqvEJ47sD0
AOW, in all your wide experience with choral singing did you ever have an opportunity to sing Rejoice in the Lamb? I did –– just once –– in a small suburban parish Episcopal Church. It was an unforgettable experience. Of course we had Juilliard students and one of the comprimario singers from the Metropolitan Opera to help us out. Our director was something of a magician.
On weekend days when the alarm doesn't go off, the cats leave me alone, but on weekdays when the alarm does go off, at least two of them are biting my fingers and trying to pull the covers off of me. I think they are worried I might be late for work. Then again, maybe it is food they're interested in. ?
We welcome civil dialogue at Always on Watch. Comments that include any of the following are subject to deletion: 1. Any use of profanity or abusive language 2. Off topic comments and spam 3. Use of personal invective
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
I would give a dollar to ever know what is spinning around in their heads. Sitting back, watching, figuring hold what is about to go down. They sure know when the vac is about to come out!
ReplyDeleteBunkerville,
DeleteOne of our cats doesn't worry at all about the vacuum cleaner: our alpha cat Cameo. Of course! She's afraid of nothing. But the others all flee and hide.
Cameo's brother loved to be vacuumed. How rare is that?
Our white, quasi-Persian-Angora, aptly named "Fluffy," just LOVED to be vacuumed with the little round upholstery brush on mother's 1945-model Electrolux. The very sound of the vacuum cleaner sent him into transports of ecstasy almost embarrassing to witness.
DeleteI have yet to meet a cat I couldn't love.
We actually found a vac that is so quiet it doesn't bother kitty. A Miele. Beautiful cats, AOW. Mr. B says Cameo looks like a card dealer!
DeleteBaysider,
DeleteYes, Cameo does look like a card dealer.
The vet says how sweet Cameo is. Well, she IS good as gold with the vet. Very submissive and very cooperative. With Mr. AOW and me, however, she never fails to show us who's boss. SHE is! Swat!
CAMEO is a true CHARACTER CAT. ;-)
DeleteJust this morning, our eldest cat Mysti (age 16.75) got me up at 4:00. She was bored, I guess.
ReplyDeleteCats sleep, anywhere,
DeleteAny table, any chair
Top of piano, window-ledge,
In the middle, on the edge,
Open drawer, empty shoe,
Anybody's lap will do,
Fitted in a cardboard box,
In the cupboard, with your frocks-
Anywhere! They don't care!
Cats sleep anywhere.
~ Eleanor Farjeon
Many have said, "Don't you wish they could talk?"
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure about that. I've often had the feeling that their opinion of our intelligence and character might not be as flattering as we'd like to believe.
Most cats seem to have a secret store of wisdom and special knowledge they are perfectly content to keep all to themselves.
Personally, I regard them as little angels sent to watch over us to save us from taking ourselves too seriously.
I could never trust a person who did not like cats.
FT,
DeleteNote this proverb about cats: "Csts know things."
Cats do seem to have a store of wisdom.
______ The Cat Of The House ______
DeleteOver the hearth with my 'minishing eyes I muse; until after
the last coal dies.
Every tunnel of the mouse,
every channel of the cricket,
I have smelt,
I have felt
the secret shifting of the mouldered rafter,
and heard
every bird in the thicket.
I see
you
Nightingale up in the tree!
I, born of a race of strange things,
of deserts, great temples, great kings,
in the hot sands where the nightingale never sings!
~ Ford Madox Ford
My allergies are acting up just reading this.
ReplyDeleteEd,
DeleteYou're allergic to cats? Too bad!
More than that, AOW. being allergic to cats is downright TRAGIC. ;-)
DeleteNEWS: Mrs. Reagan has just passed away. She was 94.
ReplyDeleteAlmost 12 years after Ronald Reagan died. He died at age 93, she at age 94.
DeleteThe end of an era.
I wonder who will President Obama send to represent him at Nancy Reagan's funeral?
ReplyDeleteNo one she'd want there, I'm sure.
Delete...... Nathaniel Wartorne
__________________ CATS __________________
ReplyDeleteThey are alike, prim scholar and perfervid lover:
When comes the season of decay, they both decide
Upon sweet, husky cats to be the household pride;
Cats choose, like them, to sit, and like them, shudder.
Like partisans of carnal dalliance and science,
They search for silence and the shadowings of dread;
Hell well might harness them as horses for the dead,
If it could bend their native proudness in compliance.
In reverie they emulate the noble mood
Of giant sphinxes stretched in depths of solitude
Who seem to slumber in a never-ending dream;
Within their fertile loins a sparkling magic lies;
Finer than any sand are dusts of gold that gleam,
Vague starpoints, in the mystic iris of their eyes.
~ Charles Baudelaire
PART ONE
ReplyDeleteFor I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry
(Excerpt from Rejoice in the Lamb)
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly
___ and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East
___ he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round
___ with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk,
___ which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing
___ he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself,
___ that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having consider'd God and himself
___ he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness
___ by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent,
___ which in goodness he suppresses.
CONTINUED)
PART TWO
ReplyDeleteFor I Will Consider My Cat, Jeoffry
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed,
___ neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him
___ and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats
___ at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defence
___ is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord's poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually –– Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure
___ so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth
___ are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.
~ Christopher Smart
[NOTE: The entire text of Christopher Smart's poem Rejoice in the Lamb became a Cantata, set to music by Benjamin Britain. A lovely-if-highly-eccentric work filled with subtleties it is not heard frequently enough.]
I believe Christopher Smart was considered mad in his time, but Benjamin Britten found much wisdom and beauty in the strangely naive, almost child-like tone of this unique text. I find it very touching, myself. No man who truly loves and appreciates his cat, as this man did, could possibly be mad.
If you'd like to hear the whole cantata, you'll find it at the following link:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vqvEJ47sD0
AOW, in all your wide experience with choral singing did you ever have an opportunity to sing Rejoice in the Lamb? I did –– just once –– in a small suburban parish Episcopal Church. It was an unforgettable experience. Of course we had Juilliard students and one of the comprimario singers from the Metropolitan Opera to help us out. Our director was something of a magician.
Oh Yea :)
ReplyDeleteOn weekend days when the alarm doesn't go off, the cats leave me alone, but on weekdays when the alarm does go off, at least two of them are biting my fingers and trying to pull the covers off of me. I think they are worried I might be late for work. Then again, maybe it is food they're interested in. ?
ReplyDeleteKid,
DeleteYou're lucky that your cats let you sleep in on the weekends. Ours don't!