Showing posts with label Miss Polly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miss Polly. Show all posts

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Day #571 Miss Polly and Rabindranath Tagore

I’ve been thinking about death lately--not from any sort of morbid ponderings, but simply as a way of dealing with the fact that Miss Polly, my alarm cat, will be 16 in five more days.  When she came to me as a little rescue kitten, I couldn’t believe we’d have this long an association or that she’d become as much of a treasure to me as she is.

I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do when it’s time for her to go.
The first time a cat of mine died, there were ten others to ease my grief. Gradually, over the years, the numbers have dwindled, and now there are only two. It feels a bit like Agatha Christie’s amazing mystery And Then There Were None.

Just when I was beginning to get a bit depressed, though, I came across a quotation from Rabindranath Tagore (the one who wrote, “God respects me when I work, but God loves me when I sing”) that I'd written on a stray piece of paper -- there are a lot of those in my house...:
"Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. 
It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come.”
--Rabindranath Tagore
I’m going to see a candle every time I look at Miss Polly from now on--for as long as I have with her until she passes into her special day.


p.s. Remember to look for the Super Moon tonight!

BEEattitude for Day #571:
       Blessed are those who appreciate the bees around them, for they shall feel a part of something bigger than themselves.
_______________________________ 
The teeny details:
my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Day #563 Polly and the Honeybee

It was hard, turning in all my Citizen Fire Academy turn-out gear last night. I gave everyone in the class a copy of one of my mass-market paperbacks -- I had some promotional copies left over from the ones sent to me by World Wide Mystery. I’m not allowed to sell them, so I figured giving them to the class and the instructors would be a good idea.
A few days ago, Miss Polly settled in my lap and put her head under my hand. For sixteen years, e's know how to get a good scratch from a good scratcher when she sees one! My phone was sitting beside me so, one-handed, I managed this picture.


She spotted a honeybee on the outside of the picture window yesterday and spent several minutes watching it crawl around. The belly-side view is fascinating. I watched it with her. Wish I’d taken a picture, but this one from a previous blogpost will have to suffice.


I'm gonna miss her when she's gone. 
BEEattitude for Day #563:
       Blessed are those who take the time to SEE what they’re looking at, for they shall have wonders unfold before them.
_______________________________ 
The teeny details:
my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Day #505 Beach Report

Happy Leap Year Day. I thought you might enjoy seeing a little bit of my vacation.


I didn’t see a single honey bee at the beach. Of course, I do wonder if bees like the Atlantic shore. The wind was pretty stiff most of the time.


I didn’t see any bees in Karen and Dan’s yard either. 



This yellow flower bloomed on the sand dune beside the shore, just at the base of an observation platform. I spotted it after the sun came up.


Even though there were no bees, I did see a couple of little critters that I’d like to share with you. 





The closed shell you see on the left contained a live animal, and I had to give it a little kiss before I eased it back into the receding tide. 













This other little guy was as perky as they come. Too bad s/he was empty. Of course, if there had been anyone home, the shell wouldn’t have looked like a face.

Looks rather like Chewbacca, doesn't it?







I found this announcement, from a lighthouse commission report in 1868.   

It still has a good message today.














My shins are still sore from the miles we walked along the beach at daybreak (and midday and sunset) -- but it was worth it.







Thanks, Karen and Dan.







BEEattitude for Day #505:
       Blessed are those who watch where they’re flying [or walking], for they shall see wonders.








 And, of course, Polly found a box while I was gone...


Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Day #385 Polly the Alarm Cat

I’ve had people ask me why I believe that people can hear animals’ speech and that animals can understand what people are saying.

Here’s the story.

A number of years ago, at a time when I had ten or eleven indoor rescued cats living in my house, one of them started peeing in a highly inappropriate place, in the living room. After two days of this, I was fed up. I couldn’t catch the culprit in the act.

An animal communicator who lives in California had been highly recommended to me. I called her on Friday and told her what the problem was. She asked me the names of my cats and the hair color and eye color of each of them, as well as their ages and how long they had lived with me. That’s all I told her.

She hung up, contacted the cats telepathically, spoke with each of them, called me back, and told me that it was Miss Polly who’d been peeing. “She’s trying to get your attention,” she said. “Polly is very angry with you because you moved a red furniture.”

“What?”

“That’s what she told me,” Dr. Ryan said. “She said that you had moved a red furniture and she couldn’t sit on it to watch the birds out the window anymore.”

She was right. I had moved a big red overstuffed chair from my bedroom, where it sat in front of a window, to the middle of the living room. The peeing started the next day, right next to that chair.

I explained that to Dr. Ryan and asked, “Does this mean I can’t move my furniture?”

“No, not at all. You’re the mom. But Polly would appreciate if you would tell her before you move anything. Change scares here, and she’d like to know what’s going to happen.”

“Is she going to stop her peeing?”

“Yes,” Dr. Ryan said, “but she would appreciate it if you could put another chair or a table next to that window so she can watch the birds. And could you move the red chair closer to one of the living room windows?”

“Sure,” I said. “Not a problem.”

“By the way, Polly told me that she would like to have a regular job.”

“A job? For a cat? What kind of job do you give a cat?”

She made soothing noises. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

I mailed off a check to her. That night, I set my Zen alarm clock (which has an amazingly quiet little ding) for 6 a.m., since I had to be at an early meeting the following morning. Just before I went to sleep, I turned my head toward Polly, who was, as usual, sleeping next to my pillow, and said, “Polly, would you be sure to wake me up at 6:00 tomorrow morning? I don’t want to sleep through the alarm.”

The next morning I was in that semi-conscious state just before waking. The alarm hadn’t gone off yet. As it clicked, a second or two before the first ding, I felt three little pats on my cheek. I opened an eye. Polly’s head hung close to my face.

“Thank you, Polly,” I said, just as the alarm clock went ding,secretly sure that this was just a coincidence..

The next morning, when I might have slept in a bit, 6:00 came with three little pats on my cheek despite the fact that the alarm clock was not set.

The next morning, same thing. And the next. And the one after that.

When daylight savings time switches, we always have a week or so to adjust, and I’ve finally convinced her that 6:30 is more reasonable that 6:00.

Still, every single morning since then, she has woken me with those three little pats. If I stroke her back a couple of times and mumble “ten more minutes, Polly,” she’ll go away and come back a little later, sort of like a built-in snooze button. I can do that three times. After the 3rd time, though, she puts her little paw directly onto my eyelid. That’s when I get up with no delay.

I asked Dr. Ryan once why I couldn’t hear my own cats.

“It’s because you aren’t really willing to hear everything they might tell you.”

I think she’s right. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t hear what the bees were saying.


BEEattitude for Day # 385:
       Blessed are those who listen well, for they shall be illuminated.


Happy 11-1-11 !


_______________________________ 
The teeny details:
Coming Soon: VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST, the 6th Biscuit McKee mystery

Friday, August 12, 2011

Day #304 Kisses from Two Very Different Critters

Awright, I know this may sound weird, but this morning, when Miss Polly woke me up by gently touching her paw to my cheek, I couldn’t help by think about a fly that got in the house a couple of days ago and ended up landing on my cheek – not for very long, of course, since I batted it away.

But the fact that two such very different creatures both touched my cheek led me to wonder what a fly looked like close up. I had already taken a picture of Polly’s paw as she snoozed on the couch, and I located (on the  MicroAngela website, the same place I found the microscopic photo of a honey bee head for Day #294) this picture that was labeled “Fly Kiss.”

Copyright by Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho - MicroAngela
Polly Paw
Thought you’d like to see the two side by side:





Given a choice, I'll take the Polly Paw anyday.






I wonder what a fly looks like to a honey bee?


BEEattitude for Day # 304:
       Blessed are those who think of fun analogies, for they shall entertain themselves.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Day #238 Bee's Ears

Do bees have ears?

No, that’s not the start of a bee joke. I really don’t know the answer. I’ve looked in the various bee books I own, and can’t find anything.

At any rate, if they don’t have ears, they miss all that lovely buzzing,

Or do they?

When Miss Polly sat on my lap this morning, I felt rather than heard her soft purr. Maybe bees are the same. Do they feel each other as some sort of ocean wave of vibration? Do they ever imitate each other’s sounds?

I don’t know the answers. But I like asking the questions.

BEEattitude for Day # 238:
       Blessed are those who truly listen to what they’re hearing, for they shall see the light.



_______________________________ 
The teeny details:
my eBooks on Amazon for Kindle
my eBooks on Smashwords (for all other formats)