It is a known fact (um-m-m-m? by whom?) that cats hate vacuum cleaners…
These cats are unaware of that fact…
Now that I have your attention,
Crédits photo : Johnia! (Flickr)
Are you a city slicker born and reared in the country? A country boy or girl living it up in the city? Country born, country stayed or city born, city to this day? Much is to be learned from both sides of life. The sleepy country side isn’t for everyone nor is the flipside, hectic city life. One may seem pale in comparison to the other so venture forth seeking the brightness of each. If you live in the country, take time to visit the city. If you live in the city, get out into the country for rural goodness.
Life in the City
Welcome to the city!
May I show you around?
A concrete jungle
It has long been called
A mighty fortress
Towering, stone-walled
Glaring, surely blaring
Sights amid sounds
All around the city
Hold you spellbound
Daytime, nighttime glamour
Makes you feel like new
Singing, dancing, engaging
Nothing you can’t do!
Hustling, bustling city squares
Crisscrossing asphalt streets
Coffee shops by the dozens
Invite strangers to meet
Spectacles, smells, odd routines
Invite strangers to stroll
Events in a city park
Offer a grassy knoll
A haven for many
Sin city to a few
Life in the city
Never bids adieu!
Welcome to the city!
Ready to wheel around?
Hail a taxi
In a heated rush
Paint the city
With your own life’s brush!
©2015 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults
Quote for the Moment: A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again.
—Margaret Mead (American cultural anthropologist, 1901–1978)
Have you ever felt like walking directly into a picture? The image being so clear, so persuasive you actually felt the scene? It could be you’ve imagined a setting from books or magazines you read or heard described. What drew you in could be the pleasantry of the landscape, the land, the horses or the people. The image became so implanted in your mind nothing could stop you from searching for such a place. You drove, drove, drove until you found it! Maybe after reading that will be the guidance you need to seek your own spot in the countryside.
Countryside Manner
At dawn beads of morning dew
Dance across spiders’ webs
Reflecting the rising sun
As pale light strokes the sky
An oratorio of frogs
Birds, mammals, creepy-crawlies
Generate the essence of song
Bringing on a tender sigh
Wide expanses of green-on-green
Adorn the rolling country hillside
With wildflowers, gems of beauty
Joining the horizon’s edge of blue
Just up the road two horses
Grazing alongside a field of buttercups
Look upward toward earth’s edge
In the forefront of the panoramic view
A wooden farmhouse in the background
Stands naked within the scene
Surrounded only by fields of green
Serene, natural beauty
An old country farmer
Plowing his corn field nearby
Reflects on life’s duty
With a swift wipe of his brow
Chickens scatter noisily
As eggs are carefully gathered
The plumpest of the plump hens
Tries to escape supper somehow
Such is the countryside manner
Where thoughts lost in daydreams
Leave imagination unbound
On wings completely free
Holding hands, shoulder-to-shoulder
Sittin’ upon the grass
Bears glory in the countryside
Now that’s the place for me!
©2015 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults
Quote for the Moment: When I go out into the countryside and see the sun and the green and everything flowering, I say to myself —Yes indeed, all that belongs to me!
—Henri Rousseau (French Post-Impressionist painter, 1844–1910)
So, what is your side of life…city or country?
vs.
Along the many highways and byways, change is imminent: change in season brings about crisp, cool mornings along with the bursting forth of vivid reds, burnt oranges, spun gold as leaves intensify in brilliance during their own change. Within this anticipation is yet another eager time of awakening. The change in color announces the time to venture cross country in search of nature’s most glorious landscape.
CHECK OUT THE VIDEO AND POETRY @AWAKENINGS…
“I’ve never known anyone yet who doesn’t suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around. . . . We’re all eight years old again and anything is possible.”
See on Scoop.it – Awakenings: America & Beyond
For each of us, what is deemed unforgettable differs. It may be a nature experience, a walk with Mother Nature—panoramic tranquil scenes or minuscule patterns or even the depiction of natural disasters. For some, it is all in the name of love, whereas for others, it is unconditionally patriotic. The possibilities are indeed endless.
There are connections to the past, present, and future. Some can be classified as Defining Moments establishing, often shifting, the course of history. Many cause a plethora of tears yet remain surrounded in blissful happiness. Then, there are the sights and sounds when Flying Over America!
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing today, pause in reflection on whom or what you are truly grateful. You may find the naming easy coming rather naturally or you may find it takes some thought, time and effort. Remember, regardless of whether easy or hard, the goal is giving thanks and being grateful for all you have. There is a lot to be thankful for…all you have to do is sprinkle a little catnip into your life embracing the cherishable moments being careful not to let the little things go unobserved. These are the true riches in life!
True Riches
Consider that which you’re truly grateful
What would be at the top of your list—
Friends, family, loved ones, favorite pet
Something you simply cannot resist?
Material—here today, gone tomorrow
Proposes value not set in stone
But when it comes to everlasting life
It is priceless—it and it alone
Life’s filled with cherishable bounties
Each to be considered on its own
Not to be thought of haphazardly
Instead measured from birth until grown
As a tiny infant you learn dutifully
Survival outside your mother’s womb
With loving care, nourishment of adoration
You grow up going forth in full costume
From childhood to young adult
Life flows as a river of dreams—
First crush, first date, first kiss
Without worry or so it seems
Once into the world of adulthood
Life takes on a whole new meaning
Gratefulness is the bounty of life
Which is only the beginning
As the days turn into months
The months forge ahead into years
Passing by all too quickly
Memory slowly disappears
The tick-ticking hands of time
Move in only one direction
The only way to step back
Is merely in life’s reflection
Live each day for its moments
Not simply day by day
True riches of life excel
In all you do and say
©2015 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults
Could it be that the mystic gratefulness in the depth of every human heart sings with “a still, small voice,” and is easily drowned out by the noise we endure and the noise we make?
—Bro. David Steindl-Rast O.S.B. (Catholic Benedictine monk, b. 1926)
Join me at Awakenings, Catnip’s sister site, for a sneak peak into September’s celebrations and What’s Happening, today September 1. It’s never too late to celebrate!
With September being Classical Music Month, what better enjoyment than listening to the music of André Rieu, Dutch violinist and conductor best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra!
Touch of Catnip…
Of course, I cannot leave without the cat doin’ cat stuff!
Smiles and laughter at the close of day…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbP2N1BQdYc
Would you ever guess “I ♥ CATS !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😍❤️❤️❤️” ?
Shrimp are shelled, but deveined. You peel a banana, pit an olive, fillet a fish, yet deseed a tomato. BUT, what do you do when you want to remove the bones from a chicken?
Let’s Talk Chicken! We are now in a world where the chicken, domestic chicken that is, rules the roost. There are more chickens than any other domesticated bird on Earth, which makes it so far down the list of endangered species there is no need to worry. There are a plethora of chicken recipes some of which call for boneless pieces unlike Southern Fried Chicken whose lovers would never throw away the bone without gnawing it first!! Oddly enough chicken ‘fingers’ do not have bones.
Let’s get back to the question at hand: bone or debone? Other than by vegetarians, a LOT of chicken is devoured on a daily basis. That leads us to believe a goodly amount of those chickens are boned…or deboned!
Quick Stats:
As of 2014, in the United States, 8 billion chickens are consumed per year, which translates to 21,917,808 chickens per day. Americans eat 25 billion chicken wings per year, with 1.25 billion, or 100 million pounds, eaten during the Super Bowl weekend alone. (Source: Ask.com)
For some, the ‘feel’ of raw chicken does not set too well so it is left to the butcher for the boning…or deboning. All I know is when I make a purchase, the raw chicken is either whole, halved, packaged as breasts, wings, legs & thighs or boneless! No way of knowing whether the little clucker was boned or deboned. Um-m-m-m? Wonder what the butcher will say if I ask him if he bones or debones?
Simply put if the bones are removed, the chicken is boneless. What difference does it make whether it is a boning or deboning process?
BTW Some of you may think there’s no such word as ‘debone.’ Sorry. It exists with a definitive meaning reflective of removing the bones from (meat, poultry, or fish), especially before cooking.
Whether you bone or debone, a question remains…
Can’t close without a touch of catnip…
Of course, some owners declaw their cat(s) but not normally as part of a recipe!
Click the link for a short article on Boning up on deBoning! Quite humorously written!
Teeny tiny little kisses between family, loved ones, too, have been tradition since exposed in film in 1922. These express fondness in lieu of passionate emotional kisses. Children especially enjoy Eskimo kisses since a tickling sensation nose-to-nose warms the heart inciting smiles, giggles, happiness. Such kisses are not limited to human factors alone. What about the velvety touch nose-to-nose with a kitten or the wet, sloppy kiss nose-to-nose with a puppy? By chance you may find some odd couples in nature… a horse rubbing noses with a goat, a baby fox with a doe, a dog nuzzling a rabbit.
Eskimo Kisses
Gentle little kisses
A brush of the nose
Soft, tender caresses
Everybody knows
Language without words
Bids hello or adieu
Sweet, childlike kisses
Emanate “I love you”
Sensuous simplicity
Merely a breath apart
Wisps like butterfly wings
Tickling right to the heart
From eye to eye
To nose to nose
Joyful feelings
Smiles do expose
Both giver, receiver
Sigh with a grin
Nuzzles on a cold day
Glow from within
Sweet, tender kisses
Forever lifelong
Whisper sweet nothings
As part of life’s song
From the tiniest baby
To your most beloved pet
Little Eskimo kisses
You don’t easily forget
©2015 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults
A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.
—Ingrid Bergman (Swedish actress, 1915–1982)
For the funny bone…
Cats are adorable and loveable offering the best cuddles ever but most of all, they are very independent. Their likes and dislikes are solely dependent on the nature of each individual feline. This is especially true at bath time. Take a peek at two extremes but get ready to LOL, then, enjoy the AW-W-W-W-W moment!
“With their qualities of cleanliness, discretion, affection, patience, dignity, and courage, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats?” – Fernand Mery Her Majesty the Cat
catnipoflife 