Saturday, November 29, 2014

Life On Earth


We did the outdoors thing today. Mr. Moon got up on the roof and blew the leaves off which scares me to death. That's the back porch roof he's on there and here he is on the front porch.


I took that when I got back from the post office and I like it because you can see the leaves dancing down. 

I spent hours in the dirt, kneeling and weeding. Turns out a lot of the carrots came up but you couldn't see them for the weeds. My little bonsai garden. Eventually I'll get that bag of organic fertilizer off the kitchen porch and actually use it. Anyway, it was a most pleasant way to spend an afternoon, pulling tiny weeds by hand, some of them hardly bigger than a hair while trying to avoid pulling the lettuces and carrots. While I worked (if you can even call such a pleasant thing work) I listened to yet another Philippa Gregory novel, this one about Mary Queen of Scots. Mostly. I swear- I think I've listened to every one of her books available on audio available at the local libraries. Please don't judge me. They're perfect to listen to while doing housework or gardening or walking. I also listened to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, which is always amusing. 

So it was a perfectly fine day under the blue sky with the chickens clucking and scratching around the garden fence and beautiful English voices in my ears. 

Ashley is doing very, very well. Mr. Moon decided to let her out into the kitchen and laundry room again today because she is very obviously bored with the bathroom confinement. She meows and bats at the door. Lily really needs to get that kitty soon because of course she is stealing our hearts. 


When I come into her presence now she doesn't run and hide but stands her ground and looks at me. She loves to play with feather toys and will even play with us. She is, in short, becoming a cat. I took her into the Glen Den tonight and she is happy there, exploring and sniffing and jumping and playing with a turkey feather and sharing bits of cheese with Mr. Moon. When I went in last, she had settled down on some pillows like a tiny queen.


She is such a testament to what can be achieved with a lot of love and a little bit of patience and an unending stream of delicious foods. I keep joking that it's like she's on one of those all-you-can-eat cruises and she is taking advantage of every meal. I am so glad that I grabbed her that day last week and brought her in to warmth and safety, even if she did try to take my hand off. She couldn't help it. She was hungry and cold and terrified. 
And now she is not. 
And when she purrs she is so loud that it makes us laugh. 

I just read a thing on Facebook that is so true and something I really need to remember right now and I am going to copy it without the author's permission but I am going to beg forgiveness from him as soon as I publish this. The man who wrote it is Matt Haig who has written some very good books and I recommend that you read them because his heart is huge, his compassion is enormous, he is talented as hell and his struggles with depression are something he is not ashamed to talk about. Here is what he said:

The thing with depression is that, no matter how many times you get it, it always tells the same lie. The lie that everything is going to get worse. This is bullshit. It doesn't always get worse. It gets better. And then a bit worse again. And then a bit better. That is life. Ups and downs. Peaks and troughs. But depression doesn't believe in peaks, only troughs. Even if you know that things have been bad before, and got better, you think "But this time - THIS TIME - things are NOT going to get better, because they can't, because this time I just closed my eyes and saw a rat in a top hat and that must mean I am mad [OR WHATEVER]. But depression always runs out of energy, because however big it is, it is not bigger than time. And time reveals the lies depression tells. You don't go mad. You don't die. It takes hours or days or weeks or months but you come out of it, and you realise, yes, I was stupid. I am bigger than depression. I am the sky. Depression is the cloud. And clouds drift on by. But I will probably forget that again, next time I fall into the valley, so I will leave this here to remind me. Depression lies. It is full of shit. Never - for one second - believe the crap it is trying to tell you. It is an illness, not a personality. It is NOT YOU. Exist behind it. Above it. Through it. Watch it pass.

He tells the truth. 
I'm going to go make us an enormous salad. 
Be well. 

Love...Ms. Moon




14 comments:

  1. Yup.

    That cusion picture is gorgeous :) Lily better get her quick, alright, how many marmalade cats can one family have? I fear the answer is ... more than they really want.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ashley is adorable! I figured you'd have her tamed in a matter of days :)
    When my husband goes up on our very steep roof to blow leaves I am beside myself. I hyperventilate, cry a little, wring my hands, pace, all while listening for the sound of him crashing onto the hard ground. It's not normal, the worry I have, and all these years, not a single mishap. But worry is what I do best some days.
    I love that you enjoy weeding your garden, listening to books on tape. That's probably right up there with the best things in life. Thanks for checking in with your day, it kind of makes mine here :)
    Xo
    Ps I made turkey soup today, thought of you and your recipe, it was very good!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh lord, that kitten. I am under orders to not get another cat (whatever, I don't think 4 is too many. Wait. I already have 4. Again, not enough!) until we buy a house and the dogs die. But I keep telling my husband that I am powerless if I find a kitten and it needs saving.

    And that bit about depression? Yep.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jo- I am afraid that Glen is falling in love with her even more than I. But NO! She's Lily's cat.
    I feel like a surrogate mother.

    Mel- I love and adore you. Thank you for being part of my life.

    Ramona- We will probably all end up as crazy cat women.
    And what Matt Haig said- I am holding on to it. I am believing what he said is true.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I will re-read this. I am feeding that black dog right now,I so do not want to but,well you know and i hope for some understanding.Thank you for sharing this.Your pics of Ashley help.Don't ask it just is...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love those words about depression. They are true, too, about early morning thoughts -- those just before dawn darkness thoughts. I have them nearly every time I wake before dawn, and it's like being terrorized. I am a different person, almost. Then, in daylight, I feel almost embarrassed at their ferocity. I know that depression -- the kind he refers to, the kind that I am not subject to -- is something vaster than early morning anxiety, but reading this helps me because I've been waking up a lot lately and lying terrorized until dawn. Perhaps I will name those hours for what they are: liars.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have not had a pet in nearly 30 years. But if I lived closer I would beg for that cat. Love, Glimmer

    ReplyDelete
  8. Depression is indeed a liar.
    Cats never lie.
    Having a cat thats purrs really loudly is kind of like an anti-depressant.

    ReplyDelete
  9. We have -39C wind chills here this weekend so your talk (and pictures) of weeds and leaves and fluffy kittens is a pleasant distraction.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Quite frankly I am surprised that you are still locking the kitten up. I figured it would have the run of the house by now. she certainly did tame the two of you.

    ReplyDelete
  11. mary i- We struggle, don't we? I am grateful for Mr. Haig's words. And yes, a darling cat picture cannot hurt.

    Elizabeth- I have always said that anything you think is true between the hours of midnight and five a.m. are false. They are whispered to us by demons. Trust me.

    Glimmer- She's pretty damn cute, isn't she?

    Denise- You are exactly right. You can't help but laugh and be comforted.

    Heartinhand- Sounds like my worst nightmare. Well, except for a tsunami.

    Ellen Abbott- She was just hiding if we let her out and I figured that had to be stressful. She is now out and I don't think she's feeling very stressed.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think it is too late for Mr Moon (and you) and Ashley. Don't fight it. I expect you shall discover that Ashley is a boy and you will then own two cats with names that don't quite fit their gender.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ashley is very cute! I think most animals are predisposed to be social, and unlocking that predisposition is just a matter of calming their fears. You have obviously calmed that cat's fears.

    As for Matt Haig's very true words -- one of the biggest lessons I took from my years of Zen practice is that everything is temporary. Happiness is temporary, but so is sadness. The same goes for depression. Which is exactly what he's saying, in his writerly eloquent way. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ashley sitting like she owns the world. And so she does.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.