Watermark

Edible?

OK, so I'm cheating a little. The prompt for this week's Photo Friday is: Edible.

I couldn't resist.

Today we have a wonderful, time-wasting cat link for you: CrappyCat. Really, don't go there if you don't have time.

More:

• Carnival of the Cats is at Nikita's Place; this Sunday it will be at When Cats Attack
• Weekend Cat Blogging is at The Sour Dough; this weekend it will be at Life From A Cat's Perspective
• Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is at Mind of Mog; this weekend it will be at Diamond's Lair
• Friday Ark #235 is up at Modulator

   

Snapshot Poem 18 March 02009

It rains at bedtime. I release my hair
from my grandmother's turquoise combs.
The cat weaves around my feet. Rain
pings on the furnace pipe, thuds
on the shingled roof. I hear it rush
through the gutter sluice. It sounds
so free, so much itself.

These combs were made in Mexico.
I can't remember if my grandmother
ever wore them. Still, they were hers.
I see her bent over the planting beds,
pulling weeds, casting seeds, culling
sprouts where there are too many.
The neighbor's cat weaves

around her feet. Corn, carrots, peas,
and beans from this garden will help
me grow. We hide a seedpod from
the Japanese Lantern in the rubber
guard at the foot of the clothesline;
it's still there, strongly orange, months
later. All the rain and snow

of the intervening seasons do not scar it.
My hands, holding these combs, begin 
to look like hers. My face, in this mirror,
catches only a slight memory of hers,
and that, not the most beautiful. She
was beautiful. The cat urges me to bed.
Rain keeps falling, washing, all night.

  

momentile

I've been playing with this service for past couple of weeks:

Our Manifesto

. . .

The sole purpose of this service is to provide a means for people to chronicle their days and share their experiences, with as little effort as possible.

A momentile consists of a single image, defined only by the date it was published. That's it. Void of explanation and free from context, a momentile is pure visual communication. There's something special about observing an interesting moment from a complete stranger, without any message other than the one you interpret yourself. This is, at its very core, the reason we created momentile. To interact with others by observing the interesting, obscure, and mundane moments of everyday life.

Upload a photo each day. It's not a competition; there is no expectation of excellence. It's just a way to show others, and remind oneself, I saw this today. Photos can be uploaded from your computer or mobile phone, or by email, and momentile will send alerts, with a link to your photo, to Twitter and Facebook if you like.

There is a 'social' aspect to this, if you choose to participate. All photos are published to the front page (all photos are public) and you can follow people who interest you, but that's the extent of it. There are plans for a few more functions (a blog widget, for example, which you will see here when it's available) but: Messaging, photo descriptions, befriending users and other 'social' webbery will never be implemented on momentile.com. They are clearly committed to keeping things focussed and simple.

This is in beta at present; I do have some invitations. If you'd like one, leave me a comment or email me and I'll send one off.

Daylight Savings

This hour stolen from us,
an hour of joy; an hour
of misery; an hour of work
or dreaming. The sparrows
go on building their nest
in the long-untenanted
birdhouse. Cows wait
at the barn gate, slowly
swishing their tails.
Mountains fall beneath
the sun. We all go on
as before.

Friday Belle Blogging

[Precious Adora] Belle has been collecting cat links for you. She has also been playing a new game: she jumps onto the foot of the chaise and stares at me, waiting for me to scare her. I make a big scary noise, and she levitates straight up, lands on the floor, and tears through the house, back and tail arched.

Then she comes back and stares at me until I do it again.

What with that, interminable fetch, throw, and retrieve, and her following me about 'helping', she's altogether more puppyish than kittenish. Constant entertainment, this one.

Oh, and here are the links:

• Play ShiveringKittens and Help Real Animals in the Bargain
• Social Media Break: 5 Cute Animal Sites to Make You Go Aww
• Do Not Taunt the Angry Cat
  
• Яolcats|English Translations of Eastern Bloc Lolcats
• lol at the cat

More:

• Carnival of the Cats is at Artsy Catsy; on Sunday the new edition will be at Mind of Mog
• Weekend Cat Blogging is at Tabbylicous; next weekend it will be at Paulchens Foodblog?!
• Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is at House of (Mostly) Black Cats; the next will be at As The Squillion World Spins
• and Friday Ark #233 is up at Modulator

Snapshot Poem 04 March 02009

  
Audrey folds the quilt
at the bottom of the bed.
Chilled in the night, I reach
one-handed and pull it up
under my chin. It unfurls
smoothly, unlike love.