COT #19: cute kittens

CATS ON TUESDAY is a group of cat lovers

who share pictures and/or stories about their cats once a week,

hosted by Gattina.

Last week I was visiting friends who had just added four kittens to their household. They also have five other cats and two dogs. They are so adorable, I just had to share some pics I made!

They are called Gaia & Moesje (the two black ones), Jakey (all red) and Ariel (red and white).

Gaia & Moesje are from the same litter, the reds are from another litter.

Ariel is a sweetie, but she follows her red brother in any mischief he invents. :)

Sleeping on my fleece jack that fell on the floor...

Why are we here?

Quite a question, huh? I'm serious though. Lately I've been thinking, contemplating, struggling with this question. I can't answer it for the whole of mankind, so I narrowed it down to: why am I here? What am I doing on this earth and what is it good for? What is my purpose in life? Call me philosophical, or curious, or both! I'm working on it. I'm even dreaming and journeying about it. :-)

Sooooo, I was wondering...
Do you know your personal answer to this question?
How did you find out?
Please enlighten me and share your thoughts! Whether you say one sentence or want to share a complete essay about your ideas on the subject... Feel free!

TT #91: online purchases

Thirteen online purchases I often buy things online. Mostly books, but also CD's, witchy supplies, Tink stuff, etc. I love second hand and auctions online, but I also buy new. Here are 13 of my purchases online in 2008! Tarot of White Cats - The Tarot of the White Cats is very much in the tradition of the Rider-Waite Tarot - except for the blue-eyed, white cats drawn in the cards, instead of people. buy UK / buy US Earth Pathways 2009 Diary - Celebrating the work of artists and writers who inspire our connection to the Earth and the healing we are all part of. The artwork and writing is placed within the context of the Celtic Wheel of the Year and includes UK astrological information, moon phases and signs, permaculture, environmental awareness, a page a week view, a page a month view and year planners. buy UK Akshara Weave Reiki Healing (4 CD's) - Each CD represents one reiki symbol and works with different aspects of healing, based on The Reiki Principles. Cho Ku Rei offers healing on the level of the physical body, Sei He Ki on the emotional body, Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen on the mental body and Dai Ko Myo on the spiritual body. Each CD is sonically unique, as each one translates the geometry of the Reiki symbol into sound using sacred geometry, ancient tunings and phi ratio harmonics. buy UK / buy US The Faeries Oracle by Brian Froud - Take a journey into Faeryland and enjoy beautiful scenes of elves, pixies, trolls, and of course faeries in the beautiful world of Brian Froud's art. buy UK / buy US Luister naar je lichaam by Mirka Knaster - In English: Discovering the Body's Wisdom, a guide to the principles, theories, and practices of Eastern and Western body therapies explains how to get the most out of seventy-five different treatment approaches--from massage and yoga to Rolfing and reflexology. buy UK / buy US Tetris for the Nintendo DS - Tetris is one of the most renowned puzzle games of all time, simple to pick up and play yet limitlessly entertaining. Very addictive and my favourite game! buy UK / buy US The Cat in Magic by M. Oldfield Howey - An illustrated history of the cat as a powerful symbol of the supernatural throughout the ages, compiling manifestations of cat-worship in many parts of the world e.g. the Egyptians' two-headed cat goddesses. Examines the age-old relationship between man and cat. buy UK / buy US Millenial Gaia Statue by Oberon - You can see it here. I wanted this statue for years. In the end I ordered it at Abaxion, but if you Google on "Millenial Gaia" you'll find European stores too. Mindfold Mask - This eye mask is guaranteed to block at all light. Due to the unique design your eyes can be open or closed, allowing more comfort and allowing eye make up to be left untouched. I use if for meditation and journeying. buy UK / buy US Chakra Energy Generator Crystal - The body's chakra alignment and balance can be improved by the use of an energy generator. Mine is hand-carved with 8 facets, finished in silver and adorned with 7 semi-precious gemstones which correspond to the Chakras. I ordered it at Astral Aspects. The Stonewylde books by Kit Berry - I posted about this series in June: I was hooked from the first page and couldn't put it down. I love Stonewylde and I can very much recommend it to you! buy UK / buy US When Twilight Burns by Colleen Gleason - The 4th book of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles, of which I'm a huge fan. It is described as "Buffy The Vampire Slayer meets Jane Austen", as the series features a vampire hunter in Regency-era England. buy UK / buy US Moon Tides, Soul Passages by Maria Kay Simms - The book guides your understanding of your past and present, your power of personal choice and evokes new insights of soul and spirit. The Moon Tides software (included) provides all you need to apply the book's in-depth interpretative material—even if you have never before studied astrology. buy UK / buy US Do you buy online? What? Where? ~*~*~*~ Links to other Thursday Thirteens! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Ara in Artis

Last Saturday there was an Ara-meeting in Amsterdam. We had planned to meet in front of the Artis entrance. Artis Royal Zoo is the oldest zoo in The Netherlands (founded in 1838) and situated in the heart of Amsterdam. Zoos always give me that ambivalent feeling: on one side I love to see the animals, but on the other side they are in captivity.

We had decided to go to the zoo, because we wanted to observe our power animals. Although we had planned this meeting months ago, half of the group couldn't make it. I met Sorcha at the entrance and Kat joined us somewhat later. Sorcha has a wolf totem. The two wolves in Artis have a great place to live with a lot of privacy. Unfortunately there are no bears in Artis anymore so Kat had to turn to the raccoons to watch them. We all spent time observing our animals.

Artis has a black panther called Inaia, who shares her habitat with her spotted sister. I was glad to read that their space will be much bigger in the near future. Artis can't expand because it's in the city centre, so they have chosen to keep less animals in bigger habitats. Inaia was pacing at the front of the fence, difficult to look at... Later she went to a corner to lie down and enjoy the sunshine. I made lots of pictures. In many ways a panther really is a big cat; I saw so much I recognised from my cats at home. Inaia is beautiful and she moves in a soft and smooth manner.

When we came back together we sat down on a stretch of grass. We cast a circle from hand to hand and passed energy. Then we went into a pathworking (the same one but on our own) to do a cone of power for the animals. It was a wonderful experience for me.
We were sitting in a circle and our animals were around us. Bagheera, my black panther companion, was lying half behind me with her head next to me and a paw in my lap. We built up the energy and released the power of the Cone in a bowl of water. From there a fountain formed until high in the sky and came down covering all of Artis, including us. It was a wonderful sight. After that I walked with Bagheera to Inaia. We went into the cage. The two panthers touched noses. I put my hand on Inaia's paw and Bagheera put hers on top. Together we exchanged energy and connected on a level we could all feel, connecting to all the panthers on the earth. It was a very magical and touching moment. I returned to the others and in an instant I was really back in Artis.

Artis was closing, so we slowly walked to the exit. In another part of Amsterdam we met with two of the others to have dinner and catch up on things. It was good to see eachother after quite some time! In October we'll have a workshop weekend in Otterlo again and we are already making plans for our initiation in Italy in May next year.

my Artis pics

Full Harvest Moon

Last Monday it was full Harvest Moon, time to harvest my oils. I used the cold or long method: bottles with herbs/plants in a base oil, put them in the sun and let it stay there for the summer. The result is called a macerate. Monday I filtered the oil and put it in little blue storage bottles. On the picture above you can see my harvest. I want to make nice labels later. I have oils with lavender, mint, St. John's wort and camomile. I still have viola tricolor to harvest. I store my oils in a wooden trunk Ron gave me.

With Ostara (March 20) I had planted an acorn in a flowerpot. It grew pretty good and had leaves in no time. Unfortunately the cats discovered the leaves tasted good... Nothing left but a pitiful stem... I wasn't prepared to give up though. Ron thought I was being silly. I watered the stem and talked to it, even gave it reiki. It helped! Last week I noticed a little green sprout and today it looks like this! Ha!

Robbie always does the trick! :-)

This morning I was feeling down. Not sure why, just woke up that way. Happens sometimes. After my Wii Fit training and breakfast it wasn't much better. I decided to appeal to Robbie Williams and his music to crack me up! Often I go for a DVD Robbie-marathon, this time I plunged into the 100+ GB of Robbie on my computer.
I started with a (slow) live performance of Take That's version of "Could it be magic" followed by a (upbeat) remix of that same song mixing TT and Donna Summer. I never was a huge TT-fan, I just liked a few songs especially. Later I discovered those were exactly the songs in which Robbie did the lead! I watched some videoclips, listened to a lot of songs, sang along, danced... Of course my favourite "Feel" but also less-known ones and golden B-sides. And yes... in the end I felt sooo much better! Thanks, Robbie!

Unfortunately most of the news we hear about Rob these days is gossip and paparazzi stories. If we're "lucky" it's new gossip, but most of the time it is news with a beard as long as Methusalem's... You know, if Rob himself tells something I'm always interested. For the rest, let the man have some privacy! It would be great if he found the love of his life, but I'll wait until he introduces her. His spare time is just that, HIS spare time; I hope he enjoys himself. :-)
I often visit his official website to see whether there is real news, I'm also an Inner Sanctum member. Last week I read that a famous Dutch DJ (Sander van Doorn) reworked one of Robbie's songs. The new track is called "Close My Eyes" and I could download it for free.
Sure, I'm waiting for really new material. A second swing-album would be great, any new album and/or single would be very welcome, a new tour would be fabulous... I'll just sit and wait! ;-)

Meet my Dolly!

This is my RSS-Dolly. Perhaps you already noticed her in my sidebar, where she is linking to my RSS-feed. She is made by Emila of Emila's Illustrated Blog. I found her blog while dropping my Entrecard some days ago. She has made a lot of these Dolly's already. I liked them a lot, so I decided I wanted one too! :-)

Do you like them too? Go over to Emila's blog and order one for just $2,- or 500 Entrecard Credits. You'll find the instructions in her sidebar. She works very fast and you can tell her exactly what you want.

TT #90: birthday presents

Thirteen pictures of my birthday presents The guests on my 40th birthday party have been very generous! I made a slideshow of 13 pictures showing my pictures. ~*~*~*~ Links to other Thursday Thirteens! ~*~ Anthony North ~*~ Sandy Carlson ~*~ Susiej ~*~ Hootin' Anni ~*~ Claudia ~*~ Adelle Laudan ~*~ Candy Minx ~*~ Kristi ~*~ Lost Hemisphere ~*~ jehara ~*~ Lori ~*~ SJ Reidhead ~*~ Meju ~*~ marnini ~*~ Darla ~*~ Shoshana ~*~ Julia ~*~ Sassy Mama Bear ~*~ Sassy Mama Bear 2 ~*~ Gattina ~*~ B Boys Mom ~*~ Storyteller ~*~ Brenda ND ~*~ Donna ~*~ Gayle ~*~ Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Partyyyyyyyyy

My 40th birthday party last Saturday was a big success! I had the time of my life and I won't forget this evening for the rest of it. Around 50 to 60 people celebrated with me and according to the enthusiastic reactions they definitely had a good time too. Family and friends mixed and mingled.

I had asked for money because I want to get a particular meditation chair I have seen on a fair. Everyone was very generous and we have already ordered the chair; it will be available in a few weeks. I even have money left. I also got a lot of cards, flowers, Tink stuff, a 2009 calendar, a book, a selfmade "bonbonnière" with chocolates, filled medicine bag... I'm making a Slide-show of my gifts for the Thursday thirteen tomorrow.

IJs of LeukeMensen.nl took great care of the music (much Robbie of course, 80's and lots more). Singer Rudie Crossman did several performances, he's an entertainer pur sang. I have uploaded a 2 min. video to YouTube. He also sang "Proud Mary" where Ron did the low Ike-voice; unfortunately that's not on video! With Gerard (who is a Rod Stewart fan) Rudie did "Sailing" and I did a bit of singing along too. With friends I also did the backing vocals and dancing, *lol*!

About being 40, Audrey Hepburn was right: nothing changed. :-) On the party some people asked about it. My answer was: you know, I'm feeling better and happier with myself than when I was 30. Life goes on, any age!

All the pictures are in a Picasa webalbum. Enjoy!

TT #89: Life begins at forty!

Thirteen quotes for my 40th birthday This Saturday I'll celebrate my 40th birthday with a big party! My real birthday is Monday September 8. I don't have a problem with turning 40. One of the best-selling selfhelp books, Life Begins at Forty (1932) by Walter Pitkin, implied that a wise if chastened maturity was emotionally healthier and more realistic than adolescent self-confidence. Hear hear!! Life begins at forty! - Walter Pitkin Forty is the old age of youth; fifty is the youth of old age. - Victor Hugo What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy. - Voltaire We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it. - Jules Renard At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At 40, we don't care what they think of us. At 60, we discover they haven't been thinking of us at all. - Ann Landers The first forty years of life give us the text, the next thirty supply the commentary on it. - Arthur Schopenhauer At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty the wit; at forty the judgment. - Benjamin Franklin Forty isn't old, if you're a tree. - unknown I'm not 40, I'm eighteen with 22 years experience. - unknown The "I just woke up" face of your 30's is the "all day long" face of your 40's. - Libby Reid Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you're exactly the same. - Audrey Hepburn Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed. - Edward Young Women are most fascinating between the ages of 35 and 40 after they have won a few races and know how to pace themselves. Since few women ever pass 40, maximum fascination can continue indefinitely. - Christian Dior What's your favourite? ~*~*~*~ Links to other Thursday Thirteens! ~*~ Robin ~*~ Anthony North ~*~ pjazzypar ~*~ The Gal Herself ~*~ Sandy Carlson ~*~ Claudia ~*~ Nicholas ~*~ Lori ~*~ bluebonnetgirl ~*~ storyteller ~*~ Ms. Behaving ~*~ Phil's Grill ~*~ laurakim123 ~*~ Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Awards!

The last month I have received several awards, but now I can finally post them! Of course I like getting awards. I like it when people like my blog!

Arte y Pico award

I'm honoured to accept this beautiful award from Lady Rose of Stir The Cauldron. Thank you!

Winners of this award are asked to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language. Each award, if possible, should include the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog. Each award winner is asked to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize are also asked to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
My five picks are:

1. Leanne Wildermuth: Artist By Nature
2. Thyme2dream
3. Artbeat Inspirations
4. Suzie's Sacred Space
5. Tales of Magick

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Brillante Award

I'm ashamed to admit I don't remember who gave me this award... If it was you, please forgive me! Make yourself known and I'll give you the credit and linky love you deserve!

edit Sept. 3: It was Ray Gratzner of The Esoterical Journey! Thanks for reminding me and for the award, Ray!

Here are the rules for this award:
(1) Put the logo on your blog
(2) Add a link to the person who awarded you
(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
(4) Add links to those blogs on yours
(5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.
My seven winners are:

1. Purrchance To Dream
2. Twilight's Muse
3. Daisy the Curly Cat
4. Miss Peach
5. KaTtEnPrAaT's CaTWaLk
6. Jeter Harris
7. Chica & Pumuckl

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I Love Your Blog Award

I'm proud to be honoured with this award by Mike from Rambling Stuff and Luxor from A White Cat. Thanks, my friends!

These are the rules:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours, and
5. Leave a message on the blogs that you've nominated
I'm giving this lovely award to:

1. RennyBA's Terella
2. Dog's Eye View
3. Writer Cramps
4. Holy Cuteness
5. Stir The Cauldron
6. Moongazy Girl
7. Magic & Moments at Dragonfly Cottage

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~