Cats - Arlene Bice

The Muse as Cat

August 16, 2013 Arlene

Some have a muse
I have Mz Lizzie
this cat
will come for me
if I am not at my PC
hunting the house
for me
then nudging
nudging my calf
Come on! It is time to write!
she tells me
with her eyes

her head bumps me
let’s go!
I smile at her
completing the chore
that is keeping my hands
busy

this cat is relentless
bump, bump,
nudge, nudge
finally I give in
okay, okay
off we go
Mz Lizzie at my ankle
the PC chirps from slumber
Lizzie settles on the table
at my elbow
contented, her job
well done

As a post script here is a link for Louie Schwartz at TED:
http://www.flickspire.com/m/HealthierL433/Gratitude-Louie-Schwartz-at-TED

Cats, general, reflection

Write Down Your Story

August 10, 2013 Arlene

After being away several months writing, and re-writing, and re-writing the final pages in my latest manuscript, IT’S PERSONAL, I’m back to blogging again. Hope you will return with me.

We all have stories. They are all over. Each item in this picture has a story i.e. the paintings on the wall, the settee, Lizzie cleaning herself on the settee, the afghan, the pillow. You get the idea.
Even the house/apartment we live in, the utensils used in the kitchen, a particular set of clothes that hangs in your closet. Stories are everywhere. The writer is the one who thinks about that story then writes it down to share it with others.
These stories that are tucked way back in our minds often explain what we do and how we do it. They are the events that shaped our personalities that guide the way we do things. Bringing a story out of the treasure box into the light can be joyful but it can be painful, too. If you write about the painful one, even if you burn it afterwards, you can help alleviate that pain.
So do it. Write down your story.

Cats

The Girls

December 7, 2012 Arlene

(re-posted from 2007)

The term “The Girls” as I refer to them, came easily after birthing four sons, having two brothers, raised in a neighborhood full of boys and marrying three guys. One at a time, that is, with a little leeway in between.

So when these two adorable rescued kittens were first placed in front of me like gift boxes to choose from, I took both. Sisters, even with different fathers, shouldn’t be separated. Plus I travel often so they are company for each other when I’m gone. They don’t appreciate that I planned such consideration for them. They sense my plans days before I even take my travel bag out of the closet. Their upturned faces show me the saddest of eyes tugging at my inner softness. It makes me not want to go anywhere and I have always loved to go, anywhere.

That’s also when they begin adhering to my ankles, in front of, rubbing the sides of and tangling in between. Sometimes I’m nearly tripping just trying to stand up. It seems as though invisible glue keeps them in place. I step, they step, I sit, they sit, I breathe, they breathe.

They are Lady Jane and Mz Lizzie. The Bennet sisters from Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Jane was upgraded to a titled ‘Lady’ because she is; just like Jane in the story. Her personality and being born minutes earlier gives her the older sister air. She’s also shy and reserved, but can romp (like a rabbit) beside Lizzie when encouraged. She’s a Manx. Black and white, no tail.

Lizzie follows Elizabeth’s personality. She’s daring, impish, funny and cuddly. I can sometimes see an idea forming by a light popping up in her eyes. She’s full of life and energy. She can talk the ears off an elephant. She’s a calico born with a bent two-inch tail.

They are blessings in my life.

Cats, paranormal, Poetry, Uncategorized

Cat & Dog Ghosts

November 16, 2012 Arlene

Now that my rescued Manx cat, Lady Jane, has been diagnosed with diabetes and I know I will be facing a day in the not-far-off-future when she passes away, I’m thinking about seeing her in the afterlife. Over the years several people have told me they have seen a cat or dog in spirit form race past them in a blur. I have too, in the first year that I lived in my new home in North Carolina. Fortunately for me, it didn’t step on the paint can lid while I was putting some fresh color on my walls.

My girls (Lady Jane & Mz Lizzie) did not seem to mind this other pet running through the house. But then they were playful with the Native American Brave that wandered through, also. He even stopped to rub their bellies. The Brave left after that first year, along with the animal. It could have been his companion. My eldest brother moved in with me during the second year. I wondered if that had something to do with changing the tone in the household even though he was an animal lover.

I’ve read where some religions state that animals do not have souls because they do not have free will or an immortal soul or a conscience, so no afterlife for them. It runs through my mind about cats traveling hundreds of miles to get to the home they love and are familiar with, after they have jumped out of a car and become lost. Or a dog that leaps into swirling waters to save the life of a family member. Or protects a child from a snake biting, or goes for assistance to help their owner. You get the idea. Instinct? Don’t think so. Trained to do so? Nope. Souless? I think it is all about love. Love can bind a person to a place after they pass away; staying as a spirit or a ghost. Why not the love of an animal?

Two Cats

(Read horizontally or/and vertically.)

Two cats Lizzie and Jane,

playful, joyful, full of life

romping thru the house like two kids

one leading the other upstairs, downstairs

all over boisterous

a calico, a manx black, white and gold

different breeds different markings

same mother same heart.

Cats

Cat Tricks

September 15, 2012 Arlene

I’ve had to change some normal daily routines around here since Lady Jane developed diabetes. It ain’t easy. She is eating special dry food for diabetic cats. That is okay. She likes it. Well, let’s face it, there is very little in the food department that Lady Jane does not like except for tuna or salmon or sardines. Go figure.

But it is very expensive. If that is what it takes to get her stable, that is okay, too. But here is the deal. Mz Lizzie is not diabetic so she is eating her usual Science Diet for Indoor Adult-over-seven-years-of-age dry food. Expensive enough on its own. Again, if that’s what it takes to keep

her healthy, fine. So I have separated their foods. Jane’s in the usual kitchen spot; Lizzie’s in the bedroom where I can put the bowl out of Jane’s sight when not in use. Lizzie eats like a bird. Not in selection but in volume. She could care less about eating but eats to live. Jane lives to eat. She could be at the opposite end of the house and she will hear the tiny little rustle sound of dry food being eaten from a bowl. She’ll come sauntering in, trying to make me think she is being casual, leap up onto the worktable and push Lizzie out of the way to inhale her food. I scoop the bowl into my desk drawer to keep Jane from eating what is no longer good for her health. She looks at me with these pitiable eyes, asking me why I am being so cruel. Do I like Lizzie better than her? It is tough.

Lizzie likes to eat most of her food after midnight and again at 3 a.m. This poses a real problem for me. I like to sleep after 11 p.m. I cannot leave the bowl out in the open because Jane will gobble it down. So we’ve fallen into a new routine. When Lizzie is hungry she nudges me and nudges me and if I don’t wake up and get her food out of the desk drawer, she nudges me until I do. I’m desperate for a good night’s sleep. I haven’t had these problems since I had newborn babies and they have children of their own nowadays!

Cats, paranormal

Mirrored Ghosts

August 29, 2012 Arlene

This last period of waiting for the finished copy, cover on and contents listed of Ghostly Spirits of Warren County, NC & Beyond can be a bit unnerving. So I just go forward writing the next manuscript which is the collection of all those little bits of paper recording all my paranormal experiences since I first noticed way back when.

As I wander around the house talking to myself, bringing the images of memories to the forefront of my mind, I notice Lady Jane in the bathroom sitting in front of the mirror. She loves the mirrors in the house and often spends quiet time-maybe not so quiet for her-seemingly to just sit there. But I wonder if she is looking deeper into that mirror than most of us do.

Ghosts have been photographed in mirrors. Before coming to Warren Plains, Alice and Duane lived in Warrenton, Virginia where a ghostly image was photographed in their mirror and published in the Fauquier-Times Democrat along with an article by Joe Winkelmann. They told me of their experiences with the afterlife. Soon you can read about it too.

Hmm…..about Lady Jane.

Cats, paranormal

Paranormal Cats

August 7, 2012 Arlene

My two girls, Lady Jane and Mz Lizzie, were Bordentown-rescued sisters as tiny kittens born of feral parents. As they grew I realized that they are paranormally sensitive, perky and alert when a visiting spirit was in the room with us. I’ve watched their heads turn, watching a movement cross the room that I couldn’t see but could sense.

Early on in Bordentown, they were both on the bed when, in the middle of the night, a voice came from wherever saying, “You have to sell everything and leave.” I’d had enough paranormal moments to know that I must pay attention to this and do as the voice said. Now, years later I realize that I probably would have lost everything I owned, i.e. apartment building and book shop business due to the economy down-swing if I had not heeded that message. Thinking that my mortgage interest rate would have increased (the bank reviewed my loan every 5-years) and the cost of heating a three story Victorian building with oil after the cost went from .79 cents per gallon to close to $4 a gallon. The other half of the apartment building was heated with natural gas. Those prices were already high and climbed even higher. Plus the usual maintenance of an old building. Rents can only be raised a minimal amount to help cover those increases.

Of course the girls woke at the sound of the voice, their heads swiveling as if trying to locate where it was coming from. Eyes wide, noses in the air. They looked at me expectantly. A person doesn’t forget shared moments like that.

The mild earthquake we experienced last year chased Lizzie under the bed minutes before it happened. She leapt off the bed and zoomed under it like the devil was chasing her. She always senses when thunder and lightning storms are coming and scoots to her favorite hiding place ahead of time. If my closet door is open, she heads for deepest corner in there first. Jane is a little slower to react but she is also psychic-sensitive.