Quote of the Day - 03/24/2012

A cat’s skin is a bigger envelope than is necessary to hold the flesh and bones inside it. - Muriel Beadle in The Cat: History, Biology, and Behavior

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Cats have a grace and fluidity to them all the time and part of it might be that their skin is not stretched so tightly over ‘the flesh and bones inside’ as our skin is. Even when they contort themselves, their skin does not seem stretched. My first cat was one that had longer hair which made this observation difficult but now I have a short haired cat - and it is pretty easy to see. The cat’s skin is like a baggy coat.

Now for  a positive thought of the day about what happens to us as we grow older - think of the wrinkles and sags of aging as our skin becoming more cat-like - ‘a bigger envelope than necessary to hold the flesh and bones inside it.’ Are there other ways you want to be like a cat? I want to 

• Walk at my own speed even though someone is trying to rush me
• Be totally comfortable when I still
• Focus intently on what is happening around me (even if I am stealthy about it)
• Go to sleep easily

Robins of Spring

Spring officially starts tomorrow…but the robins have already arrived in Maryland and they are a big part of spring. They are birds frequently seen over most of the continental US and easily recognized with the red plumage of their breast and charcoal feathers on their wings, back, and head. Their eyes are often lined in white. We get large numbers of them in the Maryland spring as they make their way north.

Sometimes they look very trim…almost skinny…when they arrive. But the spring rains bring fat worms close to the ground surface and the robins have feasts that quickly fatten them up.

Sometimes on cold mornings they fluff their feathers and the ‘red breast’ becomes even more conspicuous

As the days warm, some will continue northward while others will stay to lay eggs and raise their young. We almost always have a pair that builds a nest under our deck. Our cats can hear them from the screen enclosed portion of the deck; hours and hours of close scrutiny through a crack in the flooring ensue.  The robins enjoy the safety of the high rafter and the cats get to watch the drama of birds coming and going.

Quote of the Day - 2/3/2012

Newborns are like cats, they have no emotions and no memory. - Isabel Allende in Daughter of Fortune: A Novel (P.S.)

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Newborns and cats…maybe it isn’t exactly that they have ‘no emotions and no memory.’ Maybe those things are just reduced enough that we perceive the difference and/or the difference is magnified by inability to communicate effectively.

We watch our newborns for signs of developing emotions and memory. I remember years ago watching my baby in REM sleep. She made a series of facial expressions from smiling to frowning in her sleep; she was practicing the emotional feedback our faces provide to each other. A few days later she smiled at me and her father for the first time. It was a milestone both for showing emotions and memory.

Our indoor cats have bursts of emotion (cat fights, acceptance of short duration cuddles with lots of purring), but most of the time seem very self-contained, even introverted. Clearly they are dependent on their ‘people’ but they are intent on not acknowledging it any more than absolutely necessary. They are very stoic almost to the point of not showing any emotion most of the time. And on the memory front - our cats have been known to re-discover an old toy and play with it as if it was ‘new to them’ even though they played with it the same way just yesterday.

How endearing newborns and cats are - even without emotions and memory!