Godfrey puts in his 2 cents!

Lately, Godfrey has been expressing his need to put in his two cents in a blog post, but first I must share what is going on in his young life at the moment!

Godfrey has become, literally, CATatonic in the past few weeks!  He has fallen in love, of all things!  And fallen hard, sweet fellow.  Apparently, he got online one day while I was in town.  I had left the computer on, and he discovered that one of my friends knows a tortoiseshell kitty name Gumdrop who is quite the looker!  In fact, she has won numerous beauty pageants and has her very own Facebook page.  My, my!  I came home and found drool all over my keyboard ........

Well, all I can say is that it has gotten a bit silly what with Godfrey going around all lovesick and moon-eyed.  He is now practicing the art of writing sonnets, and he hasn't eaten in hours or taken more than 20 catnaps per day since she let him know that she returned his love!  I am afraid that he is totally inCATuated, poor dear!  The "X" & "O" keys on my keyboard are just about worn out!

So now he is insisting that I let him email her back and forth IN PRIVATE, and he says he needs his own computer and credit card so he can send her catnip, toys and treats.  Actually, he also wants his own Amazon Prime account, but I said "No!" to that immediately!  I don't care if it does include free shipping!  This is all happening just way too fast if you ask me.

This is Gumdrop, the object of Godfrey's affection (and obsession!). She really is quite lovely and I can see why Godfrey has fallen under her spell! You can just fall into those eyes and lose yourself! 

Life as a pin-up and show girl can really be quite nice, apparently!

He must be having some trouble with the sonnet writing, what with all the rules and regulations for their composition and form, because I have yet to see any finished poems.  There HAS been A LOT of wadded up bits of paper in the wastebasket of late, however, along with 3 chewed up ballpoint pens.  He is giving it a good go, at least!  I have tactfully suggested he try haiku, but so far he has not bought into that idea.

Another attempt at a sonnet hits the waste basket!  This is hard work!

Fortunately, Godfrey has forgotten that I forgot about sharing his very first birthday party photos in the middle of June because of the dog attack on me and my llama, Jagger.  Truth be told, he was pretty devastated about the whole thing, too, as not only had his Person been injured, but one of his outside buddies had been brutally attacked and killed.  So, to make it up to him, I am allowing him to post now, and I hope he will say:  "Well, better late than never!"

Godfrey & Jagger spent a lot of time communicating through the dining room window this past spring. Two beautiful friends.  This photo really makes me start to tear up .... 

Here he is to tell you all about the Big Day.

GREETINGS!  SALUTATIONS!  HELLO, EVEN!

Godfrey, here, with some photos to amuse you, as well as some advice from my heart to yours.  First of all, I wanted to share my first birthday with you as it was quite a blast, if you ask me!  Of course, it's being the very first celebration of my gracing this world, I was not sure what to expect.  But, there were snacks and plenty of catnip, and my big pal, Axl, participated in all of the shenanigans!  Jessy, on the other hand, just watched from her nearby perch on the arm of the den sofa.  She can really be an old stick in the mud sometimes, bless her heart!

My favorite birthday present!  I still spend hours trying to get that danged ball out of this circular
contraption.  Once I actually succeeded, but according to my Person, that wasn't supposed to
happen!

Axl found where the catnip was hiding ....  right there in that light blue thing in the center.  He sure has a nose for catnip, my big buddy, Axl!  

Axl was a good sport and let me have the first turn with my new toy, even though it was laced with
catnip, and then I let him have a spin with it!

Soon we were feeling real good!

After a bit of a snooze, we played (and sniffed) some more ....

I really do think that Axl is affected by the Good Stuff more than I am.

But soon, we were both completely "under the influence!"   Best party EVER!

And then there was THIS:

This was my other gift from my Person.  I have to admit, I have no 
clue why I need this for sharpening my claws. 

I much prefer sharpening my claws on the door facing of the hall bathroom!
I don't see myself making any changes anytime soon.

During these warm, lazy days of Summer 2014, I have been reading a good bit.

I absolutely adore my Kindle Fire HD!  I can easily turn the pages with one paw and I can read at night in the dark.  Awesome!

Two of my current favorites are pictured below.  I thoroughly enjoyed these when I was looking for something a bit on the lighter side after finishing A Tale of Two Cities earlier in the spring.  At first, I just wanted to see if that was my sister, Bella, on the covers. She has not written since the day I left home and who knows what she has gotten into in the meantime.  It looks quite a bit like her, although I cannot get a glimpse of her white paws in either cover photo. Both books are available for your Kindle, etc., and SHE has a Facebook page of her own, too!  I want MY own Facebook page!

This is a really good read.  And it turns
out that is not Bella on the cover, after
all.

I am only halfway through this one, but
it is a good read, also.  I really DO want
to learn how to purr ....  don't you?!

I, for one, believe wholeheartedly that it is the daily practicing of mindfulness and the principles of Zen that have brought me to my place in Life with my devoted Person, as well as milady love, Gumdrop, and I challenge you to try it for yourself.  You may be very pleasantly surprised by the results!  One word of caution, however.  Do not rush the Process!!!  It takes Time as well as Mindfulness to discover and achieve what it is that we Need.

Here is a little something I found while perusing the Internet recently.  I really liked it and think it is full of Great Wisdom.  I have noticed that my Person has already been practicing these for some time but she has a bit of trouble with #1, #3 and #5, if you ask me!

I also stumbled upon this popular little bit of wisdom online, also, and have decided to share it with you, my friends! At first, it may seem strange to be coming from a feline, but the Wisdom is there in the idea that we should push our boundaries, and try something new, something different now and then!   ENJOY!

Be More Dog

And last, but certainly not least, it is that time of year again ... Football Season!  YES!  I just love lying around on the coffee table or lazing about on the ottoman, watching my Steelers play their game.  Oh, I watch other teams, too, but the Steelers make my heart sing!  I have my very own Terrible Towel that I drape over my shoulders or cuddle up with during the games, but my Person has not gotten me my very own t-shirt as of yet.  Maybe for Christmas?!  Hint, hint!!!!!

Troy Polamalu will be back on the field and throwing his body through 

the air just like a circus performer. Pure awesomeness!  He has just got 

to be part cat!

And with that, I turn this blog post back over to my wonderful Person.

I remain your devoted feline friend,

GODFREY.

Okay, it me, Sara.  I am back!  While he was pounding out his thoughts on the keyboard, I went to the store and had some prints made for him of his sweet and lovely Gumdrop.  I put them in some nice little frames so that he doesn't have to be online in order to gaze into her liquid eyes.  I am just that kind of Person.  Also, I was getting tired of wiping up the drool on my keyboard!  But he really is such a sweetheart, and I do tend to spoil him, along with Jessy and Axl, because they do bring such joy into my life.

He was thrilled, of course, and is now in the process of hanging them near one of his favorite chill-laxing spots.

As for me, I have been looking at my veggie garden, which is just about played out now, with only peppers, eggplant, okra and some tomatoes left.  I am trying to decide if I want to continue my experimentation with gardening during the fall and winter months as I did last year.  It is a Big Question for me, but I think that I have made big strides in gardening over the last 12 months or so, and can now be confident enough to know that I can grow my own favorite vegetables year round as I have dreamed of doing for sustainability.

My harvest this weekend.  Just look at the lovely colors!

With just the two days of my precious weekends available to me each week for doing any project until I retire, I want (need) to be doing something else for a change of pace right now.  I am getting restless, and experimentation is time consuming!  Being self-sustaining is also time consuming!  I will probably still plant a few things (there will definitely be garlic), but I am switching my concentration towards working more with my fiber and knitting, as well as some more of the interior remodeling on my home.

I have had to forgo construction of my greenhouse this year due to circumstances of finances and practicality.  I do not view this as a failure, however, just a change in timing.  I will have it, just not this year.  We really do need to be flexible in our lives or we run the risk of being broken, snapped like a twig, and disappointed in Life itself.  Things happen.  Go with the Flow!  Find your Zen!

I have been able to narrow down my choices of greenhouse kits to two from ACF Greenhouses, so I have made some progress.  Deciding on a kit instead of building it from scratch made sense to me as I really do not have the help I would need for the latter route.  The kits are supposedly easy to construct with the help of just one other person and without much experience other than reading and following directions.  That means that Ben will help me, and I will be the supervisor of the job site!  My only concern is that I will have to supply a foundation for it, and foundations are very important.  So, I will be figuring that part out over the next few months before I commit to a kit by ordering it.

My retreat with the Chix Packin Stix gals two weekends ago was just AWESOME!  It has me picking up my knitting needles once again, and I am busy finishing up abandoned projects as well as those I started at the retreat.  The next post will fill you in on just how much fun we had, and I will say that I cannot wait until the next retreat at the end of January, 2015!

So, it is time for me to do something different here on HeartSong Farm!

On a winter Sunday morning

I am at my computer at the dining room table, with a second cup of my delicious Dark Roast Community Coffee that I save for weekends and holidays....sun is shining brightly through the dining room window and birds busy eating at the feeders....Godfrey, the kitten, is stretched out between the computer screen and the keyboard....I have had to move the screen further back to allow him enough space and so that I can type....he started out draped completely over the keyboard!

Godfrey at the computer

Yesterday I worked in my garden...I can see baby turnips!  Exciting...to me, at least.  Can't wait to see baby beets.  I picked a huge container of greens to enjoy this week with pinto beans and scrambled eggs.

A harvest of  homegrown greens

I hand-washed a whole bunch of dishes and washed a load of heavy miscellaneous items, not clothes which are always done on Sunday afternoons.  Then I came in and watched football and sorted through some things that were piling up.

I have decided that instead of making "to do" lists that it would probably be better for me to make a list of what I accomplished for the day or weekend.  That would be less overwhelming and disappointing in the long run.  I find that sometimes I make a list of things to do for a weekend or vacation and it has so many things on it that I end up doing only some of them and doing other things instead.  Yes, the "other things" needed to be done, but not necessarily at that time.  And then what I didn't do, but should have done, ends up on The List again!  It is a very vicious circle sometimes.  Maybe it is my way of being Rebellious?!  I never was as a teenager.  Or maybe it is just that I am easily distracted.

I have also decided I want to either knit or spin something during the Olympics.  Now I have to decide which and what!  I am not really good at making decisions.  I am getting better, but still have a long way to go.  Having a mother who insists on making all your decisions with no input from you as a child or teenager does not teach you how to make decisions easily.   It is good to give children some choices to make.

I spent some time last night looking at some fiber to spin and writing down all my ideas about spinning it, as in what colors to blend together and ply together and also what I wanted to knit with it when it was done.  I really agonized over it!  I was determined I would not go to bed without making a decision.  I think that I must have a bit of Perfectionist in me which is another part of my problem.  I am so afraid of making the wrong choice sometimes.

This is the fiber combination I decided to work with during the Olympics!

I did make a decision and I did get to bed at a decent hour and now it is another beautiful day to do a bit of playing outside in the garden and about the farm.  It is still pretty muddy here from all the recent rains so I will need to wear my rubber clogs.  Football again this afternoon and some more sorting through "stuff" and possibly the baking of some bran muffins and gingerbread!  Oh, and I think that there is one more Guinness in the fridge left over from New Years!  WooHoo!  Hey, I might even have a chance to knit or spin or, if Godfrey or Jessy will stay out of my lap, process some of my llama fiber or card some of my homegrown cotton into rolags.

Jessy, my sweet pea

I have decided that I want to know what it feels like to be proud of myself.  That is what I want for 2014.

The sun is shining on HeartSong Farm!