IF Feb 26 2010 "perspective"

Perspective - from this week's I.F. challenge. The idea was: having our dog adore us while our cat ignores us helps keep our view of our importance in perspective.

I mulled this over for a few days, wondering just what in life does determine our perspective - on our own importance? On the world around us? Slowly this image began to take shape. We are all in a process of becoming. We take in, and become a product of our environment. ..while the environment around us is constantly changed by the shape we take. Keeping perspective on our importance seems less of a challenge when we see the environment we are in and ourselves part of it. Dogs and cats optional.

Moon Cat

I grew up with cats. A house doesn't quite feel like home to me without one.

As a child I'd rather sleep pressed against a cold outside wall on top of the blankets than dispossess the enormous black cat who had decided to sleep in the middle of my bed. There was always a sense of disappointment if he chose to leave - and worse, if he preferred someone else's bed to mine.

Today a mishap in the kitchen with a jar of Dijon mustard demonstrated my current cat's decidedly un-feline taste for condiments.

IF Feb 20, 2010 "propagation"

Propagation of any idea is essential, or its death is as sure as our own.

Propagation within the idea community is made possible only through true communication - respectful listening, criticism and maturity which leads to new growth in time.

IF Feb 12/2010 Adrift

"Adrift", today's challenge word, from the quote : "I've often been adrift, but I have always stayed afloat." by Dave Berry.

This image came to mind immediately. Although I prefer to draw on the day of, and prefer to see what folks come up with on the fly, this image stayed in my mind.

Spent a lot of my childhood afloat, adrift on night water after a sauna under the stars, or in a rowboat whose oars were slowly inching their way toward the dam where I fervently hoped they'd get caught and not bounce madly over and downstream, so I could recover them - AFTER madly paddling myself to the dock with my hands, of course. Floating with birdsong muffled by water barely heard, eyes closed with sunlight warming the eyelids - I imagined I could fall asleep, and where I might end up if I let myself drift.

Those experiences have shaped my subconscious so much, that I imagine I sometimes do drift, and the water takes me where, aware, I would not choose - or dare - to wander.

IF Feb 5, 2010 "muddy"

"muddy water, let stand, becomes clear" -Lao tzu. And while you let it stand, clouds drift by, schools of fish wiggle through your midriff and your foot goes to sleep. So while you're waiting for clarity in a given muddy puddle, it's a good idea to have room to breathe. And don't think too much about what might have made its home in the mud you stirred up.

Best of Friends

Remembering Brandon. If someone didn't toss the ball for him, Brandon would fling it up over his shoulder at the top of the St. Clair Reservoir and scramble to beat it down the hill, catching it on the way down and trotting back up to do it again, black plume of a tail wagging with pleasure. When early spring came around he'd visit the playground at the top of the Reservoir where the sandy basin was slow to drain. He liked to slop in, belly-deep in the icy water to fetch out the biggest cake of ice he could carry home. Miss you, Buddy.