Birdie

Getting ready for bed I heard a cry from outside my window.  An injured sea bird perhaps or maybe a baby had fallen from one of the nests that permeate that side of the roof near the big gnarly tree. A slow perimeter sweep by full moon light, in my pajamas and nothing caught my eye. But then I heard it again, and closer. I could have sworn I saw a blob on the ground move and quickly snatched my phone for the flashlight. The light revealed rocks and more rocks. I walked around anyway, maybe it hopped near the oyster plants. Nada. But at the dead end corner of the side yard just as I was about to call it a night, I saw a texture that didn't belong...fuzzy. 

A wee tail on a wee bootie squished up between the sapphire paneling and the seldom used kayak. I reached down to pick it up, fully prepared to be bit or see fuzzy lightning sprint out of my reach or running speed. But instead it purred. I held it to my chest and it purred and purred and purred. If I lifted it off my chest, it screamed like that injured sea bird. 

Rescued Feral Kitten

It started sucking on my fingers and kneading my chest, my face, my arms. It was still a baby and I only had food for enormous dogs. A friend left some heavy whipping cream in the fridge and I tried warming it with some water. I had a syringe and slowly gave it an oz or 2 and it purred and purred then fell asleep. I wrapped it up in my Costco sarong and tried to fall asleep holding it. This was touch and go. It was too scared to leave me so I didn't feel like it'd jump out of bed but every time it stopped purring and fell asleep, I'd wake up worried it'd died and wake it up to check. This happened over and over throughout the night. "Are you still alive little one??" It snuggled into the crook of my arm, and reached it paws up to my chin purring and fell back to sleep. 

Baby Bunny Kitten

Morning came and I gave it a warm bath as I started thinking about fleas, mites, pinkeye, feline aids...all the things I didn't think about when I slept with a strange cat the night before and let it snuggle my face. The water ran red, even after a few rinses. I didn't see any injures except for a cut on the lip. Afterbirth? Did the mother get hit by a car? 

Kneady Kitten

All clean, I took the sleeping baby to Petco. "Can someone help me with a little kitten" I said as I came through the doors. A young woman quickly took me down isles, grabbing things and explaining them as she walked, "You can get it formula then start to transition it to solids...Are you gonna keep it..cause if you are not sure don't feed it wet food, it all get spoiled.." and brought it all to the register. I refrained from telling her I'd probably feed it salmon and other real food as dry pet food it total shit. The cashier wanted to see and pet the kitten even after telling me she was "very allergic". "So am I", I said "I'm taking one for the team". The swollen face, itchy eyes and throat is not the best waking up experience and yet I keep kissing that fuzzy head. 

It's just too cute. 

We dropped by my parents house to borrow their pet carrier and show off the cuteness. Weighed it on the kitchen scale, 14.9oz. It met Ari, the feral kitten I raised during the pandemic. He was courteous but the look on his face after the hellos was "But that isn't staying here, right?" My family stopped me before leaving to pray for the kitten. For health, for being a possible Marlow buddy and for me taking care of it. Amen!

Full Belly of kitten formula. 

Flea combed and bathed again to rid the teeny one of fleas. Olive oiled the ears to suffocate the mites and I had one happy baby. Purring and falling asleep as I did it. No more itching. Internet research on Kitten sexing...by the way I'm not a fan of that term or entering it into an internet search. But I'm pretty positive it's a baby girl. I was calling it Little Bird after thinking it was a bird. "Birdie' for short. It's proper name is now "Little Bird Polu" Hawaiian for blue, where I found her calling for me. 

The $3 kitty fishing pole from the grocery store was worth it tenfold. She played the whole time it took me to make dinner. 

Kitty Fishing Pole

Can the biggest dog and the littliest cat be buddies?!?! Stay tuned... When I tell Marlow that's his kitten, he gets a big smile on his face and wags his tail.

Marlow's Kitten

P.S. This is the second (and shortened )version of this blogpost..just as I finished it this morning, Birdie jumped on the keyboard and deleted the whole post. 

But you sure are super cute. 

Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the gentle, the kind hearted, the sweet spirited, for they will inherit the earth. 

I'll Wait for Maple Syrup

I grew up on maple syrup covered pancakes and waffles made lovingly by my “breakfast is my thing” father. Or the occasional special outing at local breakfast-only restaurants with the little glass pitcher with a sliding metal top pouring the perfect consistency over stacks. It was sweet but not too sweet with the color and fragrance of the first frosty morning of autumn. My childhood was mostly real food and more on the healthy side. We had juicers in the 80s and meals were made from scratch. There was nothing too processed until my little brothers came along 11 years later. After which I remember Bagel bites and State Fair Corndogs in the freezer, easy stuff for us to make after school. 

It wasn’t until perhaps my pre-teens at someone else’s house with a toaster waffle when a very different looking bottle of syrup was put before me…. 

Mrs. Butterworths Pancake Syrup. A women shaped glass container housing a very sticky substance. Similar at first glance to maple syrup but a counterfeit in every way it could be, even the caramel color was an added chemical. 

I learned recently in a Chocolate tasting course (very similar to Wine Tasting) that bad chocolate has more sugar added to make up for the bitter lingering aftertaste. You eat it quicker to taste the sugar again that masks the unpleasantness. The faux maple syrup also had a bad aftertaste but the initial hit was so sugary sweet you ate it quickly to regain the sweetness. Before I had finished my plate, it left me with an awful belly ache. 

Did you know that a Maple isn’t tapped until it’s 40 to 45 years old? Afterwards it can continue to be harvested for over 100 years. A slow drip of liquid available in a short window of time in winter while everything else in the forrest is still asleep.

I’ve been thinking about the Maple this week, likening it to myself in age and to waiting for a partner. 

The other syrup is easy to find, cheap and instant. It’s also sticky, faux, gives you a belly ache and leaves you with a bitter aftertaste. Whereas the maple is patience personified. And when it’s matured, out flows something slow but steady as it gracefully fills your bucket. Once it’s been through the fire, it’s transformed to liquid gold and amber. It’s fragrance and taste complex. It makes everything it’s added to richer and warmer. 45 years of experiences in its heart and soul. The droughts, the rains, the locusts and it’s still standing, waiting to show you its hidden treasures stored up for you. 

I’ll wait for the Maple. 

Song of Solomon 7:12-13

Let us go out early to the vineyards: let us see whether the vine has budded and its blossoms have opened, and whether the pomegranates have flowered. There I will give you my love. The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over our doors are all kinds of choice fruit, both old and new, which I have saved up for you, my beloved. 

The Lord Remembers

The Lord Remembers ~

The horizon disappears into the clouds

Doves cry out as the rain comes down

Strong coffee in a small mug, strong pen in a small hand

Slow reveals of big conceals, yet still so little I understand

I count the days again, I count the miles and then

I recall as many dreams as I can 

The waves so powerful last night they shook my bed

Something broke free and all the words filled my head

Awake Awake your dream is here

That unseen place, that unknown time is near

Look through the mist

Look through the distance

The rain has washed away the dust making everything glisten

The pause has resumed, quiet yourself and listen 

Isaiah 43:19; 55:8-9, Jeremiah 33:3, 2 Peter 3:8-9

"Listen Carefully, I am about to do a new thing, now it will spring forth; Will you not perceive it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert." 

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways" declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways."

"Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you and even show you great and mighty things, things which have been confined and hidden, which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish."

Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay as though He were unable to act and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is extraordinarily patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 

The Nest

The Nest ~

Home near the water and in the trees

Hear the birds and taste the seas

Bring moss and twigs and flowers

We'll be weaving and twisting for hours

Search out the world for green materials

Coastal edges, Mountain ledges, and ethereals 

Finally, it is done, it is finished, but only almost complete 

Soon A round one, then a new one, a teeny tiny tweet

A tiny Finch nest I came across today while pruning the Ixora. Barely big enough to hold one chicken egg. I was most impressed by the Moss. It's a dry coastal climate here. That’s a special order item, mountain trip for daddy bird or Amazon delivery. There's an array of Finches in close vicinity, some smaller than the hibiscus flowers or as big as the flying cockroaches. Some dandy in tuxedos, some flower lovers in yellow, or green or red. Most with a Hawaiian name beginning with "A". 

Finch Nest Hanging in Ixora

Orange and Pink Ixora 

Matthew 13:32

and of all the seeds, the mustard seed is the smallest, but when it has grown it is the largest of the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air find shelter in its Branches."