Memories of Garfield

Garfield

I have to be near to her since the others are gone. The dog died over a year ago now and my brother died last October .
I am the man of the house now.

Yes, I used to trouble my brother, but a fellow must have fun in life after all. The dog was nice and we were good friends. Now, except for her I am alone. I am glad we have each other.

We have dwindled down in this house to just us two. I am the cat of the house now and I am 16 years old I think. I am not quite sure and will have to check sometime.

I and my brothers and sisters were born in her dresser drawer. Most got other homes but my mother, a very tiny tortoise shell cat and my brother and I .. two ginger cats, stayed home with her.

Once there were many more of us. The entire house was filled with people. Tons of people and only one bathroom! I don't know what the problem with that is but humans complain about it especially with 6 people and one bathroom in the morning.

I think the bathroom is a neat place . I play in the toilet water and occasionally take a drink too.

There was good food in the kitchen and my mother and brother and I and our dog would hang around waiting for left over breakfast eggs.

Then she and the dog went outside to walk for a bit while we guarded the house.

Ah, those were the days. We went through snow storms and hurricanes and nor'easters and high water. We shivered with lightning and thunder but she was with us and it was okay.

But the hustle and bustle of those times is gone now. The old human grandmother passed away one afternoon. Everyone was sad. She gave me treats sometimes.

The children went away to school and one got married! The man who was here was gone too.   He never cared for any of us and just left us one night.

One day my mother went outside in the evening and never came home again.We were all very sad.

Then the dog got cancer and then Lyme disease and passed away and then my brother cat had an attack in the fall and passed away that very hour. I cried. She cried too. We were so sad without him.
Now, I follow her around as she and I are the last of our pride and must stay together.

I hate it if she leaves the house. Where should she go without me?   She needs me!

I follow her around the house and sit with her while she works, and sleep near her every night. Before she used to put me and my brother out of the room and made us sleep in the living room!

But I don't like that anymore. It's too lonely so she lets me stay. Hurrah!

Until bedtime, I sleep here in the tall backed chair near her desk with the afghan she made long ago. Its an old kitchen chair and she draped it over with a comforter and then a chair cover and placed this afghan she made on the back so that anyone sitting there might be more comfortable and warm.
I have to admit it's very nice but it's certainly not as nice as the big bed where I cuddle up nightly.
She says that she cannot move her feet all night long as I am on them. Now, I ask you, please, is that really such a big thing?
There, see? You agree with me, it's not. Most certainly it is not. I am a proper and prim cat and I do not trouble anyone.

Tonight I heard the strangest sounds coming from the woods behind. I crept to the back doors to look out and see what it could be and saw giant, luminous eyes looking back at me from deep inside the dark woods!

I am sure it was some kind of monster so I ran quickly to find her, so I could inform her that I was on the alert.
I ran so fast I slid on the rugs she puts on the floor. I love them!
I run at those rugs full speed, then jump on them hard  'til they slide across the polished floors and spin me round.   We call it carpet surfing and it is a lot of fun.
Then I run to the next, and the next til they are all over the house and I am splitting my sides with kitty laughter.

She will put them back for my next ride.

She does things like that, fixing stuff and putting things right in the house.

I had so much fun surfing that I forgot to tell her about the monster in the woods.

It can wait.

I don't really want to go see if it is still there.




This post was first written in 2010 and now the house has dwindled down to just one.
Garfield passed on and joined the others on May 31, 2015 at age 21.
Sometimes I think I hear him around the house....
To read about my pet friends, go here.







Joining in Thankful Thursday with Rebecca Jo.

Mismatched Photos

Veteran's Day 2017....We Remember

 Temperatures have dropped to 24 F today but I was warm and cozy inside most of the day.
I made a quick trip to CVS with the Little and we stopped for hot Pumpkin Spice drinks which were very nice and warmed us up nicely.
    
Friday seemed to come very quickly. But every day is welcome and today was a busy day for art that needed work and writing that took up much of the day.
Then, of course, there was the Sponge Bob Squarepants movie that we watched. (Yes, I love Spongebob as must as the Little does. She is 9 and well, I am not much older.)

Since it is Friday, I am adding my addition to Friday Foto Friends.  
This week it is a collection of mostly unrelated photos.

Photo Bomb....
 The Famous Anonymous was invited to meet the Queen and when photos were taken of the Queen she had to jump in and ruin them!   You can't take her anywhere!
Well no, that never happened.   I simply Photoshopped her hand into a photo of the Queen.

100% pure Photoshop! No artificial ingredients added 😉

Garfield. He was with me 21 years and in my heart forever. What a handsome golden man he was.

On a shelf, the little coach heads for Boston....Bon Voyage!

Meanwhile the bay is getting colder. No boats out today.

The Little at the Vatican

Out the window on a stormy night

Phragmites goes to seed. It's so fluffy. I love the oatmeal color. Looks like it is made of wool.

On the water taxi leaving NYC for home. Doesn't take long by water.

The Little getting her hair done for cheerleading with the big purple bow. She won't be cheering next year. Her coach was over zealous. When the Little couldn't complete a split she pushed her head down forcing her into one.  That's extremely dangerous.  So she opted to stay out next year.  Honestly, can't adults get some kind of normal balance in kid's sports and activities?

In the Kitchen dining area last Spring. 

Beautiful Puerto Rico this past Summer before Hurricane Maria. This is taken in  El Yunque national forest. The water is pure, the air is pristine and there are no bugs because the birds deal with them all.

So much destroyed by that awful storm. Please remember the Puerto Rican people. They are wonderful people and they even serve in the military for little reward. They still need our help to heal.

Sleep Well Dear Friend

My dear little guy Garfield passed away  tonight.

"the little golden man"
 Sept 1995-May 31, 2015

 He was in his 20th year and I have lost a good chunk of my heart with his passing.

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing..." Job

 He was an extraordinary personality and everyone remarked about it. Garfield was not aloof at all as cats can be but personable, loving and sweet. He loved people.
 He stayed near me all the time and when I was away for surgery and then away for physical therapy he developed an ulcer worrying about me because I was gone for a month.
 His chair was next to mine in my office.  He sat sweetly as I said the blessing before our meal and the grace after meals and waited with me until I was done.
 Garfield was born in the bottom drawer of my old dresser along with his brothers and sisters all of which were adopted out except for him and his brother Sandy. Sandy passed on a few years ago.
How I will miss his sweet voice greeting me and seeing his joy at sitting in the sliding glass window to soak in the sun.
No more fun as he would carpet surf from room to room. Getting up speed he would slide thru the house from one throw rug to the next. It was so much fun and I will deeply miss his cute performances.
 I have not been blogging much as he has been failing for a few weeks now and for the last few days refused food and then water.
Tonight he walked to his litter box and tried to go, but he couldn't. Mr. neat and clean to the end.  He never made messes ever even when dying!
He walked back to the hallway and fell over and breathed his last.
.
 I cannot  thank God enough for his life as it was a huge blessing to me and a great mercy that He shared his tiny servant with me.

Thoughts from a lemon lime moon...

I sometimes wonder what my little cat thinks about while I am up on the lemony lime moon contemplating life and watching things going on down below.
I sometimes see him sitting staring up at me with his golden sweet eyes that seem to know what I need most...love.
He realizes I fool others with my solitary existence but he is not fooled and knows I am a social butterfly in a cocoon. My "little golden man" knows me very well.
Invariably if I leave my clothing on the bed after changing to sleep I will find him comfortably and serenely snuggled up on them. His quiet look of satisfaction is replaced with one of disappointment when I move them to hang them up. "Why do that?"  he seems to ask. To him it is a comfortable and familiar place to doze.  I don't have an answer for him except that we humans are prone to stick to the rules and wrinkled clothing are against the rules . We follow custom and tradition as if it was written on stone even if our lives are made difficult by it. Even if other  lives are made difficult by it too.
Cats have traditions also. Loving the people they adopt is one of them. Sleeping on their clothing with its familiar scents is another. Playing in the water bowl or throw rug "surfing" are still others.

 People  consider cats aloof but they are not. Thats a myth made up by people who do not recognize dignity and if cats are anything it is dignified.
My kitty comes when called so, they are not stubborn at all as some think. He is only too happy to come and be by me. I am more than happy about that myself,  he is my good friend.
As I fly up to sit on the lemony lime moon where daydreams are experienced   I can see him sitting patiently waiting for me to get back to the everyday world. Back to him.

I know that he is thinking that "one day she will come down to earth".     Yet, he knows that I need that time on the moon for thinking and sorting things out. Especially lately. I think he knows that life can come round and hit you with reality very hard and leave you breathless . It is times like those that people need a place to be , to think, to consider.
For me it is the lemon lime moon that hangs out over the ocean. I can sit beneath it..or on it as my imagination takes flight.. and ponder or just feel nature around me. Whether it solves anything is anyone's guess and mostly I would vote no.   But I think a person can learn from the time and we can meditate on things and arrive closer to understanding....maybe.

I have found him on his own moon at times. Sitting in the front window watching the goings on in the water , birds landing, fish jumping. He watches it all peacefully from his place. Then I sit and patiently wait until he comes down to earth. Everyone needs a place to dream and consider.

Garfield the Ginger Cat

Flowers in the house need to be watched.
As long as someone is around to see them, it is fine, but when the room is unoccupied a small Ginger colored cat comes to see what is new.
He loves nature. He adores flowers.He shows appreciation for the simple things of life.
If the flowers are roses, he is beyond happy. Roses taste as good as they smell and he cannot help but have a few nibbles of the tender petals.
I find him with his eyes closed and his nose buried deep in a bouquet quietly inhaling the fragrance of the flowers. He looks transported.   He has gone off to his own private heaven where nothing can disturb him.
Hearing his name called quietly, he opens his eyes slightly to see who might be pulling him back into the present world, then closes them gently again to shut the world out and once again breathe in the sweetness.
"Garfield, Garfield...."
"No, not yet" he seems to be thinking. Let me stay a while longer.

I have seen that serene and gentle look on his dear ginger face often.
Like the times he sticks his head out the door and closing his eyes in that  gentle manner, snuffling up the breeze and everything that rides on it.
What does he smell on those gentle breezes that pleases him so? Flowery scents, grasses, trees, the scent of the bay?
 He lounges quietly looking out at the world , doing what cats do when they are at peace, closing the eyes slowly and then reopening them slowly again. "Ahh, peace" he seems to say.

Evening Thoughts from a Small Boy

Garfield

I have to be near to her since the others are gone. The dog died over a year ago now and my brother died last October .
I am the man of the house now.

Yes I used to trouble my brother, but a fellow must have fun in life after all. The dog was nice and we were good friends. Now, except for her I am alone. I am glad we have each other.

We have dwindled down in this house to just us two. I am the cat of the house now and I am 16 years old I think. I am not quite sure and will have to check sometime.

I and my brothers and sisters were born in her dresser drawer. Most got other homes but my mother, a tiny tortoise shell cat and my brother and I .. two ginger cats, stayed home with her.

Once there were many more of us. The entire house was filled with people. Tons of people and only one bathroom! I don't know what the problem with that is but humans complain about it especially with 6 people and one bathroom in the morning.

I think the bathroom is a neat place . I play in the toilet water and occasionally take a drink too.

There was good food in the kitchen and my mother and brother and I and our dog would hang around waiting for left over breakfast eggs.

Then she and the dog went outside to run for a bit while we guarded the house.

Ah, those were the days.

But the hustle and bustle of those times is gone now. The old human grandmother passed away one afternoon. Everyone was sad. She gave me treats sometimes.

The children went away to school and one got married! The man who was here was gone too.He never cared for any of us and just left us one night.

One day my mother went outside in the evening and never came home again.

Then the dog got cancer and then Lyme disease and passed away and then my brother cat had an attack in the fall and passed away that very hour. I cried.
Now, I follow her around as she and I are the last of our pride and must stay together.

I hate it if she leaves the house. Where should she go without me?She needs me!

I follow her around the house and sit with her while she works, and sleep near her every night. Before she used to put me and my brother out of the room and made us sleep in the living room!

But I don't like that anymore. It's too lonely so she lets me stay. Hurrah!
Until bedtime, I sleep here in the tall backed chair near her desk with the afghan she made long ago. Its an old kitchen chair and she draped it over with a comforter and then a chair cover and placed this afghan she made on the back so that anyone sitting there might be more comfortable and warm.
I have to admit it's very nice but it's certainly not as nice as the big bed where I cuddle up nightly.
She says that she cannot move her feet all night long as I am on them. Now, I ask you, please, is that really such a big thing?
There, see? You agree with me, it's not. Most certainly it is not. I am a proper and prim cat and I do not trouble anyone.

Tonight I heard the strangest sounds coming from the woods behind. I crept to the back doors to look out and see what it could be and saw giant, luminous eyes looking back at me from deep inside the dark woods!

I am sure it was some kind of monster so I ran quickly to find her, so I could inform her that I was on the alert.
I slid on the rugs she puts on the floor. I love them!
I run at those rugs full speed 'til they slide across the polished floors and spin me round.
Then I run to the next, and the next til they are all over the house and I am splitting my sides with kitty laughter .

She will put them back for my next ride.

She does things like that. We call it carpet surfing and it is a lot of fun.

I had so much fun I forgot to tell her about the monster in the woods.

It can wait.

I don't really want to go see if it is still there.