WORDS FOR A WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!!!

"Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts, bright fancies, faithful sayings; treasure-cottages of precious and restful thoughts, which care cannot disturb nor poverty take away from you, cottages built without hands for your souls to live in." ~John Ruskin

Cottage graphic by Zoolatry!!!

mannerly - gentle - quality - dreamy - gloves - comfort - ritual - treasure - civilized - flowers - gorgeous - virtues - emotion - respite - courtship - lace - charm - letters - conversation - respect - love - silver - generations - friendship - linens - understanding - holidays - poetry - civility - sensual

Romantic graphic by Pyewacket's mommy Leslie!

All of my words today describe how I feel after my garden tour with all of you. Thank you for coming to the cozy cottage and being with me and Auntie Stinkie. The Auntie Stinkie did a wonderful job as my hostess. She took time out of her busy day to help me out...what a true friend!!

Thank you for all of your well wishes. Mommy is feeling better and she even ate half a tuna sandwich...but she does not want her coffee yet so maybe tomorrow...(she never does not want her coffee! That would be like me not wanting my Paul Newman can food!!)

MORE GARDEN WANDERINGS WITH GUEST HOSTESS AUNTIE STINKIE...

The Auntie Stinkie will show you around the cottage garden...I am so glad so many of you enjoyed coming to tea and wandering about the garden yesterday. I would love to show you around some more today like I promised, but......mommy is not feeling well right now and she never gets sick! So I have asked a guest hostess to show you the rest of the sights while I tend to the important job of taking care of mommy. She takes such good care of me when I am sick it is only right...so please enjoy the sweet company of my dearest friend Auntie Stinkie. She has lots of garden wandering experience...oh and one more thing, do you know that she is 16 years old AND blind? The garden faeries show her the way...and she bravely soldiers on.

These miniature roses are the size of a nickle!

Cue up everyone! Tea will be waiting for you...catnip tea today in hopes it will make mommy feel better in her tummy...Lorianna said so.

A QUIET TEA TIME AND A STROLL IN THE COTTAGE GARDEN TODAY...

Mommy has brought the tea cakes and will pour out our tea once we finish our wanderings about the garden paths. Just follow me as we go and visit my kitty who keeps watch over all out here...

Day lilies are blooming all over right now...one bloom each day... I love the feathery tufts of the alpine clematis...
Can you see Mr. Bee in the babies breath? I have a new friend in Holland name Mr. Bee too and will introduce you to him this week...

Sweet William is mommies favorite in the memory garden....
This is my view out my front window where I spend the winter months looks for springtime....

I hope you will come back again tomorrow...there is still so much more to see...

You may pour the tea now mommy for all of my friends....

CAT ART SUNDAY

Meet TURQUOISE DREAMER kitty...

Mommy and I are sending this bracelet to a very special kitty next week... maybe it might be you...
What is going to be on the plate for Sunday dinner?

Something I can sample?

These are mommies three "Summer by the Beach" ATC's
She sells seashells by the seashore....

A year without a trip to the Oregon coast is a wasted year.....Please come by tomorrow and we will go for a walk in the cottage garden together and then have some tea and tuna puffs...

HAPPY WEEKEND IN THE GARDEN OF THE COZY COTTAGE

PicJazz.com

I found this wonderfully fun program at the Sherwood cats place down in Texas and fell in love(the pond...NOT!)

I hope you had a wonderful time watching the firecrackers pop in the sky!

PicJazz.com Now go and make one for yourselves!

HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY!!!

I hope you spend time doing the things you love today...sitting quietly in the garden or have lunch in the park...

What we need to remember is that each day is a blessing when we can do these things...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! Wishing everykitty a wonderful, peaceful, blessing of a holiday weekend...

COLD BOX MEME

A fun and simple MEME for the hot summer. Show us a photo of the front of your Cold Box and tell us about at least one thing on it and one thing you keep inside of it! Tag your friends and remember to stay COOL!

Here is the front of my fridge. If you bigafy the photo, you can see a picture mommy drew of the rainbow bridge. You can see me in the arms of mommy's mom who went to the bridge. There is a $1,000,000 bill, a BUCKET LIST, the Lighthouse where the beans got married, Cole's baseball team cards, and a Russian icon from Alaska.

The weirdest things we keep inside are glue sticks and hand cream and flower seeds.

I tag Mickey, P B & J, Princess, Auntie Deb and the Taylor Cats, Samantha & Mr. Tigger and Dr. Tweety to play along.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH SOMEONE WHO LOVES ME SO MUCH...

Hi kitties! My name is Cole and today is my daddy Oliver's 35th birthday. I love to come to Grandma's house and am so glad that Miss Peach is finally letting me be her friend... Thank you for being her friends....

IMAGINE A PERFECT SUMMER DAY!!

With chilled strawberry soup...

after you wander in your flower garden...
watching your wee friends take tea together...
under the tumbled flora and fauna of the cottage garden...
sitting beside the brook reading The CATerbury Tales...

dreaming of the days spent by the sand and sea...

How do you imagine your purrrrfect summer's day?

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day? (Sonnets XVIII)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
-- William Shakespeare

MONDAY MUSINGS!

Miss WILLOW was the winner of the bracelet auction....she wrote, "My Food Lady used to live on Cape Cod so we would like to bid $45 for that beautiful bracelet." Thank you Willow and to all of the other wonderful bidders with your big hearts! I want to thank ERIC & FLYNN for this beautiful art deco award they passed on to me. I am honored to say the least.

Thank you gentlemen!
"The 'Arte y Pico' award was created and to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and their talents, whether it be writing, artwork in all media's. When you receive this award it is considered a 'special honor'. Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to at least 5 others."

I would like to pass this award on to the following bloggers:

The Dutchess in Holland for her enchanting fairy tale blog!
CINDY at Rosehaven Cottage for her inspiring posts and picture perfect photographs!
LORIANNA at Twilights Muse for her sweet loving nature and kindly orchestrated words!
Pyewacket in Austrailia who colors our world with her amazing talent in scrap booking!
Mickey in Nova Scotia for his dedication to T13 where he highlights many of us in cat breed or color photo essays!

ANN of Zoolatry for her creative graphics she makes for all special events and personal request!

I will end my Monday by conCATulating ANITA and her country of SPAIN for winng the EURO 2008 Soccer Championship yesterday against Germany. The best team did indeed derserve this win and I am so glad that Spain has won a major soccer event again after over 40 years! Anita invited me over to help her celebrate this sweet victory...her beautiful island was alive with joyful noise!

CAT ART SUNDAY

My art card this week is to help us celebrate the Fourth of July. It is from my CCCC friend Barbara Simpson.

Do you see that beautiful Meezer Squillion next to the card!!?

Those cute kids below are mommy and lapdaddies Grandbeans Emily and Parker. Well, the cute little meezer got adopted for me at the Goodwill Shelter yesterday by Parker. Parker remembered seeing Amber, Hazel and Miss Emma on my blog last week and when he saw the Meezer Squillion at the Goodwill Shelter, he came running clutching it, "Look what I just found for you!" So please meet Miss ASHLEY ...she is so adorable and reminds me of Stormie.
The kitty Emily and Parker are holding is my cousin BUCKAROO. Mommy said he is the most gentle, soft, lovable kitty she has ever met. The beans were gone all day yesterday at his house and they made him a blog of his own! Emily will help him with it. Maybe if you have some time, you can click here and say, "HOWDY BUCKAROO" to him....he is a cool cowboy cat and would love to meet you all.

Today mommy and I will be sitting in front of the telly watching the Fussball match of the year between Deutschland and Spain! May the best team win (mine of course!)

Maxime is a BIRTHDAY girl today!!!

My darling tiny girlfriend Maxime is 14 years old today! She lives in Holland with Ruis and the rest of the Kattenpratt family. Please go and wish her a very happy day and a better appetite. She is still healthy but so very tiny and seldome tempted to eat well...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAXIME!!

FANTASTIC FLOWERS ON FRIDAY

My dear friend Valery sent me this photo of her Rainbow roses she bought this evening. We are both so amazed by these roses we can hardly stand the mystery of them!!
This one is called the Ocean Rose...
This was the first picture of them I ever saw...I thought it was photo shopped until Valery told me she had seen roses like this at a store!
They remind me of colorful Easter eggs...

Today I would like to show you the most interesting roses I have ever seen! Do you believe that they are real? Well they ARE!!!

The 'Happy Flowers' were designed by Peter Van de Werken, who owns a flower company close to Den Bosch in southern Holland.
The firm sells only multi-coloured roses and chrysanthemums but is also looking to do pot plants.
Mr Van de Werken, 36, said: 'We used to only sell single colour flowers but the market for them took a dip.
'Myself and my colleagues started looking for something a bit different and came up with the idea of having different-coloured flowers.
'First of all we tried spraying the flowers but that did not work. Then we tried the dye. A special process controls how much colour reaches each petal – with spectacular results. It took us about six months to get it right and we still make mistakes.'

http://www.happyroses.nl/ http://www.ubloom.com/

A VERY SPECIAL HAVEN OF LOVE....

This Cape Cod bracelet is made with leopard jasper, cathedral window beads and fire polished faceted beads strung on sturdy wire and about 7.5 inches long.

Here they are, CassidyChina
and Sylvie, in all their sweetness and beauty.

So many of us help kitties in need in so many ways big and small. We put our own little touches of love out there in hopes they will make a difference in the lives of those who need a tiny blessing. One such place that is dear to my friend Anita's heart is the Carrie A. Seaman Animal Shelter on Cape Cod Bay. A no kill rescue organization that is my chosen charity for the auction of this bracelet mommy and I made yesterday. So much good work happens here and I want to tell you the story of the last rescue they did. These beautiful kitties were saved from a home of neglect and are being fostered for rehoming. One kitty was not able to be trapped and hid out and gave great concern for her safety.

Anita writes, "No Polly yet. Somehow she found a bag of treats and eat them all. So of course, she is not too hungry right now. It seems we will start at square one again. As she hides up in the ceiling, the landlady is thinking of hiring a professional trapper so she can begin to repair and clean the apartment." {The story has a happy ending here} Anita writes later, "Sometimes I can't believe how wonderful people can be!! The person who wants to rent the apartment where these cats lived wants to take care of Polly. He doesn't know this cat nor has he even seen her. No more traps to scare the daylights out of her. Someone there to love and care for her. And she can stay in the place where she's at home and comfortable. Happy day! And the vet came to examine and give shots to the cats. They were so good. Not a peep out of them as they were poked and prodded and given microchips. When they got down from the exam table, they didn't even run and hide. They just hung around to see what was going to happen next."

If you would like to bid on the Cape Cod bracelet and help their good work, leave your bid on this post until Saturday midnight. Mommy and I thank you so much for your love and friendship...

MOMMY LET ME HELP!

Being the purrrfectionist cat that I am, I needed to make sure mommy was using the very best wires and beads for our special project. Tomorrow I will show you what we made and who it is for!

A GIFT FROM MY SPECIAL FRIEND NORMIE...

A small heavy package was in my mailbox today...

When I opened it up, I smelled the most wonderful fragrance...
Inside this beautiful box were two French lavender soaps that my special friend Normie sent to me. I wonder if mommy is going to use them when she gives me my weekly bath? This is the most froo froo gift I have ever received...thank you Normie.
Now I feel like a ooh laa laa kitty...
Mommy and I have been very busy out on the patio and not visiting much because we are making some special things right now. Tomorrow I will show you how I helped!!

MISS MINKA'S FAVORITE SPOT

Song birds now raise their babies close to her spot...

Furry visitor's come and rest in her peaceful spot...wind chimes tinkle in the gentle breezes...faeries dance across the moss pot on the chair in twilight...

She used to spend her summer days slumbering under the hosta plants...now wild columbine dots it's way merrily around her favorite spot...
Here is her final earthly resting spot...beneath the slumbering kitty...seven years now gone, my beloved companion of 18 years... Thank you for sharing your life with us...

~~~Where to Bury A Cat~~~
There are various places within which a cat may be buried. We are thinking now of a tabby cat, a striped cat, whose coat was like watered silk, and who, so far as we are aware, never entertained a mean or an unworthy thought. This cat is buried beneath a cherry tree, under four feet of garden loam, and at its proper season the cherry strews petals on the green lawn of his grave. Beneath a cherry tree, or an apple, or any flowering shrub of the garden, is an excellent place to bury a good cat. For beneath such trees, such shrubs, he slept in the drowsy summer, or chased bees, or lifted head to challenge some winged intruder. These are good places, in life or in death. For if the cat be well remembered, if sometimes he leaps through your dreams actual as in life, eyes kindling, questing, asking, laughing, begging, it matters not at all where that cat sleeps at long and at last. On a hill where the wind is unrebuked and the trees are roaring, or beside a stream he knew in kitten hood, or somewhere in the flatness of a pasture land, where the most exhilarating moles burrow. It is all one to the cat, and all one to you, and nothing is gained, and nothing lost -- if memory lives. But there is one best place to bury a cat. One place that is best of all. If you bury him in this spot, the secret of which you must already have guessed, he will come to you when you call -- come to you over the grim, dim frontiers of death, and down the well-remembered path, and to your side again. And though you call a dozen living cats, they shall not hiss at him, nor resent his coming, for he is yours and he belongs there. People may scoff at you, who see no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall, who hear no mew pitched too fine for mere audition, people who may never really have had a cat. Smile at them then, for you shall know something that is hidden from them, and which is well worth the knowing. The one best place to bury a good cat is in the heart of his owner.
by Ben Hur Lampman, Portland Oregonian, 1921

CAT ART SUNDAY

Mommy got this cool cat card from her CCCC friend Shirley Snyderman.

I think this saying goes real well with it, don't you?
We have the same rubber stamp and were inspired to stamp our own CATitude version of Leonardo's masterpiece.
Out in our garden we watched a male American Gold Finch wandering about today. His bright yellow feathers were a treat for the eyes on this gray rain STORMIE first day of summer. The babies breath is blooming in front of the Lavender Lassie roses...
As promised, here is the bracelet I told you about this week. I will be sending it to STORMIE'S mommy in her memory. It is made with fawn colored freshwater pearls and two blue pearls...the colors of our most beautiful Siamese in the world.

Here I am with Maxime on her sofa in Holland. Do you see the unbelievable shocked look on our faces!!? We hang our heads in shame at the loss of the Fussball game...to painful to talk about. Wishing you all a most wonderful peaceful Sunday surrounded by those you hold dear.

ANOTHER EXCITING SOCCER DAY HERE AT THE COZY COTTAGE!

Today I will be traveling to visit Maxime in Holland. She and I will watch the soccer game together with the rest of the staff and kitties at the Kattenpratt household. It will be Karl's last day with Ruis. I will wear my Orange sweater today to help cheer on The Netherlands against Russia! Holland is doing so well and the country is teaming in soccer fever!

My team Germany plays against Turkey on Wednesday! Keep your paws crossed for our teams to win!

TO HELP GUIDE OUR WAY TO PLACES WE DO NOT KNOW

The days we wander...
where do we go,
when will we know,
who will miss us,
who will be waiting?

Today I just wanted to remember those who have gone on out of our todays and into their tomorrows. You all have someone who has gone but is forever in your heart...this is for them.
With all my love, your Miss Peach

MOMMY IS BUSY!

"What are you doing in here today mommy? You still have weeds to pull out in your garden! What are you making?"

" I am working on a very special bracelet that I will show all of you on Sunday and tell you who it will be for. But today we are going to sit in front of the TV and watch Germany beat (hopefully) Portugal in UEFA Soccer championships! Please pass the munchies Cole!"
I just love this tiny key chain Luna's mommy sent me last month from Germany. It is made out of tin and looks just like mommy did when she was a little kid living there with her Oma & Opa!

MY TWO SLEEPING SPOTS TODAY SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES ON WORDLESS WEDNESDAY! ONE IS A NEW SPOT AND ONE IS THE ORIGINAL OLD FUNNY PLACE I AM IN RIGHT NOW!

SUNSHINE MAKES ME HAPPY!

A sunny snooze in my favorite spot....

" Hi Mommy! What are you going to do today? Pull up more weeds in your garden?"
Sometimes when the beans sit out here in the dark time, mommy puts a tiny candle in this tea cup.
Oh another beautiful day here at the cozy cottage....please stop over anytime and I will pour you a cup of cat mint tea and we can wander around to check the progress of the weeding and visit the fish pond.

I HAD A WONDERFUL DAY COUNTING MY BLESSINGS.

Oh dear kitties...I had the most wonderful day today. It was Father's Day and I spent the whole afternoon out on my patio sitting in Lapdaddies lap for a long time....then mommy and I lay down on my lounger and we slept for over two hours!!! Mommy kept kissing my head and I gave her wet nose kisses. I spent my day as I wished all kitties in the world could. Safe, warm and surrounded by love and dreams for tomorrow.

CAT ART SUNDAY

Bonaventure cemetery in Savannah Georgia...photo taken by Dawn

The beginning and the end of your circle of life start in the lap of your forever angel...

Please purrrr for dear Kali. Her journey took her to the rainbow bridge yesterday. Tyler and his family are very sad to lose their dear old girl. The smallest feline is a masterpiece...Da Vinci
My favorite moon face cats by German artist Rosina Wachmeister
Our tiny Miss Minka was under four pounds. She was a blue~creme Persian and lived here for 18 years. Please purrr for Maxime (Ruis sister) who is so much like Miss Minka and does not want to eat her food. It worries her mommies so much. Please eat tiny darling...

I wish you all a wonderful peaceful Sunday surrounded by those who love you, near and far.

A CELEBRATION TODAY

Today I celebrate everything! The bird song, the waterfall, my Lapdaddy, my cozy cottage, my naps on the patio, all of YOU my dearest friends, our beloved furs who have gone to prepare a place for us, newborn kittens, special needs kitties who find forever homes, kindhearted beans who save kitties lives (go and see Kattonic Cats Zippy, Sadie & Speedy and your heart will soar to the heavens !)

So today I will be happy and my old heart will enjoy a moment of blissful play sprinkled with cat nip:) that mommy lets me eat right out of my coffee can!