TROUBLE ON TUESDAY

There I was.  Settled in for a little nap. When along comes trouble. 

Trouble with a capital T.

A little paw reaches up and out to touch my polka-dot paw.

On second thought, that little paw is looking a bit tasty

~ gimme four!

MAGGY MONDAY

Oil Painting, My Maggy, c. 2010

EASY, LIKE SUNDAY

Naps are good.  Naps are good any day of the week.

Naps are good when shared with a handsome young man and a fluffy kitty.

Zoey ~ you  forgot to bring your binkie. 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAGGY

I am 7 years old today.  The ZH tells me that is "the age of reason".  That's good, as I am a very reasonable cat.  In fact, it was reasonable of me to allow her to use these photos on Zoolatry today; as usually I'm only here for Maggy Mondays.  One who is reasonable is also practical and sensible.  I am both of those.  I thought it was practical and sensible not to go to the bother of a "big party".  After all, I'm grown-up now and I don't need all that fluff-and-fuss.  And I don't much like balloons anyway, and I won't wear hats, so.  However, if anyone wants to give me a little tuna, or better yet some tuna juice... well, that would be a reasonable way to celebrate my birthday I think, and I would graciously accept. 

FUNNY PICTURE FRIDAY

By the end of the week it seems the laundry baskets in my house are so full...
and of course, there are still tons of dishes left to do from yesterday!

Sigh... a woman's work is never done...

OUR DAY OF THANKS

Today we will give thanks for the children and grandchildren who fill our lives.

Today we will give thanks for friends near and far.

Today we will be very thankful for the many new friends made during our

years as part of the pet blogging community.

Today we thank each and every one of them for their comments, their emails,

their friendship and their support in difficult times.

Today we give thanks for the home that we live in, for the food on our table,

the warmth of a fire, and two sweet furry kitties who lay beside it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today, more than anything I will give thanks for Poppy Vic.

Just this week we celebrated 36 years of marriage.

Just this week, as he reached the half-way point in his difficult chemotherapy

treatments, we learned from test results that his

cancer is fast fading away ~

faster than that imagined kitty above who sat too close to the fire!

It was good news, great news.  Today and everyday, I am thankful.

And my wish for each and every one of you is a day that is

full and blessed with all that you need ~ and some of what you want.

Happy Thanksgiving

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Original artwork scanned from "A Child's Book of Prayers", Illustration by Masha, Random House, (c) 1941

WOE IS ME WEDNESDAY

Just thought maybe I'd start some holiday decorating...

Just pulled out the boxes that held all the holiday decorations...

Just set the wastebasket nearby for all the wrappings around them...

Just wondering... now how will I open these boxes...

Well, as I said, it was just a thought...

TUESDAY _________________

We have left the "title" for today's post blank... we had three ideas:

Tuesday Twins ~ Cat In A Box ~ Cat On A Box

Perhaps you can suggest a better title _______________________________ .

TAVI

This is a little picture we made a couple years ago for our friend TAVI

of Camie's Kitties.  Today we've learned that Tavi is sick and

in need of all our purrs and prayers... please click here to visit with TAVI.

INIGO FLUFFLEBUM

For a special, one of a kind boy ~ with the wind beneath your wings.
Click HERE to leave a purr and a prayer for him.

FUNNY PICTURE FRIDAY

WORDY WEDNESDAY

Hello Furriends!

See those feet, stuck in the sand, over there in the corner?  Well, as some of you know, those are the ZH's feet in her stripey-sox and when you see them upside-down like that

it means we're going on a little blog break.

Our ZH plans to spend the next week (or more?) sorting through all the

wonderful, amazing, funny, beautiful,

sweet and heart-touching photos received from all of you for

 PAWS 2011, The Cat Blogosphere Calendar.

We very much want to have the calendar published and ready for sale

by the first of December, 

so be sure to save a few of your green-papers

so you can purchase one for yourself, or some as holiday gifts! 

Remember, the proceeds from the calendar sales will support

The Cat Blogosphere,

it's continuing fund-raising efforts for our furriends-in-need,

so it is for a very good cause.

So... we're gonna kick back, stick our heads in the sand,

and get to work now (guess we really can't call this a "break")

... see you soon!

____________________________________________________

And to one and all, who left such wonderful comments on

our birthday posting, and on grandson Ethan's video... a heartfelt

THANK YOU!

THE ZOOLATRY GIRLS BAKE A CAKE

Thank You, Girls!  Yup, that's the right number of candles...

I just hope it's not tuna-cake!

EASY, LIKE SUNDAY

PHOTO HUNT: ITCH

_________________________________________________

Don't forget -- click here for details,

the deadline is near ...

2011 PAWS The Cat Blogosphere Calendar

FRIENDS FRIDAY

HELLO, KITTY!

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Wherever they served, whenever they served, honor them, remember them, thank them. 

Veterans Day, USA

Remembrance Day, Canada

Remembrance Day, United Kingdom

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

TUESDAY TEACH 'n' TALK

Zoey:  Good Morning, Master Arjun, you sure are looking mighty fine today. 

I think you are dressed for "Fashion Friday"!  What are you wearing? 

JuneyBug:  Thank You, Miss Zoey. If you sit quietly for a moment, I will tell you.
Zoey:  Oh my, do I see treats in your hand?

JuneyBug: I am dressed in a very special way today to honor our President who is visiting India.

 I am wearing traditional Bengali clothing, I will teach you some Bengali words.

I am a bachcha (baby) chhele (boy).  My daddy is from Kolkata (Calcutta).

The ZH is my nani (grandma) and Poppy Vic is my dadu (grandpa).

A panjabi (shirt) and dhoti (pants) are what I'm wearing today.

Zoey:  Thank You, I have learned a lot of new words. 

Now may I please have some Temptations?

JuneyBug:  Of course you can Zoey beral (cat).

CALLING ALL WOOFIES

If you want to stop by and give a chin scritch to

Ciara, just click here.

EASY, LIKE SUNDAY

I like to take my Sunday bath before Maggy takes her Sunday bath.
That way I'm assured there's no stray cat furs or dingleberries left in there.

I never mess up the tub the way she does!

Here I am ~ putting the finishing touches on my grooming. 

And there's Maggy ~ the lady in waiting ... waiting
for her bath to be drawn! Ha!
(Do ya think the ZH was on the ceiling to take this picture,
well, she almost was!)

PHOTO HUNT: ALIVE

Next to my desk in the room that serves as an office a/k/a nursery a/k/a sometimes guest room -- there is an old card table.  This table serves as a catch-all for all manner of things: unfiled bills, mail, computer supplies, baby things. Many things are casually tossed there for want of a proper place to be.  Today however, there is one thing in this catch-all mess that was not tossed there... and this thing is ALIVE. 

FRIENDS FRIDAY: NOT!!!

[1] MOM, Help!  Look, Maggy's trying to eat my "yellowfin tuna in gravy with garden greens" again!  And she's even got her eye on my bowl of treats!
[2] Aah, thank Bast!  There she goes.  See that's her bowl over there in the dining room (I eat in the kitchen).  Boy, you really have to keep an eye on that one, don't you?
[3] I think I'll just have to stay put, protect what's mine.  You'd do that, too, wouldn't you?

DONA NOBIS PACEM

GODSPEED

Over our nearly 20-years of living on The Space Coast, we've had the amazing experience of viewing dozens of shuttle launches up close and personal.  For us, this was not a once-in-a-lifetime event, but a thrill lived many times over, and often shared with family and friends.  We've viewed launches from the VIP site on the Banana River, from the press viewing stands at KSC, from the beach, from the riverfronts and from our own front yard.  If one is honored to be at the VIP site, as we were on many occasions, you travel by NASA bus to the site, several hours prior to launch.  We have waited there in the cold chill of a January night.  We have waited there in the hot and humid July mid-day sun.  You watch the countdown clock.  There is always a hold at 9:00 minutes and counting.  Are all systems go?  The countdown clock begins again.  At 3:00 minutes and counting, you'll hear the voices from Mission Control: Go, Go, Go.  Your heart beats fast.  You want to hear only "go", you never want to hear the word "scrub".  Because all it takes is one "scrub" and back to the bus, to return yet another night or day.  But return you do, always. For whether it is a nighttime launch, or day ~ whether against the rising sun over the ocean, or against the reflection of a setting sun from the west, each and every launch is spectacular.  The engines fire.  The smoke rises.  The earth shakes beneath your feet.  You cover your ears against the sound blasts.  Then, lift off.  The smoke plume curls up through the sky.  Farther and farther it travels, faster and faster it goes.  You watch for the separation of the rocket boosters, which fall away and land in the ocean.  Safe.  Another safe launch.  An awesome spectacle, an amazing feat by humankind.   We have cheered with a large crowd of young Japanese women when the first female astronaut from Japan rode off into space.  On one bus ride back to the center (at 4:00 am, no less), we shared passing bottles of vodka from Russian visitors who had just viewed the first shuttle launch of a Russian cosmonaut joining with our astronauts.  We have met people from all over the world, as they come from far and near to experience this.  Some had a personal interest in special payloads that were on board the shuttles.  I remember two in particular: a young man, a musician, had designed and created a very special guitar -- it would travel on board the shuttle that day, to be played by an astronaut once in space.  Could we, as humans, make music in zero gravity?  If in future times we were to live in outer space, we would want to have music as part of our lives -- would it be?  Could it be?  Sadly, I never learned the results of that experiment.  Another I recall, was an elementary school teacher from Alabama. Her class one year mailed a Teddy Bear to another class of students in another part of the world.  They in turn mailed Teddy on... and on... and on.  For many years, through many classes of students, Teddy had traveled the world.  Yes, the same Teddy... greeting hundreds and hundreds of students over the years.  Now this teacher was retiring, and today Teddy would travel out-of-this-world.  His final journey, likely watched and cheered on by thousands of students worldwide who remembered Teddy.  Being a part of this over many years has been rewarding.  Our space program has brought so much to our everyday lives in the fields of medicine, and technology, and food production, and automotive safety.  Many payloads were scientific experiments, many were just to learn "can we make music" or let's honor Teddy.  But the list of developments that improve much that we come in contact with each day is endless, and yet few are even aware that all these advancements are a direct result of space exploration and the shuttle program.  The one that usually brings a giggle: TANG.  Yup, that too, is  from the space program.  What President Kennedy envisioned many decades ago, came to pass.  Now the shuttle program is winding down.  Today we anticipate the 39th and final launch of shuttle Discovery, STS 133 with her crew of veteran astronauts.  Only one launch remains. It is a sad time for those of us who have watched and been inspired by the years of achievement. It is a sad time for the thousands who were part of the NASA, KSC and the contractor workforce as soon they face an uncertain future. It is a sad time as we pause and remember Challenger and Columbia and the brave souls lost on those flights. To all those who have been a part of space history, we thank you.  To Discovery, and her crew, Godspeed.

Update: 4:00 am, 11.3.2010: Launch tentatively postponed to Thursday due

to engine issues; there is a possibility of further postponement to December.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2

Zoey, did you vote yet?  No, Juneybug.  Well, help me put on my shoes and I'll drive

you over to the polls.  But Juneybug, you can't drive ~ and come to think of it, you're not

old enough to vote!  So, what's with the "I VOTED" sticker on your forehead?

Ok, ok... I fess up, I pulled it off Poppy's shirt and stuck in on my head!

You know I like to grab at everything I can.

Just as I thought!  Anyway, I can't help you put on your shoes

cause I gots no thumbs.

Well, maybe we at least reminded every big bean to vote today...

A MAGGY MONDAY MESSAGE

Hey, my Maggy Girl... what are you doing today?  I was helping you, ZH, you know, sorting through and organzing some of the calendar photos that are coming in to our special email box.  We want as many of our furriends taking part as possible, cause The Cat Blogosphere Calendar is a big fundraiser to help needy fur friends.  Oh, yes ~ thank you, Maggy, it's good of you to help me.  And together let's remind all our furriends out there to start sending their photos to us ~

and for them to spread the word to their friends and followers.

Oh, and I have to make sure Zoey doesn't put a hundred-gazillion photos of herself in here.  This is not a Zoolatry calendar -- it's The Cat Blogosphere calendar.  You know how she is that way.  If I find any more than one photo of her -- into the recyle bin they go! 

PS if you need to read the rules 'n' stuff, or get the email address, click that box up top