Of Cats and Wild Geese

Sleep. That illusive, unsatisfying ritual that I resist and then cannot enjoy due to circumstances beyond my control. 

Staying up late? Oh, that is excusable. The evening hours are my time to unwind from my day and to me it is more precious to me than sleep. 

Usually. 

This week though? I am in the midst of two of the busiest weeks of the year, and a bit of sound rest is needed for my stamina and, frankly, my sanity.

Despite this exhaustion of mind and body, however, when I retire for the evening I find it difficult to relax. My brain refuses to stop racing around in 58’240 directions and solving the worlds problems but getting distracted before reaching any solution. My muscles won’t relax, and suddenly I can hear every sound of the fridge, the clock, the train going by, any peeps from the neighbors...it’s overwhelming! 

Fast forward from this struggle to approximately 5.25 hours later. At some point I did, in fact, manage to drift off into the land of troubled dreams and restless slumber. But now a new sound penetrates my consciousness and makes complete and blissful oblivion impossible to recapture. 

Bootsy, my adorable little cat who has passive aggression down to a fine art form, is suddenly invaded by her inner opera singer and begins to sing odes of great depth, sadness, and volume, as she laments the loss of her pompom or the development in her litter box.

Who knows what possesses her. 

To be fair, this was taken mid-yawn on a placid afternoon.
But I am not above taking things out of context. 

I try to ignore it. 

Next I hear her racing from one end of the living room to the other, making more noise than a self-respecting feline ever should. 

Apparently she found her pompom. 

Things quiet for a moment, and just as I drift off what do I hear? 

Geese! 

Ah yes, right outside my window is a slough. A rather unlovely name for what is normally a lovely little pond and excellent view as far as apartments go. 

However, as I now recall from last Spring, when the geese return they have way too much noisy fun in the early morning hours, chortling and fussing and honking. Between the gosling breeding ground outside and the maniac cat inside, it’s no wonder I have deep shadows under my eyes and a headache-defying need for coffee in the morning! 

I’m happy Spring is here. 

I love the warmer weather. 

The slough is beautiful. 

During daylight hours I can appreciate geese. 

Heck, I absolutely love my cat despite (or maybe because of) her weird neediness. 

I just would also dearly love a peaceful nights rest, free from the whirling of my own brain and the distracting sounds of wild and domestic animal life. 

"When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't." ~Thomas Edison 

Lost in a Sleeve of Pink

One of my more whimsical fascinations are characters from fairy tales or fantasy stories. Elves, fairies, ethereal creatures of beauty and a bit of magic.

As a child, I was always dancing, pretending I was a flower fairy or some such glittery illusion. A few times I was cast as a pixie or a fairy in theatrical plays as I grew up, and it gave me a thrill to wear pointy ears and characterize the mischievous elven sprites.

While fairies and pixies are fun, my favorite of all fantasy races were elves - of the Tolkien variety. His elves are tall and fair, skilled and wise, immortal and yet delicate. They captured my imagination and to this day I still long to explore Rivendell or wander through Lothlorien, even though I know they are fictional places.

But doesn't it say somewhere that things are real if only you believe in them?

As I grew older, I gained a few skills of my own and sewed a couple of elven dresses for myself. They are probably my favorites of my costumes - long, flowing fabric, with gorgeous sleeves! Oh, the sleeves where the most exciting part. Annoying to wear for every day, I would imagine, but when you are pretending to be an elegant, ancient elf? You want the long sleeves.

This month I have been indulging in my extremely nerdy obsession with all things Middle Earth by participating in "Middle Earth March" on Instagram. Oh, it's a bit silly to be sure, but it has brought me so much joy to take pictures and follow the prompts pertaining to Tolkien and his works and share them with fellow nerds.

One of the prompts was "Which Middle-earth race are you?" and with no hesitation I knew I had to say elf! Obviously this meant I needed to try on one of my elven dresses and take some fresh pictures.

Photo shoots of costume dresses become slightly more complicated when you live by yourself and need to rely on selfies - not to mention having to remain indoors because it's still winter here.

In a way it was a good thing no one was observing me as I experimented with angles and lighting to get the effect I was after. I'm sure it looked comical! I'm by no means a skilled photographer, as I take pictures relying on instinct and I'm sure a professional would pick the technique - or lack of - apart. Nevertheless, they are close enough for my purposes and I was quite pleased by how some of them turned out.

Being I could only take these pictures from an arms-length away, it was nearly impossible to include an entire sleeve. I had to get the sleeves!

Imagination took over, and the sleeves were used in new ways, draping about for dramatic effect around my face.

Looking at these pictures, I see a visual representation of a place in my imagination, where maybe I do live in a hazy pink cloud of elven dreams. Perhaps in that world I dance by the sea, singing songs with my kinfolk and resting in the promise of forever.

There all is serene.

There I find joy.

"We do not want merely to see beauty... we want something else which can hardly be put into words-to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses, and nymphs and elves." ~C.S. Lewis