Caturday Morning in the Canyon

Posted on November 6, 2016 by Pamela Knudsen

My Saturday morning wake-up routine was the purrrfect way to unwind from an extraordinarily hectic week. I watched the sun dawn over the hills, its rays filtering through autumn colored leaves of the liquidambar tree located opposite my deck from where I stood. With a hearty mug of organic French roast coffee in hand I slowly woke up alongside Mother Nature. As I inhaled the crisp chilly air, taking in the coffee’s rich aroma, the trees slowly came to life with twittering songbirds, two frisky squirrels and buzzing bees.I sensed movement behind me and looked over my shoulder to see Topper and Lexington making their way through the open sliding glass door—I smiled. Topper sidled up next to me then jumped up onto the deck railing. Lexington looked up at me and let out a demanding, yet soft “heah-heah…heah-heah.” Being the perceptive cat lady that I am, I knew that Lexington wanted to join Topper, yet his thick Norwegian forest cat girth bans him from jumping up onto anything higher than sofa level. I picked up my big, fluffy fur baby and placed him next to Topper. From their roost on the railing they watched as the canyon dwelling critters greeted the sunrise.A squirrel leapt from branch to branch of the liquidambar tree, gracefully making her way down to the trunk where she abruptly froze like she’d been caught doing something naughty. Her only wrongdoing was having been seen by Lexington who sauntered over to investigate. I sipped my coffee in anticipation of their interaction. Would this be a friendly salutation or would the squirrel recoil back into the tree branches upon seeing this predator? It was a stare down until Lex got board watching the motionless squirrel and walked back over to rejoin Topper. Safe from the furry beast, the squirrel quickly lunged onto the deck railing and scurried over to the bird feeder overflowing with sunflower seeds. DSCN2013

Laguna Beach ocean view, courtesy of Cindy Ferguson

I may not have an ocean view like my friend Cindy…but I have the best of both worlds.

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An ocean I can drive to in minutes, and the rustic wonder of canyon life in my backyard

Circle of Love

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Pamela Knudsen

I woke up in the middle of the night with heavy tightness in my chest. I took in a deep inhale and realized it wasn’t asthma, just a sad heart.

Life has been quite a struggle lately—unfulfilled work-related opportunities, all those close calls but not sealing the deal (the biggest disappointment was not landing curriculum authorship for a cat behavior certification program of which I was in the running); yet, the most disappointing is the recent end of my relationship with Gary. We broke-up a year ago after a 2.5 year run and had been on-and-off ever since, making attempts at reconciliation. Even during the “off” times we were in touch. Our connection was always strong; so was the hope. I mean, doesn’t “break-up” mean that something is simply broken and therefore, just needs to be fixed?

Apparently no amount of glue can fix our cracked hearts.

I took a couple more deep inhales and stretched out my legs to find that something was in the way of a complete stretch. It was Bobcat. So I rolled over to the other side of the bed, but was stopped short by Topper, snuggling the pillow on my right. I tried curling up with the pillow to my left, but grasped a handful of fluff—Lexington.

I slowly sat up and turned on the bedside table lamp, which cast an amber glow across the room, softly illuminating my Circle of Love: my three cats encasing me, embracing me with their love, undoubtedly knowing that I’d just lost my love for good and they were comforting me with theirs.

I finally fell back to sleep and awoke a second time with the sunrise, and with Topper still next to me. I released more sadness of recent events with a quiet cry. Topper rolled over to face me. He put is paw on my cheek and stared into my damp eyes. Then he licked my tears, which was so moving, I cried harder, then felt an overwhelming sense of joy at this sweet gesture by my feline companion; this near wild creature with such a tender side, which made me smile, then invoked laughter.

With that, Topper jumped off the bed. His job was done and it was time for breakfast.

And even though I’m fighting tears, I still have hope that I will meet my “Sam”…

The Summer of Friendship and a Little Sawdust Magic

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Pamela Knudsen

The summer of 2016 has been the Summer of Friendship for me and my clowder, which goes to show that not all cats are aloof loners like so many believe. Meet the new friends, Squirrel, Casper, Mermaid and Little Piggy:

When Squirrel started coming by to nibble on the sunflower seeds in the bird feeder, her meals didn’t last long. She would bolt back up the tree as soon as she spied the cats eyeing her. Yet, soon she became one of the gang, frequently draping herself over the deck railing after a meal of sunflower seeds instead of running off into the tree branches.

She would look down at the cats on the deck sunning themselves, and they would gaze up at her as if to say, ‘Hey, it’s another hot one—stay for a while and relax with us!” When Squirrel drank from the water bowl hanging upside down from the bamboo siding on the deck railing, that was it—she was in.

Another visitor to frequent the deck this summer was a handsome white cat with piercing blue eyes, who I’ve dubbed “Casper.” I first met Casper when the wailing of cat cries lead me to the deck to find this feline intruder surrounded by my boys who weren’t exactly inviting him to stay for a little afternoon roll in the catnip. No, this was a rumble in the works of which I broke up. “Okay, guys, enough with the yowling. Let’s leave our new friend alone. He just wants to say hi,” which caused my cats to back off enough for Casper to slowly turn around and hop the railing. Casper continued to come by and eventually, the boys befriended him, yet with boundaries—they don’t share their catnip, but Casper can at least hang out.

Topper is most content when he’s hanging out with Mermaid and Little Piggy.

These companions provide a cozy place for Topper to nap and have lively conversations about Mermaid’s life in the sea, and Little Piggy’s big winnings on the track when he toured with the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs.

While the cats made friends with mythical creatures, racing pigs and canyon dwelling critters, I spent my summer at Laguna’s Sawdust Art & Craft Festival selling fused glass for artist Maggie Spencer…

…where I, myself, formed friendships with an eclectic group of individuals.

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I bet the cats would have enjoyed meeting Sawdust’s resident raccoon.

August 28^th marked the end of Sawdust, and much like the end of summer camp, I exchanged “see you next summer” goodbyes with some very special people:

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Brynne with the beautiful smile and inspiring textile designs; Greg the turquoise jeweler who came through a portal into our world from a time long ago when fairies and chivalry existed;

Greg and Pamela

Stephen whose subjects in his photography are as humorous as his dry wit; Stephen’s outgoing assistant Kathy; Jamie with her empowering words not only spoken but expressed in her bracelets and pendants; Gary, not a new friend, but Sawdust instigated a new beginning…

Pamela, Gary and Jamie

silversmith hippie Dave, one of the original Sawdust exhibitors; potter Mark, who took this year off to cope with the passing of his wife; Tom the sculptor in the booth next door; Jesse the tile maker; Doug the prolific painter and violinist; fun-to-banter-with sales associate Tony; and Jimmer, Sawdust staffer who worked the door and whose greetings always made me smile.