Walkabout To Bed
Marmalade Cat spends all her time on the bed in The Coupe. In fact I think she thinks that The Coupe has been built just for her. 
She is thinking of taking up a career in modeling.
Marmalade is developing quite the mouth. I think we are going through A Stage. And yes, you are right, previously I thought she was a boy (the vet told me so.. what was I to think)… But really she is a girl.. does this remind you of anything!?
Daisy is still waiting quietly for the milking season to begin. The snow melted somewhat yesterday. So everyone is getting muddier. 
While Sheila went out and splurged on a new pair of boots. (not all the ice is melted)
And the chickens wish they had boots as ALL their ice has melted.
I came home last night after being OUT and driving everyone BACK. And then they were all settled except for me who wanted to be Out again, I grabbed the torch and slushed my way through to the barn and out the other side. And there was Daisy laying outdoors, in the yards. The house was sleeping, the clouds were drooping, the barn-doors leaning, the dogs in moon-sung shadows, the hens huddled watchful. Cluck. Queenie’s heavy breathing. The quiet was like an ebbing sea, a drawn breath, almost there, always there. The moon as silvery as they say. The barn was drifting, unmoored, lost into the sky. Pregnant.
In my going out boots and going out jeans I found Paisley Daisy in the almost full moon, laying in the moons tree shadow. In the cold. I knelt and I laid my head on her warm haunches and then up across her huge hard belly. She hauled in a bellows breath and let it out like gentle wistful candle light. Sleep baby, she said. I will be here in the morning. She said. I wanted to sleep with her. I felt sad with wintryness. Sad from too much life. Sad beyond your ken. Sad that does not mean sad but means lonesome. Like Lone. Like Some. Like Us. Lost in the waiting.
Bed, she said. But I need to close your doors against the night, I thought. You have to go inside. In case the calf comes. Bed, she said. So I did. I went. To bed.
your
celi
52 Comments on “Walkabout To Bed”
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Daisy can be very wise at times 🙂
Paisley Daisy is conservering her energies. She knows there’s work ahead. She’s drawing silver strength from the moonlight and the quiet, and savouring solitude (not lonesomeness) because she knows she’s going to be a busy girl soon.
Better not let Tilly and Marmalade get together 🙂 I wonder if Daisy isn’t waiting till she can have her calf out in the fields? Have a lovely weekend. Laura
Marmalade is gorgeous and very photogenic – boy or girl, Marmalade is a handsome specimen. Oh Daisy, not long now dear, you are doing a stellar job.
Have a beautiful farmy day C.
🙂 Mandy xo
marmalade is a real looker! daisy is patiently waiting for the big moment, as are we all!
No matter how much we plan for where our animals will have their babies and prepare comfortable places for them, they often have their own thoughts about it! I had a beautiful black cat once that I had made a wonderful home under the stairs for her to have her babies. I went up to bed, and up she followed laying on my stomach and purring. I could feel her contractions, so carefully carried her back down stairs to her ‘nest’ and went back to bed. Ten minutes later she is back laying on my stomach again! So I spent the night under the stairs with her as she produced 4 little kittens. I think she just wanted me to be there. Good Luck Daisy, you have a world of people waiting with baited breath for your baby!
Hugs, Lyn
I would love to see a calf’s birth. How exciting! Daisy is doing her own thing for sure. And that Marmalade, oh my what a beauty :*) I am so grateful that our farm babies aren’t due for a few more weeks!
What lovely words, Celi. It brought back memories of Daisy deer giving birth for the first time this past spring. During the night/morning during two back-to-back thunderstorms, she lay atop a hill near a giant cedar nestled in the woods, birthing her fawns. I wanted to be with or near her, and I hoped she would choose a spot I thought was safe, but her babies arrived in the night during magnificent storms. It is all a mystery, not to be understood… but your Daisy knows what she needs.
I love Sheila’s boots! This shorter style boot gives her legs a longer look. And Marmalade is a fabulous model… oh, and the chickens basking out in the sun. Everyone wants to be drenched in the loveliness of the sun’s warmth!
I did not think that ,ginger. cats came in the female version…I was always told only male cats can be ginger, so our Marmalade is unique…well we always knew that anyway…
Come on Daisy today is the day…I want to hear the patter of tiny hoofs
Lulu is female also.. First two i have ever encountered.. c
I had a ginger girl many years ago, and she had ginger girl kittens…I wasn’t irresponsible not having her desexed, she was found in a rubbish bin already pregnant and I took her in, a tiny wee thing she was…….it is unusual though
i understand the sad. i ask my animals for advice during those times.they always gave good advice.
accually just putting things into words help, and solutions then work themselves out
years ago, i had an old border collie,ralph. she was the best listener i ever had
Oh Daisy—we are all here for you!!! Marmalade is such a photogenic cat!!! Love the photos today—even the muddy ones. Rest, C—there is much ahead of you . 🙂
Oh, new life! How exciting! Trust Daisy; she knows what she’s doing.
It sounds like Pollyanna is nowhere to be seen. But Thursday is the first day of spring And my birthday so please hold on until then. I promise you relief from this horror of this winter!
Daisy’s a girl who knows her own mind. Our vet was sure our last cat was a girl, and he opened her up to sterilize her. Hmmm. Nothing there. Oh dear. We called him Audrey after that and the cat’s name was changed as well.
Pictures of Marmalade are adorable. Love Marcel, he’s still smiling.
What an incredibly poignant, poetic piece, C. There is such a longing to your words, such a depth. I think you need a hug, my friend. Yes, a hug.
Hugs are good.. c
I saw that lovely moon last night also and immediately thought of Daisy…and wondered…..
Marmalade has grown up and what a beauty! Grumpy Cat, eat your heart out! 🙂
And Miss Fashionista Sheila is right in style wearing the shorter “ankle” boots… very “ta ta”
Have a lovely weekend, C 🙂
Glad you listened to Daisy’s advice for bed. You need to rest up too! The farm is looking almost spring-like. I enjoyed the walkabout this morning. Have a great weekend C!
Littlesundog’s fashion statement on Sheila is hilarious. Who knew Sheila The Fashionista!
Yes, Tilly now Marmalade. She is really model material. And your description of you with Daisy. Just so poignant. The moon was so rich last night. And the sunset myriad shades of grey.
We are all pulling for you, Daisy.
Celi, you need to heed Daisy, you will need all the energy you have, when labour begins and the farmy turns the corner to busy, busy! May the new season be healthy and fruitful. The photos are wonderful. I never told you, but when I saw the first photos of Marcel with those long legs, I thought he looked like a Llama!
Moonlight can do that to a person can’t it C.? It’s beautiful but mournful, in a way. And yes, I too thought that Daisy was gathering energy and quiet from that otherwordly, silver light. Here is one of my all time favorite quotes that may or may not have anything to do with this post but I think you’ll like it too.
The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses, we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners in the splendor and travail of the earth.
Henry Beston, The Outermost House
Just perfect, thank you chris.. c
Baby anytime now, me thinks! Any time!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://handcraftedbyus.wordpress.com
♬♬♬ Happy Saint Patrick’s Day ♬♬♬
Hope it is not tomorrow, very cold with high winds tomorrow, perfect day for it today though.. but she is still just wafting about calmly.. c
Your words – poetry. Words that shivered my skin. Set the hairs on my arms standing straight up. Words I read again and again to imprint them on my mind. Embed them in my soul. “The barn was drifting Bed, she said”, unmoored, lost in the sky.
Dear Celi. It sounds like you have the kind of sadness that bears witness to existence. That gravity of being kind. I think, I hope it’s a good sad…where the weight of the sadness also wraps you and holds you still like a blanket until it passes. The sad that mirrors our deep gratitude for being alive, somehow. Your animals are perfect for you now. I’m glad you have them. They’re so wise, so unselfconscious. I envy them that. (Except Sheila who seems awfully aware of how lovely her fine trotters look in low brown, button-up, Victorian ankle boots.) (Chris, I love the Henry Beston quote. Thank you!)
This is a wonderful comment Charlotte.. just beautiful.. c
I adore your writing – you let us, your humble and avid readers, see the dimensions within, without, behind us, above us. i can’t say anymore
stunning photos of Marmalade but of course we expect nothing less fro yourself!
Christine
Beautiful words. Super pics Celi. And yes your kitty should be modelling!
Marmalade had turned in a beauty. I must say that any vet that cannot tell the sex of a cat should be fired on the spot. Here is the secret. Lift up the tail and if you see two dots like this :, it is a male. If you see a dot and a dash, ; like a semicolon, it is a female. You can tell the sex at one day old this way. I would look at marmalade again, just to be sure. Of course, at his/her age, his anatomy should be pretty evident. All your pictures are priceless today especially. Every one. I see Marcel the Happy is almost as tall as Boo and growing like a weed. You seem to be in a more upbeat mood today as the sun is shining and the ice is melting. Hopefully warmer weather is just around the corner. Today I heard a meadowlark!
That little lamb always looks like it’s grinning.
I would take over the coupe too 🙂
It’s a little hard to tell from the angle of the photos, but it appears Daisy’s sides are sunken in quite a bit. I expect we’ll be reading about a new calf on the farmy very, very soon.
yep, baby is on the move, but taking his time!.. c
The mud, though nasty and everywhere, is a real good sign. Spring is coming, Celi. The sooner the mud comes, the sooner it will leave and the green will follow behind it. (I’ll pretend I didn’t see tonight’s weather report.) Hope she can wait until Monday or Tuesday. Fingers crossed. 🙂
Would we understand joy and happiness if some moments in life were not sad . . . you shared some such moments with Paisley Daisy in ‘moon-sung shadows’ in loving care one of the other . . . that too is OK!! And somehow I always knew Marmalade was a lady and so many times had to erase ‘she’ at the last minute from my writings. Must admit she photographs beautifully – don’t tell her and give her even a bigger head . . .
I do agree, sad has to have happy, and happy has to see sad or we would be numb.. ni ni eha mama.. c
ni ni, beautiful lady . . .
You have such a magical way with words! “Moon-sung shadows” … and going out jeans … and going out boots … Paisley Daisy in the almost full moon. I DELIGHT in finding new posts on your site! I hope you enjoy the ‘letting free’ of your phrases as much as I do the ‘catching them’ on this end! (By the way – won’t it be nice when you won’t have to put on so much for your going out jeans and your going out boots! WILL this winter end?!)
Thank you, I am so glad you are out there to catch the words I throw. I love language and have never been terribly good with rules.. OH YES. soon, I will be onto the going out skirts and going out Legs!! I can’t wait. I bet you can’t either.. c
Ah, yes, that reminds me of Miss Tilly. Marmalade has become a gorgeous kitty, and Marcel is almost as big as Boo already! Great picture of Marcel up top.
Oh this is so touching. You are sad with waiting. But spring and new life will be here very soon and this winter ordeal will be consigned to the back cupboards or the basement.
Beautiful piece, Celi, the writing catches my heart… like the moon always does when I go out to look at it over the sea here, standing in the cemetery above the harbour. Both Marmalade and Marcel do Boo great credit… he’s done a wonderful job with them both – and you too of course… hope hope hope the spring is waiting to surprise you any day, with love from a cyclone battered New Zealand
Marmalade heard you were doing calendars 😉
I’m with Daisy. No, not about to give birth, but I do love to bask in the moonlight. Love when it shines through the window onto the bed, and white flowers in the garden to catch its beams.
The heart-piercing joy of immersion in melancholy is hard to describe adequately—at least, by lesser writers. You, Celi, have a rare gift, and sing the argent beauty so ardently that none of us can remain in doubt of its peculiar wonders. Thank you. Embracing you, Daisy, and all of your company on the farmy with great affection and anticipation!
xoxo,
Kathryn
“I am so glad you are out there to catch the words I throw. I love language and have never been terribly good with rules.”
What a perfect recipe for poetry!
And the photographs are special. The whole thing is special. Inspiring. I feel blessed to have this chance each day, but especially today, to get close to the world of animal-beings, weather, earth itself, and of course the moon. Thank you, Celi. You are a gift.
We had a kitten years ago which we called Marmaduke, then when we found out he was a she, she became Marmalade. My Italian dad struggled with such a long name and she became Honey instead! Your Marmalade is a real pin up pussycat! Do hope you got some sleep miss c.
She is a beautiful kitty. We had a cat that started out as Billie Holiday until one day we found something that turned out not to be a slug stuck to her fur and she became Billy Eckstein (male singer:) And no thanks to the vet either.
And I’ve been told, several times, that ginger cats are only ever boys. I’m confused now! 🙂