Reading & tiny kitten dreams & snores

There is a special meaning of the word cozy that I reserve for something that I consider one of the absolute pleasures of life. Once in a while, if I happen to have a bit of time (or sometimes when I don't really) and the kitties are sleepy I will get in bed for a little while with a good book, ideally an inspiring book. If the stars align, the cats will sleep on or next to me while I read. The bedroom is cool and outside is either stormy or sunbeams shine on their fur. The combination of feeling inspired by the book, whether it is an engaging story or lovely art, while listening to tiny kitty snores and maybe feeling a paw reaching out for me while they dream makes my heart happy.

I had the opportunity to do this recently with a new book I received for my birthday, a big hardcover retrospective of Susan Seddon Boulet's life & work written by Michael Babcock. I was drawn to her images when I was still in highschool in the 90's starting with Shaman:The Paintings of Susan Seddon Boulet. I had a poster in my bedroom then of one of her paintings and have continued to find new inspiration in them. I remember one in particular had light flowing from the subject's hands and after I began to do Reiki energy healing this painting made sense to me in a completely new way.

Doing this even for only an hour, completely re-charges me and calms me if I have been experiencing stress. I make sure to leave my cell phone in another room with the ringer off. I may bring in a cup of coffee or tea. My cat kids seem to know when I need this, and it is one of the many ways they/our animal companions help us raise our energy-vibration. They will even act the part and yawn extra sweetly looking at me with sleepy eyes as they sometimes wake up briefly and shift.

Any time we spend together is a joy for me, we also watch movies together and last night Merlin slept by my head as I was working on the computer until 2 am. There is something special about the combination of reading and cozy sleepy furkids for me (maybe because I love reading.) I have vivid memories of an entire Sunday afternoon doing this in Tucson almost 20 years ago (where we lived then and where we adopted our first sons Juneau and Jarvis from the Tucson Humane Society in '98.) They were my first cat kids -as many of you know- they are in the middle photo above. I remember exactly how the sun sparkled on their coats, they were still kittens and their downy soft fur smelled a little bit like the corn we used to feed to chickens in my childhood. I was reading a fantasy book, I believe it was by Charles De Lint but I don't remember the exact title, only that it had fae elements which of course were heightened by the my magical cat sons at my side.