I put the flower in a cup of water so it will not wilt. The cat puts her face in it as well. She wonders what that flower is doing here. The flower isn’t doing anything. It would have preferred to remain where it had been attached to its true source of nourishment and understanding, its roots. They miss each other.
Birds sit on a railing watching me approach. They aren’t struggling to survive. Survival is not that hard. They are not afraid I will pick one of them and put it in a cup of water so it will not wilt. I have no crumbs for them. They don’t mind.
SUMMER FLOWERS CUT
KIKI DRINKS BLOSSOM WATER
BIRDS WATCH AS I WALK.
Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday. Toni is hosting on any topic. Come join us to write a haibun.
Photos: “Kiki Hiding Her Face” and “Birds on Boardwalk”, below, both by the author. These are linked to K’lee and Dale‘s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme “faces”. My cat Kiki’s face is hidden. The birds don’t mind showing their faces anywhere.
Philosophical musings; wonderfully done, Frank! The caat picture made laughter ring out in our house today!
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The cat did look funny. I’m glad she kept drinking long enough for me to get my phone out. Thanks, Jill!
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A rarity! I saw a cloud one night recently that looked exactly like Snoopy over his typewriter. By the time I grabbed my camera it had become Gonzo. 🙂
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A wonderful, funny haibun. But oh, those pigeons! Send them to NYC!
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In some places they are all over. Thanks, Charley!
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You’re welcome, Frank!
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Haha – the cat was wondering what the flower was doing there. Cute!
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She was probably wondering what was in that cup as well and had to get past that flower. Thank you!
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Curious, like one of my cats. You’re welcome!
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Excellent. You really put the cat amongst the pigeons with this one, thanks.
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I don’t know what the cat with do if it saw all those pigeons. Perhaps hide? Thanks, Dale!
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I love Kiki! I had a cat years ago who would not sip the blossom water – he chose instead to eat the rose! I bought a bouquet of roses once for Mama for Mother’s Day and left them in the vase on the kitchen table. The next day, nothing but stems were in evidence with bits of rose about on the table. I love the humor in this piece Frank.
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Thanks, Toni! And thanks for hosting today. Kiki sometimes chews on leaves of plants, but she prefers the food we put in her bowl. I was aiming for humor with a bit of melancholy for the cut flower.
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LOL. I totally understand
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You can count on cats to want to drink from the most inconvenient places. Great pick, and nice observation about the flowers cut off from their roots.
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Thanks, Jane! I’ve learnt recently that plants are more intelligent than we realize but their equivalent features to our organs are more spread out all over them and so when one cuts the grass, it grows back. We aren’t as versatile, but we do have mobility and more individuality.
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Historically, we have always assumed that because we are ‘intelligent’ we are better than other animals, and what nature hasn’t given us (everything except brains) we can create with our superior intelligence. Our superior intelligence has certainly made us the most destructive of all creatures, and we’ve used our creativity to do what? Make clothes and homes because otherwise we’d die of exposure, wheels and wings because animals can naturally run faster, further than we can, or fly. What exactly do we add to the sum of creation?
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I think plants are 99.5% to 99.9% of the biomass on the planet depending on who’s estimating. Do we have to add anything to the sum of creation outside of being here? One possibility is we kill ourselves off. Another possibility is we continue for hundreds of millions of years, maybe billions, until the Sun burns out, as a climax species bossing all the other species around. That should give us time to figure it out. Basically, I don’t know. 🙂
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I hope we listen to the scientists who seem to have already figured out what will happen if we don’t change our ways. We owe it to the planet to stop wrecking it.
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This may be where a “good”, hard recession is what is needed to motivate changing patterns of living.
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We’re already there, have been for years. I’m hoping that coming out of it will make people feel they can afford to be generous, pay more for ‘green’ goods. At the moment, people buy what’s cheap regardless of where it comes from, and meat is cheaper than fruit and fresh vegetables.
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Based on the US market the hard part of the recession is still in the future although some claim it started in 2000 or even 1965 when social mood began to go negative. Some people I read are marking off Elliott Wave spirals to anticipate when the market peak will occur. It seems to me like a kind of scientific prediction with intuitive guesswork. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if patterns of living haven’t changed, the effects of a coming or present recession have not been experienced.
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It’s all relative. The standard of living in the US is so high compared to European that we don’t really have the same yardstick to measure recession by.
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A casual approach to a rather profound situation.
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Thanks, Petru! One way to approach depth is through light-heartedness. The hint is stronger than a direct statement.
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Bringing this one home.
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Flower, kitty, and bird in a cup. Nicely done!
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Thank you, Annell! Only in my imagination would the birds have tolerated the cup. I’m surprised the cat fit so well of its own volition.
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I love the bit about the cat and the accompanying photo, Frank! My husband brings a glass of water to bed every night and used to wonder how he drank so much of it in his sleep… until he discovered Mojo drinking it! He puts a coaster on top now. 🙂
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Our cat loves to drink out of cups as well as faucets that are running. If she notices that the cup contains coffee or tea she usually avoids it. Thanks, Kim!
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That’s a great haibun. Quirky, and yet profound. Great snap of your cat.
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Thank you, Sarah! I was glad I was around when she tried to drink out of that cup.
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I liked how you looked at the scenarios from the perspective of the cat, the flower, and the birds. Your technique resulted in some great insights!
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Thank you! There were three faces to consider and maybe my own for a fourth which wasn’t pictured.
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Wow, you’ve got a regular farm there, Frank. Cats get into everything imaginable. It used to be a way to tell if we had left anything out that needed to be put away. Did she let the flower alone? Love the haiku, it’s like a word picture of the story
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I made the haiku cover the prose part. Perhaps that was not correct. The cat didn’t bother the flower. She just wanted the water, but she has plenty of water. I even let her drink from a faucet with my hand catching the water to make it easy for her if she wants to do that. The birds don’t really belong to me. Thanks, Walter!
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Even without the narrative, delightful haiku. (but I prefer the post as it is(
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Thank you! I’m glad you liked the haiku. I don’t know much about haiku.
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Love that photo, Frank! Musings and amusing.
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Thank you, Sara! I was glad the cat drank the water while I was around to watch her.
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One of my dogs has a bed that looks like a fainting couch from old movies. I call her the diva on the divan.
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I like that description: “diva on the divan”!
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Oh the timing. I just picked a gorgeous rose and felt a bit guilty about it. Now I’m really bummed, but at least the rose is getting attention.
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Plants recover easily from cutting unlike animals. It sometimes strengthens them although they may “miss” the part that was cut, but I don’t know how someone would test that speculation. I added it in thinking they might be like us in some ways. They may also be glad we pick them since it makes them valuable to us and then we keep planting them. Thanks, Victoria!
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Sad story. I came downstairs this morning and there it was, all wilted. I’m so sad. It had water and plant food. Dang.
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Love for this artful cat and the carefree, fearless birds and a little sigh for the lone flower. A beautiful Haibun.
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Thank you, Sumana! Those birds were fearless. I did not zoom in to get those photos. They were only a few feet away.
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Love this tale you’ve told in your haibun, Frank. Especially LOVE the photo of the cat! 🙂 Perhaps she just wanted to “smell the roses” — even though it’s not a rose! 🙂
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It wasn’t a rose. I don’t know what the flower was. I liked what the cat did as well. At the time, I wondered if she would be able to get her head out of the cup. Thanks, Lillian!
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Your cat is lovely. Mine would have eaten the flower first. Great pics of the birds, so many of them in so many colors! Love the haibun. 🙂
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Thank you, Sascha! Our cat doesn’t eat plants although she might play with the leaves. We have many house plants and one cat. They seem to get along.
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My cat would only go after the cut flowers. She left the houseplants alone. It made for some adorable pics though. 🙂
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More excellence, Frank! Thank you!
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Thank you, K’lee, and thanks to you and Dale for the photo prompts!
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What a sweet kitty with her head in the cup. That is some perfect timing. Love it when that happens. I like the use of ‘blossom water’ in your haiku. The birds really do seem unconcerned, just doing their thing.
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I am glad you liked “blossom water”. I wasn’t sure if there was a special name for that water or not. Thanks, Lynn!
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Clever cat, drinking rosewater? But the pigeons … my goodness the pigeons … made me think of Hitchcock’s “Birds”.
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I thought the same thing when I saw them, but they were friendly. Thanks, Beverly!
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Leisurely summer among wonderful surroundings. It cannot be any better than that Frank!
Hank
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It has been leisurely and peaceful. Thanks, Hank!
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Perspective of
cats birds
flowers
and
being human
human being
an estranged
bed and gal fellow
from A reality NoW
oF
living
just living
without worries
from living living..:)
Haha.. back in the
stress infused
Dead zone
days long ago..
the Sister-in-law
says then wouldn’t it
be lovely to be your cat
all sprawled out on the
kitchen table.. ha.. i am thaT
cat.. now..
but she
failed
to
see him play
dance and sing..;)
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People tolerate cats more than people when they play. Maybe if we were furrier? Thanks, Fred!
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Didn’t with
Until I got
Bigger
And
Furry..
Hehe..;)
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