A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS PART 6

The play was over, the music ceased, the crowd filed out. It was like a dream ended. People scattered in all directions. Mrs. Sommers went to the corner and waited for the cable car.

A man with keen eyes, who sat opposite to her, seemed to like the study of her small, pale face. It puzzled him to decipher what he saw there. In truth, he saw nothing-unless he were wizard enough to detect a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever


Now wasn't that a lovely story? Thanks for sharing it with me. : ) That lovely painting is "Sweet Memories" by G. Harvey.

A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS PART 5

There was a restaurant at the corner. She had never entered its doors; from the outside she had sometimes caught glimpses of spotless damask and shining crystal, and soft-stepping waiters serving people of fashion.

When she entered her appearance created no surprise, no consternation, as she had half feared it might. She seated herself at a small table alone, and an attentive waiter at once approached to take her order. She did not want a profusion; she craved a nice and tasty bite - a half dozen blue-points, a plump chop with cress, a something sweet - a creme-frappee, for instance; a glass of Rhine wine, and after all a small cup of black coffee.

While waiting to be served she removed her gloves very leisurely and laid them beside her. Then she picked up a magazine and glanced through it, cutting the pages with a blunt edge of her knife. It was all very agreeable. The damask was even more spotless than it had seemed through the window, and the crystal more sparkling. There were quiet ladies and gentlemen, who did not notice her, lunching at the small tables like her own. A soft, pleasing strain of music could be heard, and a gentle breeze, was blowing through the window. She tasted a bite, and she read a word or two, and she sipped the amber wine and wiggled her toes in the silk stockings. The price of it made no difference. She counted the money out to the waiter and left an extra coin on his tray, whereupon he bowed before her as before a princess of royal blood.

There was still money in her purse, and her next temptation presented itself in the shape of a matinee poster.

It was a little later when she entered the theatre, the play had begun and the house seemed to her to be packed. But there were vacant seats here and there, and into one of them she was ushered, between brilliantly dressed women who had gone there to kill time and eat candy and display their gaudy attire. There were many others who were there solely for the play and acting. It is safe to say there was no one present who bore quite the attitude which Mrs. Sommers did to her surroundings. She gathered in the whole - stage and players and people in one wide impression, and absorbed it and enjoyed it. She laughed at the comedy and wept - she and the gaudy woman next to her wept over the tragedy. And they talked a little together over it. And the gaudy woman wiped her eyes and sniffled on a tiny square of filmy, perfumed lace and passed little Mrs. Sommers her box of candy.

A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS PART 4

It was a long time since Mrs. Sommers had been fitted with gloves. On rare occasions when she had bought a pair they were always "bargains," so cheap that it would have been preposterous and unreasonable to have expected them to be fitted to the hand.

Now she rested her elbow on the cushion of the glove counter, and a pretty, pleasant young creature, delicate and deft of touch, drew a long-wristed "kid" over Mrs. Sommers's hand. She smoothed it down over the wrist and buttoned it neatly, and both lost themselves for a second or two in admiring contemplation of the little symmetrical gloved hand. But there were other places where money might be spent.

There were books and magazines piled up in the window of a stall a few paces down the street. Mrs. Sommers bought two high-priced magazines such as she had been accustomed to read in the days when she had been accustomed to other pleasant things. She carried them without wrapping. As well as she could she lifted her skirts at the crossings. Her stockings and boots and well fitting gloves had worked marvels in her bearing - had given her a feeling of assurance, a sense of belonging to the well-dressed multitude.

She was very hungry. Another time she would have stilled the cravings for food until reaching her own home, where she would have brewed herself a cup of tea and taken a snack of anything that was available. But the impulse that was guiding her would not suffer her to entertain any such thought.

A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS PART 3

There were any number of eights-and-a-half. In fact, there were more of that size than any other. Here was a light-blue pair; there were some lavender, some all black and various shades of tan and gray. Mrs. Sommers selected a black pair and looked at them very long and closely. She pretended to be examining their texture, which the clerk assured her was excellent.

"A dollar and ninety-eight cents," she mused aloud. "Well, I'll take this pair." She handed the girl a five-dollar bill and waited for her change and for her parcel. What a very small parcel it was! It seemed lost in the depths of her shabby old shopping-bag.

Mrs. Sommers after that did not move in the direction of the bargain counter. She took the elevator, which carried her to an upper floor into the region of the ladies' waiting-rooms. Here, in a retired corner, she exchanged her cotton stockings for the new silk ones which she had just bought. She was not going through any acute mental process or reasoning with herself, nor was she striving to explain to her satisfaction the motive of her action. She was not thinking at all. She seemed for the time to be taking a rest from that laborious and fatiguing function and to have abandoned herself to some mechanical impulse that directed her actions and freed her of responsibility.

How good was the touch of the raw silk to her flesh! She felt like lying back in the cushioned chair and reveling for a while in the luxury of it. She did for a little while. Then she replaced her shoes, rolled the cotton stockings together and thrust them into her bag. After doing this she crossed straight over to the shoe department and took her seat to be fitted.

She was fastidious. The clerk could not make her out; he could not reconcile her shoes with her stockings, and she was not too easily pleased. She held back her skirts and turned her feet one way and her head another way as she glanced down at the polished, pointed-tipped boots. Her foot and ankle looked very pretty. She could not realize that they belonged to her and were a part of herself. She wanted an excellent and stylish fit, she told the young fellow who served her, and she did not mind the difference of a dollar or two more in the price so long as she got what she desired.

A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS--- PART 2

Mrs. Sommers was one who knew the value of bargains; who could stand for hours making her way inch by inch toward the desired object that was selling below cost. She could elbow her way if need be; she had learned to clutch a piece of goods and hold it and stick to it with persistence and determination till her turn came to be served, no matter when it came.

But that day she was a little faint and tired. She had swallowed a light luncheon - no! when she came to think of it, between getting the children fed and the place righted, and preparing herself for the shopping bout, she had actually forgotten to eat any luncheon at all!

She sat herself upon a revolving stool before a counter that was comparatively deserted, trying to gather strength and courage to charge through an eager multitude that was besieging breastworks of shirting and figured lawn. An all-gone limp feeling had come over her and she rested her hand aimlessly upon the counter. She wore no gloves. By degrees she grew aware that her hand had encountered something very soothing, very pleasant to touch. She looked down to see that her hand lay upon a pile of silk stockings. A placard near by announced that they had been reduced in price from two dollars and fifty cents to one dollar and ninety-eight cents; and a young girl who stood behind the counter asked her if she wished to examine their line of silk hosiery. She smiled, just as if she had been asked to inspect a tiara of diamonds with the ultimate view of purchasing it. But she went on feeling the soft, sheeny luxurious things - with both hands now, holding them up to see them glisten, and to feel them glide serpent-like through her fingers.

Two hectic blotches came suddenly into her pale cheeks. She looked up at the girl.

"Do you think there are any eights-and-a-half among these?"

PART 3 TOMORROW

A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS IN 6 PARTS

PART ONE

by Kate Chopin

A Pair of Silk Stockings

Little Mrs. Sommers one day found herself the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars. It seemed to her a very large amount of money, and the way in which it stuffed and bulged her worn old porte-monnaie gave her a feeling of importance such as she had not enjoyed for years.

The question of investment was one that occupied her greatly. For a day or two she walked about apparently in a dreamy state, but really absorbed in speculation and calculation. She did not wish to act hastily, to do anything she might afterward regret. But it was during the still hours of the night when she lay awake revolving plans in her mind that she seemed to see her way clearly toward a proper and judicious use of the money.

A dollar or two should be added to the price usually paid for Janie's shoes, which would insure their lasting an appreciable time longer than they usually did. She would buy so and so many yards of percale for new shirt waists for the boys and Janie and Mag. She had intended to make the old ones do by skilful patching. Mag should have another gown. She had seen some beautiful patterns, veritable bargains in the shop windows. And still there would be left enough for new stockings - two pairs apiece - and what darning that would save for a while! She would get caps for the boys and sailor-hats for the girls. The vision of her little brood looking fresh and dainty and new for once in their lives excited her and made her restless and wakeful with anticipation.

The neighbors sometimes talked of certain "better days" that little Mrs. Sommers had known before she had ever thought of being Mrs. Sommers. She herself indulged in no such morbid retrospection. She had no time - no second of time to devote to the past. The needs of the present absorbed her every faculty. A vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster sometimes appalled her, but luckily to-morrow never comes.

A couple of pretty porte-monnaies------------------------------------------------



PART 2 TOMORROW

GONNA FLY NOW

I heard the story today of an eighty year old woman who was determined to learn how to work a computer. She joined a class being given for free at the local senior center. She would drive herself there alone, twice a week but was having a very hard time understanding it all. The boy giving the classes told her not to worry, she could start over as many times as she needed. The rest of the class advanced on but still she was struggling to learn. She was going through the basic class for the third time when her first disaster struck her.

They took away her driver's license and she had no way to get to the center. The boy teaching the class, offered to come and get her but she said no. He could tell she was embarrassed by the offer. She was fighting to stay independent. Finally she started paying the young man next door, to take her. He charged her way too much and she was under a strain to come up with the money but she managed. He was not very dependable and half the time he was late getting her there. But still she somehow, hung on. He finally just quit taking her and she was stuck without a way to go, even to get her groceries. She fought to get her licence back and won. Now, she was independent again and was really starting to catch on to the computer. She was now into the second stage of the course and really enjoying it.

Then one week she didn't show up at all. The boy got a call after ten at night and he knew something was wrong because his family and friends knew to not call after ten at night. It was his pupil and she just wanted to tell him, she wouldn't be in anymore. Her heart was giving her problems and although the Doctor gave her medicine, it wasn't working. She quit coming to the classes. He missed her.

In a couple of weeks he was sitting in the library and studying when he noticed a woman struggling to type a letter. He asked if he could help and she said, "Yes, please". His heart sank when he saw what she wanted him to type. It was an Eulogy to his pupil and old friend. She had died a few days ago. As he read the Eulogy which as it turned out, was written by her sister, the woman he was helping,,,he began to realize something. It wasn't mastering the computer that was so important to her, it was staying involved. She didn't want to be left behind. Learning the computer was her way of saying, I am still here and I still care about living. She was a fighter. I hope, like her, I never throw in the towel. I think I'm a fighter or at least I have been so far. There have been times when I have gone into survival mode to get through but I'm still here. (cue the Rocky theme song)

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

THESE ARE MULBERRY DAYS

MULBERRY DAYS

Some say they touch the sky
Some say they see the wind
A whisper of spring is near
Can you hear it say
These are Mulberry days

Some say they'll understand
Some hold an open hand
A shimmer of moonlit haze
Can you hear it say
These are Mulberry days
These are Mulberry days

Mulberry Days----the best of one's life. I am celebrating my Mulberry Days right now. I have sense of peace now that I didn't have when I was younger. I know what the future holds and I know who holds my future. Peace, is a good thing as Martha would say.

I make a glass of ice tea and sit beside the window, looking out at the back woods. The tea glass feels so cold against my hands. There is something about this scene that feels a little surreal. I know it is hot outside today, although not as hot as last week, and yet inside, it could be Spring. I silently bless the man who invented AC. I love to throw the windows open in the Spring and Fall but for right now I am happy with just being cool. Fresh air and Sunshine may be better left to later when the temperature falls a little more. It can be sticky hot here in August.

I didn't realize that growing older could be just as much fun and just as interesting as being young. From the viewpoint of twenty or thirty, it looked like a lonely and painful place to be. Not so, as I am finding out more each day. This is good times and I wouldn't want to miss them. These are my Mulberry Days!

WHO WERE FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY?

We are remembering Hurricane Camille of 1969, here on the Coast today.
The early-morning event will be at the Gulfport grave site of Faith, Hope and Charity, three unidentified storm victims buried in Pine Ridge Gardens.

Faith, Hope and Charity are the center of the Gulfport service. Since their 1969 burial, the staff of Civil Defense has overseen a memorial service for the three women found in Pass Christian.

"These are three lost souls with no identifying marks, and in 39 years nobody has claimed them,"

We lost 172 people during that 1969 Hurricane and soon we will be taking note of the three year mark for Hurricane Katrina on August 29. I know these are important milestones and we need to remember them. But somehow, I just keep thinking about those three women who no one claimed.

That is such a sad though to me. No one to mark your passing but strangers. Why did no one realize these women were missing? Where were their Mothers, their Fathers, their sons, their daughters? Did they not have sisters or brothers looking for them. Have we become so scattered in this country, that family doesn't even know when one goes missing? If I could, I would tell them, I cried for your passing and I am still sad and think about you each year. So, here's to Faith, Hope and Charity, who no one claimed. May you rest in peace.

LIFE IS A BANQUET

I won't quote this exactly right because the speaker was a bit more bold than I am...rather like one of my readers, Hi, Brenda. Haha...but I have believed this ever since I heard it.

"Life is a banquet and most people are starving to death".

The author of this quote, Patrick Dennis's Mother, lived to be 100 years old. She believed we should live life to the fullest. Apparently she practiced what she preached. They made a movie about her, played to the hilt by Roslind Russell, It was called "Auntie Mame" as most of you probably know.

What we have is this moment. The past is over and done with, we can't change it. The future may never come, at least here on this Earth. Now, this moment is yours. Enjoy it. Hold it up to the light and examine it. "The unexamined life is not worth living". Socrates said. He was a smart man and I see no reason to disagree.

Continually take stock and see what you need to live life to it's fullest. Are you too busy? Or maybe you are not busy enough! As we get older, we tend to hibernate more. We enjoy our little, comfortable cave. Get out there and enjoy yourself. Life is to be savored. Another thing we have heard all our lives is "Life is short"...it is. Don't miss a thing! Ask yourself this question before you go to bed tonight? "Why did I take a day like today, for granted?"

WE CAN'T KNOW THE LAST TIME

PAINTING BY JAN VERMEER

Lately for some reason, I am thinking about places, people, and times in my life that I’ll never see again. There is no way to know when something will occur for the last time in most cases. I guess that is why being young is so great. There is no last time for anything when you are young. Or at least it seems that way when you feel the world is at your feet.

Would we appreciate places we think of as permanent, a lot more, if we thought we might lose them. A lot of us on the Coast found that out, after the Hurricane. I had no idea when I visited my favorite places on the beach, my library, Ryan's steak house, the place where we hold the fishing rodeo every fourth of July, Moses Pier where we fished all the time, when we first met, the beautiful paintings under the bridge, covering the walls, that a local artist painted, no idea at at all, that I would never see them again. I was trying to remember them today and already the memory is fading about a lot of things along the beach but the favorite places, I can still walk around them in my mind. They will always be a reminder of how quickly we can lose something we love.


Would we act differently toward others if we knew it was the last time we would see them? There are people in my life, that were there one day and the next day they were gone. We need to show our appreciation to our family and friends while we still can. They may not be here tomorrow but then again, we may not either. We really need to let them know today, while it is still today. Our lives can be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Go call someone you love and tell them you love them. Go visit an old friend you haven't seen in a while. Treat them like it could be the last time you will see them. One day it will be.

I believe I am feeling both old and very young today, if that makes sense. I am going to try and remember this feeling, every time Billy walks out the door. Or friends or family come over to visit. I strongly believe in a wonderful future so I am not in a sad mood, just one of reflection. "If tomorrow never comes, will they know how much I love them?" is a good qustion for us to ask ourselves.

THAT SILVER TONGUED DEVIL

PAINTING BY GABRIEL METSU

I love reading letters from back in the day when people really knew how to write a letter. I think some of the best writing of John Keats may have been in his letters to Fanny Brawne. No wonder, he could write such poetry. The man just had a romantic soul. Can you imagine a man writing a letter like this today? I hate to see letter writing being replaced by email. People will never feel as free on the internet as they do hand writing a letter. Beautiful letter writing using lovely stationary is fast becoming a lost art. Besides, you can't put a drop of perfume on an email!

I pick this letter up about half way through but the rest is just as romantic.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You absorb me in spite of myself - you alone: for I look not forward with any pleasure to what is called being settled in the world; I tremble at domestic cares - yet for you I would meet them, though if it would leave you the happier I would rather die than do so. I have two luxuries to brood over in my walks, your Loveliness and the hour of my death. O that I could have possession of them both in the same minute.

I hate the world: it batters too much the wings of my self-will, and would I could take a sweet poison from your lips to send me out of it. From no others would I take it. I am indeed astonished to find myself so careless of all charms but yours - remembering as I do the time when even a bit of ribband was a matter of interest with me. What softer words can I find for you after this - what it is I will not read. Nor will I say more here, but in a postscript answer anything else you may have mentioned in your letter in so many words - for I am distracted with a thousand thoughts. I will imagine you Venus tonight and pray, pray, pray to your star like a Heathen.
Yours ever, fair Star,
John Keats

Sigh

THE BOWERY BOYS AND SCAMS

I remember as a child,l watching one of those scary, funny movies on TV. In this one, with the Bowery Boys, they were in a haunted house and heard this terrible screeching sound. One turned to the other and said, "Feet don't fail me now". LOL
I have come upon that situation a lot in my life. Sometimes the best thing to do is run. If you see yourself becoming involved in something that your inner voice is telling you, is just not right....run.

Have you ever been around people who seemed so nice on the surface but there was just something about them, that didn't add up. I think God gave us an inner warning signal but so many times we just ignore it. I was reading today about this couple in Florida, fleeced out of their savings by a con man. The woman said she felt something wasn't right but she thought they could make a lot of money, so she ignored this inner warning signal. Someone drove up to my house the other day and said, "I was just finishing up a sales trip and I have some steaks and chops left over, and I though since I was in your neighborhood"...yeah right! If you want to lose a tooth, you can buy it. LOL

As we get older we tend to be more patriotic and more religious, and that translates to increased vulnerability to charity and other scams that play on these emotions. But the good news, a study said older people are not as likely to fall for Internet schemes. There are many not so nice people out there, ready to take advantage of older people who let their guard down. Be careful and remember, if it walks like a duck, and looks like a duck....don't be surprised if it quacks.

WHAT'S THE SPEED OF DARK?

Okay, all together now,,,ahhhhhh!

A FEW WORDS FROM THE VISIONARY STEVEN WRIGHT and one of my favorite comedians:

All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.

OK, so what's the speed of dark?

How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked

something.

Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have.

When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

Shin: a device for finding furniture in the dark.

Many people quit looking for work when they find a job.

I intend to live forever - so far, so good.

If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.

When I'm not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded.

Boycott shampoo! Demand the REAL poo!

Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.

I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.

Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

WHAT WE DID AFTER SCHOOL, BACK THEN

After school was let out, around three o'clock when I was a kid, most of us would hurry home and get that ice cold glass of Kool Aid and maybe a cookie. The cookies were homemade and usually sugar or molasses. If we were lucky, there would be peanut butter or oatmeal with raisin. Or maybe gingerbread. These were Huge and would hold us until Mama called us in to Supper.

We played games outside in the fresh air and sunshine, back then. All the kids in the neighborhood played together. The girls would play hopscotch or jacks. But our favorite game was skipping rope. The little kids used their small rope but the older kids used a long rope, with a girl on each end. We were really good at this. We would run in and out of the rope while the girls were throwing it. Then we got two ropes and skipped double rope. That was a little more difficult and of course the big kids usually did this.

The boys would play marbles or some rough and tumble wrestling or baseball. There was always an empty lot somewhere to play ball and it was an activity that went on all Summer long. Some were just games, on the spur of the moment and some were more professional with a coach and suits, furnished by some one's Dad who owned the local barber shop or hardware store. They played baseball and softball. I don't recall a lot of basketball being played and no soccer at all.

Girls didn't play together with the boys that much. The parents would sit on the porch and watch us play. I think they really got a kick out of it. One thing they found out, just whose kid was a bully and who had the whiner. There would be an occasional fight, but for the most part, we played together really well.

Around six o'clock, we were called in for Supper, which was a family affair, with everyone home and sitting down around the table. we would do our homework after helping Mama with the dishes. After homework, we were allowed to play quite games while the adults visited with neighbors or maybe had a card game. The women would talk about their latest sewing or cooking ventures or share their Hollywood or True Confession magazines. We would play with our paper dolls, the original Barbie dolls, and dress them in all the paper clothes. We read books as we got a little older. Or put on make up behind Mama's back. I don't know what boys did after homework. We didn't have any boys in our family.

Daddy loved music, so someone usually came over with a guitar or harmonica. More people played instruments then. Mama always wanted a piano but we couldn't afford one. We would listen to the radio too, and it wasn't just music either. These were wonderful, scary, romantic, or comedy shows. The smaller kids had to get ready for bed at eight but the older ones could stay up until nine. When I was still in grammar school, TV was born. I still remember the times before TV though and they were great.

LIFE IN MY REAR VIEW MIRROR

I am old enough to side step all the pitfalls that can trip up someone younger. I have no delusions anymore about what I will be when I grow up. It is an established fact. I did some of the things I wanted to do. I didn't accomplish a lot more that I had my sights set on. But that's okay because as it turns out, it was probably the best for me, the way my life has gone. I have had as many daylilles as lemons and I like to think I did make lemonade when I got lemons most of the time.

I can't imagine being with anyone else but Billy as I am entering my twilight years. Okay, maybe not twilight just yet, but most of my life is in my rear view mirror. I find myself quite satisfied about life in general. It's a good life all in all and even though I've never had fame or a large fortune and didn't grow up to be a great humanitarian, I am a pretty contented person. Being average is okay. God must have loved average people, he made a whole lot of us. : )

CATS ARE CATS, AND THAT'S THAT

Oh how well I identify with people who have cat antics going on all the time. I have three and believe you me, they are always in some sort of trouble. Those pretty, well behaved cats in the picture up there, ^^ are not mine. Those are ideal cats. Look how quiet they are! How do thier parents get them to do that?

Pepper is the worst one. He looks like an ordinary, not too snappy looking, black cat but don't let his looks fool you. He is the spirit of mischief, incarnated! He got his head hung in a teeny tiny hole behind the stove one time. He got it in there but couldn't get it out. Any sane cat would have known better. We had to pull out the stove and get wire cutters to cut him out. I still don't know how he got back there. It's not possible, but there he was howling his head off.

Did he learn anything?,,,,no...., he jumped off a building and broke his foot not too much later. Luckily his sister was on the ground and broke his fall,,stove up her little front legs as Mama used to say. He just missed landing on Shad. All are fine now except for my little girl Meshe, who walks a little crooked. Pepper of course is fine and out to see how much lower he can push our finances. Vets cost an absolute fortune today. We have a lot of visits. Not for sickness mind you, they are a healthy bunch,,but for acting like fools, for fighting with other cats that dare to wander into the yard, and for just in general, showing off.

Pepper got in a fight last year and ended up with a tube in his side. I had to lock the others out of the house while he healed. They have a cat door to the laundry room with their food and water there, so they weren't hurting by being locked out. Who was hurting, was Pepper. The door is glass and he would sit there and watch them through the glass when they came to get food or water. I felt so sorry for him which didn't last long. It never does! He immediately started howling and being an all around pain about it. He did take his medicine like a sweetheart though. I can only suppose he liked the taste, because I know, it was not out of the goodness of his little evil, black heart. LOL

He wouldn't wear the big Elizabethan looking, collar they gave us to keep him from pulling off his bandage when he broke his foot. That cat in the pic is not pepper. Pepper sat with his head on the floor, with the open part against the floor the whole time. I was afraid he was going to smother.
He did have trouble using a litter box with it on, and since they are outside cats, he really wasn't sure about what to do anyway. The only time he had used one, was when he was about four months old. I finally took the collar off and naturally he pulled the bandage off. We took him to the Vet, had another one put on,,he tore it off. I put it back on, he tore it off. I tied it on there, he tore it off. He Won! It did get well on it's own though and as soon as the collar was removed, he used the litter box. Soon he was back outside, after seven or eight years locked up in the house...walking on the porch railing and looking pretty dapper.

I fuss about my little Pepper a lot but even the naughty things he does makes me laugh. I opened up my blanket chest this morning to take out a Quilt top and in he jumped..I let him stay a minute, but finally Billy pulled him out. He protested to high Heaven I'm sure. I left because I didn't want him to think I had anything to do with it. Retaliation you know! The next time I saw him, he was lying on the foot of the bed looking just too innocent. No wonder, he was hiding my glasses under his foot, that he had taken from my laptop by the bed. He doesn't tear things up but you do have to be careful where you leave things. If he can see it, it's fair game as far as he is concerned.

The last time I looked outside he was curled up in the grill extension that is way too small for him to curl up in but there he is somehow curled up in it. Oh Lord, I hope he is not stuck in there!

PHYSICAL, MENTAL, SPIRITUAL BEINGS

Painting by G.Harvey
We were born to be three-fold beings. We are more than physical, we are spiritual and intellectual beings as well. So much time and money is spent on making sure we look good, eat good and have material things. We neglect that part of us who wants to be ever learning. We need intellectual stimulation to keep our minds sharp, especially as we get older.

But most important of all, we need to grow spiritually. For if that part is neglected, it doesn't matter how smart or creative we are or how physically fit we are, we are just an empty vessel inside. We need to fill that part of us that craves beauty and being in touch with nature and with God. We need to make that connection. I am not saying to meditate, unless you really like that sort of thing. Just take some time each day to think on the good things in your life. Don't let one single thought of anything that is stressful or hurtful, enter in. Take some me time to be still and listen.

When is the last time, you sat in a park and did nothing but listen to the sounds around you. If you have a porch, do you sit on it and just do nothing but watch the world go by? Our Grandparents knew how to do that. When is the last time, you went outside at night and just looked up at those beautiful stars. When is the last time, you took a walk by yourself, on a rainy day?

When is the last time, you really opened up all your senses? Today, find something that smells wonderful to you. A beautiful soap, fresh linen, bread baking, an orange. Take time to enjoy that lovely smell. Find some beautiful music and really, listen to it. Touch something that feels incredible to you, the soft velvet fur of your cat, a treasured silk blouse, warm sand or cool grass, under your bare feet, the cool sheets as you slide in tonight. Find a painting or a photograph you already own and really look at it. Observe the faces of the children you meet today, that sweet innocence so soon lost in this day and age. Really look at the face of a loved one, a beloved animal, really look at them. Someday you may wish you had that memory. Open up your senses to things around you.

If we make it a habit to ignore what our feelings are telling us about slowing down, we make choices that aren’t in line with our true selves, and aren’t good for us. You can get mentally and physically exhausted but have you ever though about being spiritually exhausted? Take some time to renew your spirit, that secret place, you keep hidden away. Go there and rest awhile.