Category Archives: cats

Tequila Sunset

Tequila Sunset

Another sunset and another tequila sendoff at Daniel’s place next door.  Tonight was a large and happy crowd. 

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Next door, Lora Loca was serving fish and chips and dancing flamenco with another friend.  Unfortunately, my pictures were all blurred, but when a mariachi group later dropped by to play and the flamenco dancer got up to dance again, I heard the music from next door and ran over to try to click a few more pictures. Again, I forgot to turn on the flash so the pictures we all unusable, except for this fellow, who donned a sombrero and decided he’d like flamenco lessons:

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And these folks who were greatly entertained by his efforts.

When I got home, Bobino visited for the second time today.

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Having investigated the dish I’d put the last of his salmon in earlier this evening and finding it wanting, (see it behind him) he wandered into the living room.

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He seemed to be interested in the dish I’d eaten yogurt from earlier.

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And executing a graceful leap, he tidied up the bowl.

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Curled his lip, extended his tongue.  Cat language for “Hope you can do better on the morrow!”  Ran under the couch and eventually, out the door.  Night, Bobino!!!

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/optimistic/

Lulu and Annie

Lulu and Annie

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I dreamed last night that I woke up and my cat was on my chest.  I was surprised because she won’t come any farther than the wall to be fed since Morrie, my third dog, came to stay.  My first cat, Lulu, moved out and in with the neighbors when I got my second dog.  At any rate, I petted my cat, so glad to see her but wondering how she got into the house.  Then suddenly another cat  jumped up on the bed .  I saw that it was Annie, my youngest cat.  So who was the other one??? I opened my eyes to see it was Lulu who had come back to visit.  I was so happy to have them both together again and we lay there (in the dream) for a long time.  When I woke up I was still pleased that I’d seen Lulu after all these years, then realized it was a dream.

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Both of the girls displayed an interest in my work, although Annie had a bit more of a technological bent.

daily life  color113 (1)One day, I caught Lulu giving Annie climbing lessons.  Here she is between the glass and the screen, so there was little danger of falling, but some danger of not being able to extricate herself.

daily life  color112For advanced lessons in climbing, they moved to the pistachio tree. Yes.  You can believe your eyes. Lulu does have one green eye and one blue one.

Last night when I was out to dinner I ran into Lulu’s “new” parents who told me she’d been very ill and asked me how old she was.  They were surprised to discover that she’ll be 15 years old in a few months.  They thought she was much younger.  But, alas, they told me she has been very very ill and has not been eating which never happens with her. I am afraid to call to see if she passed in the night and came to visit me one last time.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/worst-case-scenario/

Street Animals

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Street Animals

In a house, I like a presence
not my own
and I like contributing
to some other creature’s pleasure.
I prefer cats, but dogs prefer me.

These animals
are drawn into my life
as though by a magnet,
but it is yet to be determined
which is the magnet–
them or me.

Nonetheless, here we are.
They bark their language of in and out.
I motion my language of sit before being fed.

The cats do not enter since the second dog moved in.
One sits on the front wall to be fed and ventures no closer.
The other moved to  dogless neighbors.
I am a resting place in their karma.
They come and go at will.

While the dogs, compliant prisoners,
escape through some careless open door when they can,
in minutes, they come home again
to walls and gates and high scalable domes
where they can watch that world
they have been saved from.

WordPress Prompt:Menagerie–Do you have animals in your life? If yes, what do they mean to you? If no, why have you opted not to?

 https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/menagerie/

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: New

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Have you ever noticed how a cat always seeks the newest thing in the house to sit on?  In this case, my overnight bag in my nephew's house, under my nephew's cat!

Have you ever noticed how a cat always seeks the newest thing in the house to sit on? In this case, my overnight bag in my nephew’s house, under my nephew’s cat!

Nothing so irresistible as a new puppy.

Nothing so irresistible as a new puppy.

I repeat. . . .

I repeat. . . .

These young ladies are very happy in their new home at La Ola, a home for abused girls in Jocotepec, Jalisco, Mexico.

These young ladies are very happy in their new home at La Ola, a home for abused girls in Jocotepec, Jalisco, Mexico.

And, of course, it is inevitable that I’d close by saying Happy New Year!!

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/new/

Sunday Stills Photos Challenge: Pets

Pets on the Beach (And Elsewhere)

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I don’t know why, but of all the pictures I’ve taken of my dog Frida, this has remained my favorite. There is just such attitude to her walking out of the fame just as I snapped the picture!

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i’ve watched this little dog every day at the beach. He runs back and forth, barking at pelicans, but never catches one!

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And this, of course, is why!

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I took a half dozen shots of this early-morning fisherman with his two well-behaved dogs, but this one, taken from a half mile down the beach, remains my favorite. The fact that you can barely make them out in the scene but that they remained the center focus for the fifteen minutes or so it took me to reach them is all in mind when I look at this photograph..

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This streamlined little guy prances by several times a day, following his master, who seems to somehow be associated with the fishing boats and frequently goes to consult with the fishermen. Love his tongue!

I love it in this photo that not one foot is on the ground!

I love it in this photo that not one foot is on the ground! (Not just a crop job. Different photo, but same tongue, same attitude!)

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Okay, okay…I know you are wondering why I never showed a closer-up of that long shot. Here it is—the faithful companions.

 

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This elderly man has been visiting the beach every time I have. He sits all day in the palapa restaurant next to my house. Once we played dice. He said he’d only play for money! Ha. Another time he told me his job was artificially inseminating horses. Later, Lora Loca, the proprietor of the cafe, told me this was a lie. I guess the aged have to get their thrills somehow! Someday I’ll probably be doing the same.

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This is Bobino, a beach cat I adopted 4 years ago, the first time I rented this beach cottage. He refused to come home with me when I left so Daniel, who has the place next door, adopted him. He is kept well-fed by fishermen. Here he is scoping out his next meal through the deck posts of my porch. A second later, he was streaking off and yes, the fisherman did give him a little fish. One day as I walked under a tree next to my porch, a fish fell out of the sky and landed at my feet. Whether it was fishes from heaven, the grackles up in the tree or Bobino who presented me with this prize, I’ll never know. But, for the future: I don’t eat fish!

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This adorable stranger waited so patiently for the remains of my breakfast at Guacamole’s, one of my favorite beachside eating establishments, that I hope I gave them to him!!

 

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Okay, I know I’ve published this photo before, but I miss my dogs and it took so long to train them to be this polite while waiting for their meals and there is a sort of “waiting to be fed” theme going here, so here they are again: Frida and Diego. Not at the beach, but in my mind as they vacation on the two-acre lot of a friend who has two other dogs and a big field filled with sheep to bark at next door.

For more pets, go here: http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/sunday-stills-the-next-challenge-pets-and-its-our-5th-anniversary/

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Converge

 Converge

I love prompts like this that force us to look at our photos in a different way.  I’ve just been waiting to use the first one below, which seems perfect for this challenge.  Thanks, WordPress, for pushing our minds as well as our eyes.

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I arrived at a local coffee bar/gallery to find it closed. This didn’t deter two little boys outside or the inside kitten, from communing. Where there is a will, convergence will happen!

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The woman, the children and each of the dogs each arrived separately to converge. There were three extra dogs as well, but I liked the composition of this cropping of the photo. The small dog jumping out from behind the umbrella pole is a picture by himself and seems to be gaining the attention of all except the children who are intent in their creative efforts in the sand.

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This fish was alive and left upon the sand to die. I couldn’t help but identify with his efforts to draw air. This is the part of fishing that bothers me the most. The children saw little difference between the live fish and the dead one, wanting to touch every surface. When the bigger boy reached to touch the eye, I flinched, but luckily the fish was dead by then. Not my catch. Not my boys. If they were, all would have passed differently.

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For more “Converge” photos, go here:
http://ceenphotography.com/2014/12/01/wp-weekly-photo-challenge-converge/

An Ode to Dog Companions

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The Prompt: Literate for a Day—Someone or something you can’t communicate with through writing  can understand every single word you write today, for one day only. What do you tell them?

An Ode to Dog Companions

Darling little Frida, dearest Diego, too.
I have a little something I have to say to you.
If you’d like to go out walking every single day,
you have to start responding when I shout out, “Hey!”

That word means “Pay attention!” Its volume says “Right now!”
It doesn’t mean to take off after every passing cow
pulling me right after you, cause it is two to one,
and since my last foot surgery, I don’t much like to run!

Another little something I’d really like to tell
is that it was all your fault the last time that I fell.
When one of you runs toward the lake, the other towards the town,
your leashes wrap around me and the way I go is down!

Please don’t jump up on the screen whenever mealtime’s near.
I’ve had it mended more than once—a dozen times, I fear.
If you sit there quietly, your meal will be served fast.
I tell this to you each day, but my words don’t seem to last.

Another little something that needs badly to be said
is that it would be lovely if you’d shit behind the shed
instead of on the footpath or all over the grass,
for pooping over everything is really rather crass.

You don’t have to answer that dog across the street,
for he sets a barking record that you don’t have to beat.
The fighting cocks can crow without your high accompaniment.
(Albeit that your howls are growing quite magnificent.)

The hound of the Baskervilles was acting on a curse
and now that you have matched him, there’s no need to rehearse.
The owl will hoot hoot every night no matter what you do.
Ignore him, please. This is your mother begging it of you!

The dog food is for you dogs, and the cat food is for cats.
If you keep forgetting this, it’s going to drive me bats!
It does no good to try to knock cat dishes from the wall.
Those antics will not ever get you anywhere at all!

Diego, when I get home, please don’t drive Frida away!
You won’t believe there’s love enough, no matter what I say.
I have one hand for each of you, so let her have her share.
You are a dog and not a pig, so gluttony’s not fair.

Please don’t eat the cat bed and please don’t chase the cat.
Bullying’s not an answer. I will have none of that!
You found me on the street and did all that you could do
to make me bring you home with me to join my motley crew.

I am allergic to you dogs, and also to each cat,
although I know that you cannot be cognizant of that.
And so you want to sleep real near and have me stroke you often.
But when I do, it ends in itching, nose-blowing and coughin’.

Your species is a puzzle to which I don’t have a key.
Though it was at your insistence that I brought you home with me,
why is it every single time an open gate you see,
you’re through it, running down the street, so anxious to be free?

(for a similar prose answer to this prompt, go Here)