sailing on a summer breeze

cat saturday

White Fluffy Love trying to stay cool...

sunday sermon

The finest qualities of our nature,

like the bloom on fruits,

can be preserved only by

the most delicate handling.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

sunday sermon

The secret of change is to focus all of

your energy, not on fighting the old,

but on building the new.

Socrates

goodbye

Last Friday morning, I had the opportunity to visit a beautiful lady and photograph her lovely animal family. The purpose of the visit was to photograph her beloved horse, Yogi, who sadly had to be put down this morning. It was a bittersweet experience. The horse - as well as her other animals - was sweet beyond measure. I feel so honored to have been invited to photograph this majestic and graceful creature in his last days.

Thank you for your life and death, blessed Yogi. Bless you on your way.

cat saturday

Spent Friday morning with a beautiful lady photographing her lovely animal family - three horses, a dog, and three cats. This cat has the most stunning eyes I have ever seen. Her name is Camo...

islands and bridges

I've been struggling with building bridges. My energy healer says I can no longer be an island. I must be available for and actively seek out partnership and collaboration. I'm accustomed to doing on my own and working on my own and being on my own. For goodness sake, my blog is called The Island of Rose - that says it all. I happened upon a quote yesterday that touched my heart and only confuses things more...

Be islands unto yourselves,

refugees unto yourselves,

seeking no external refuge.

Buddha

sunday sermon

The happiness of one's own heart

alone cannot satisfy the soul;

one must try to include, as necessary to

one's own happiness,

the happiness of others.

Paramahansa Yogananda

cat saturday

My cats have not only accepted the piano in their house, they have embraced it as their own. It is now covered in cat hair...

Giovanni and White Fluffy Love

sunday sermon

Today, more than ever before, life

must be characterized by a sense of

Universal responsibility, not only

nation to nation and human to human,

but also human to other forms of life.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

cat saturday

It's a very sad Saturday for me. My beloved Rose passed away today. Her poor little body couldn't fight the cancer that plagued her anymore. I've had many many cats - all with different personalities. Rose was by far the sweetest cat that ever graced my life.

Thank you for the past 13 years, my sweet. Thank you for your life and your death. Bless you on your way.

sunday sermon

There must be always remaining in every life,

some place for the singing of angels,

some place for that which in itself

is breathless and beautiful.

Howard Thurman

Peace Rose

meet savannah

I've been busy lately. A little cat showed up across the street at the empty house next door to J's Dad. He didn't want anything to do with it and called me. It had a collar with a tag but was skittish around people. The cat had worked one paw through the collar and it was rubbing under her leg and across her neck. We guessed she was a she. She looked like a she. After a few days, I was able to get close enough to cut the collar off. Her name is Savannah.

I called the number listed on the name tag - a few times. Her former owner finally got back to me about a week later. He had had her for seven years but ran into hard times and gave her up to some friends to care for. He got in touch with them. They didn't care the cat was gone. The poor guy was in tears. He kept changing his mind about taking her back. Back and forth for days. Finally he decided he couldn't take her. That left me or the animal shelter. So, really, that left me. I really don't want another cat, but J is already attached and I can't abandon the cat too. 

J and I brought her over to our house tonight. We're going to try to make her an indoor kitty. Right now, she's in the bathroom. We're letting the kitties get used to each other's smells and sounds. Tomorrow I'll let her into the attached bedroom. And the next day, they'll all be together. Wish us luck. Right now, little Savannah is not very happy. Poor kitty.

taken with my iPhone

supermoon

Super Moon June 23, 2013

from my front yard

sunday sermon

A lifetime may not be long enough to attune 

ourselves fully to the harmony of the universe. 

But just to become aware that we can resonate with it --

that alone can be like waking up from a dream.

David Steindl-Rast

one source

I love you when you bow in your mosque,

kneel in your temple, pray in your church.

For you and I are sons of one religion,

and it is the spirit.

Kahlil Gibran

I've been drawn to churches lately. Not to religion or to the services, but to the buildings. I think I could make it a life work to photograph churches. There is something ethereal and mysterious about the hushed interiors and something both grand and accessible about the outside of churches.

One morning last week, early, I walked down to the small Catholic Church on the corner and took some photos. Graycee had just died and I couldn't sleep. Unfortunately, the church was locked so I couldn't photograph the interior, but I got some exterior shots.

sunday sermon

Even if happiness forgets you a little bit,

never completely forget about it.

Jacques Prevert

cat saturday

This is Rose. She is beautiful and sweet. She's made quite a few appearances on this blog. She's on now because she needs everyone's good thoughts and prayers. She's very ill. Please pray for her...

goodbye

My dear dear feline friend, Graycee, passed away this morning. He has been suffering and slowly declining for weeks. The vet couldn't seem to do anything to help. I couldn't do anything to help except give him lots of love and attention. He drew his last breaths this morning as I knelt beside him. Miss J and I buried him with food, a blue jay feather, and one of J's crystals from the mountains. He's resting under the oleander where he liked to bathe in the morning sun. We are greatly saddened by our loss. We will miss him so much.

Thank you for your life and death, precious Graycee. Bless you on your way.

chicken little

My faith in humanity has been rocked. My next-door "neighbor" - by proximity only - is a hunter. Loves to kill things. He is married with two very young sons who are already being taught to kill. He recently got three chickens. I was hoping it was for the eggs. He had the chickens about a week or so. Saturday night my seven-year-old daughter and I were in our back yard visiting with our sick cat when we heard him and his hunting dog in his back yard. The chickens started squawking and we could see him through the cracks in the fence. He was grabbing the chickens by the legs and knocking their heads against a stump then siccing his dog on them. "Come on, boy! Get the birds!" I quickly sent my daughter in the house. I stayed outside and witnessed him and his dog killing the chickens all while the poor chickens squawked and tried to escape the yard. I was in tears and said something to him through the fence. He either didn't hear me or didn't care. I have to admit I didn't want to get too much in his face. I am afraid of him. If there hadn't been a fence there though I would have gotten between him and those chickens in a split second.

I called the county humane society. They aren't available on weekends but I left a detailed message. This morning I received a message from a very nice sounding woman asking me to call back with more information so they could make a report and call on him. I called back. The man who answered began by demanding to know who had given me that number. The call quickly disintegrated as I tried to explain what I had heard and seen. His response was to berate me and accuse me of not knowing what I had seen. I kept trying to explain. He continued to berate and abuse. Finally, through tears, I hung up on him. These are the people around here who are supposed to be promoting the welfare of and protecting the animals. No wonder so many of us work under the radar trying to help the animals on our own.

How in the world did I - someone who loves and respects and does whatever she can to assist the animals - end up next to a man who is happiest when there is animal blood on his hands?