Sunday, January 30, 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki and Cat

Photo by Mihoko Okamura

Zen Garden

Cyrus & Ida Cartoon

Are You In The Meow?


Allowing Your Cat to Guide You to Enlightenment






















What does a cat and a Zen Master have in common?
It is the ability to live in the present time. Told
from a cat’s point of view, Are You In The Meow?
explains to humans how to live more fully “in the
meow” (now).
Using the format of a Zen scroll,
artist Karen LeCocq beautifully illustrates 
the nature of Zen thought in a combination of
photographs, calligraphy and drawings.

Zen Cat


Friday, January 28, 2011

Poe's Uncanny House Cat | Ed Sams

Edgar Allan Poe once belonged to a house cat. Her name was Cattarina. Cattarina lived with the poet, his wife Virginia, and her mother Maria Clemm in snug little houses both in Philadelphia and in New York. The Poe household was so close that none stood on ceremony. The great poet was Eddie, Mrs. Poe was Sissy, and Mrs. Clemm was Muddy. Even Cattarina had nicknames; sometimes she was called Callers, sometimes Kate. Sometimes Cattarina spelt her name with one T, and sometimes with two. That comes from living in a literary household. Sometimes Eddie signed his name E. A. Poe, sometimes Edgar Poe, once as Edgar Perry, as well as Edgar Allan Poe.

No one knows when Cattarina first became a member of the Poe family. The great Poe scholar Hervey Allen places Cattarina with the Poes either late in 1839 or early 1840 when the family moved to Coates Street in Philadelphia and "Catarina, the cat, then in her burgeoning kittenhood, purred on the ample plateau of Mrs. Clemm's lap."

The Black Cat | Based on a novel by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

"I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat."

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

From Esquire Magazine | 1950

The Song of the Jellicles | T. S. Εlliot

Jellicle Cats come out to-night
Jellicle Cats come one come all:
The Jellicle Moon is shining bright -
Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,
Jellicle Cats are rather small;
Jellicle Cats are merry and bright,
And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul.
Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces,
Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes;
They like to practise their airs and graces
And wait for the Jellicle Moon to rise.

Jellicle Cats develop slowly,
Jellicle Cats are not too big;
Jellicle Cats are roly-poly,
They know how to dance a gavotte and a jig.
Until the Jellicle Moon appears
They make their toilette and take their repose:
Jellicle Cats wash behind their ears,
Jellicle dry between their toes.

Jellicle Cats are white and black,
Jellicle Cats are of moderate size;
Jellicle Cats jump like a jumping-jack,
Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes.
They're quitet enough in the morning hours,
They're quitet enough in the afternoon,
Reserving their terpsichorean powers
To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,
Jellicle Cats (as I said) are small;
If it happends to be a stormy night
They will practise a caper or two in the hall.
If it happens the sun is shining bright
You would say they had nothing to do at all:
They are resting and saving themselves to be right
For the Jellicle Moon and the Jellicle Ball.

Snow in early spring | Wang Yidong

Zen Cat


The Most Valuable Thing in the World

Sozan, a Chinese Zen master, was asked by a student: "What is the most valuable thing in the world?" The master replied:"The head of a dead cat." "Why is the head of a dead cat the most valuable thing in the world?" inquired the student. Sozan replied: "Because no one can name its price."

Sokei-an Sasaki | The Cat's Yawn


The Meaning of Zen

 .....................................

I put down my book, The Meaning of Zen,
and see the cat smiling into her fur as she
delicately combs it with her rough pink tongue.
"Cat, I would lend you this book to study
but it appears you have already read it."
She looks up and gives me her full gaze.
"Don't be ridiculous" she purrs, "I wrote it."


.....................................

From "Miao" by Dilys Laing

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Neko | The ideogram for cat in Japanese

Eartha Kitt and kitties

Photographer unknown

.................................................
Thanks to the Cat Lady Lina Bebi

Leonore Fleisher

"When you're special to a cat, you're special indeed... She brings to you the gift of her preference of you, the sight of you, the sound of your voice, the touch of your hand."

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Colette as a Cat

French author, actress, and singer Colette (1873-1954)
appears on stage in 'La Chatte Amoureuse,' a nightclub mine
act in which she portrayed a cat, Paris, France, 1912.
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Colette & Cat

© Walter Limot

















Colette | La Chatte


Colette

French novelist Colette was a firm cat-lover. When she was in the U.S. she saw a cat sitting in the street. She went over to talk to it and the two of them mewed at each other for a friendly minute. Colette turned to her companion and exclaimed, "Enfin! Quelqu'un qui parle francais." (At last! Someone who speaks French!)

© Tony Mendoza | Ernie (2)








































Hank Ketchum

"Meow is like aloha - it can mean anything."

Catwoman meets Batman

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Anonymous

“In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.”

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Alain Resnais | Hiroshima mon amour

Einstein's Cat Analogy

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat".

Albert Einstein when asked to describe radio.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Children & Cat


Photographer unknown

................................................................
Thanks to the Cat Lady Ritsa Masoura


Cat Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray this cushy life to keep.
I pray for toys that look like mice,
And sofa cushions, soft and nice.
I pray for gourmet kitty snacks,
And someone nice to scratch my back,
For windowsills all warm and bright,
For shadows to explore at night.
I pray I'll always stay real cool
And keep the secret feline rule
To NEVER tell a human that
The world is really ruled by CATS!
..........................................
Thanks to the Cat Lady Ritsa Masoura

Ship's cat with Royal Navy officer

Photo found in a flea market in Brighton (UK).
............................................................
Thanks to the Cat Lady Lina Bebi

Friday, January 14, 2011

Helen M. Winslow

Women, poets, and especially artists, like cats; delicate natures only can realize their sensitive nervous systems.

Freja Seeking her Husband |Blommér 1852

Nils Johan Olsson Blommér (1816-1853)

Pablo Neruda

I have seen
How the cat trembles
while sleeping
The night runs over him
like dark water

They Only Come Out At Night

Peter Brown, 1984

Hearing Aid for Cat (1948)

Via Modern Mechanix


























William Kunstler

"A dog is like a liberal, he wants to please everybody. A cat doesn't really need to know that everybody loves him."