Cats
Why This Page? Simple, cats are cute. Also the War Resisters League put up a page dedicated to their now deceased cat, AJ, you can click here to see it. Which brings me to another point, cats are peaceful. Well sort of, aside from a tendency to hunt, kill, and eat mice they have never built a nuclear weapon or invaded anything.
Cody is the official cat of the community, originally brought into the community by Eric, but then abandoned as he began pursuing an end to the death penalty. Despite his size, or due to it, he spends most of the day sleeping
Bella R.I.P. is the oldest cat in our community and was brought here by Martha when she joined. Bella enjoys jumping on the couch during Bible Study, sleeping under the sunlight in the stairway and long walks on the beach.
Elanor is our newest, youngest, and yes cutest cat in our community. She was a feral kitten born in our community garden when Clare decided to bring her home. I think Elanor is named after some sort of character in the Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I am not sure. Maybe a dwarf or something. Anyways Elanor enjoys ping-pong balls, kicking sand, toy mice made of twine, and shoes.
What wonderful kitty pictures. Yes, I know who I am…
Comment by Steve Leffler — 5/14/2005 @ 8:40 pm
These are indeed wonderful photos. Its great to have e-sapce devoted to calling forther our calming spirits. Si Yu’os ma’ase (Thanks you).
Comment by Antonio Salas — 5/16/2005 @ 5:20 pm
Antonio, what is that a Bhuddist chant?
Comment by lacw — 5/18/2005 @ 4:21 pm
Sorry to read that Cody was abandoned when he started working for the
Joyce
abolition of the death penalty, and that Eric sleeps all day, due to his
size.
Comment by gramma — 6/25/2005 @ 2:14 pm
Remember Roan(Meredith’s cat?) A true “first cat!”
Comment by Meredith — 7/12/2005 @ 7:09 pm
If Cody rolls over on his back and acts like he wants his tummy petted, don’t do it! He’ll try to grab your hand and bite it. Other than that, he’s a great housecat, and a great House cat.
Comment by Mark Dixon — 10/19/2006 @ 2:43 pm
My wife volunteered at the LA catholic worker in the late 1980’s. I went
down there once with her and spent the day making salads for perhaps 200 men.
This was one of the best days I have ever had. After growing up in LA for more than 28 years,
I was confronted for the first time, by these people ranging from ‘just between jobs’ to people
suffering from severe untreated mental illness, absolutley destitute, I was reminded how incredibly
rich we are.
I’m sure the problems are even more intense now.
I would recommend spending a day there if for no other reason than for the feelings of rejuvenation
you will encounter when you are confronted with the true violent reality of our existence as compared
with theirs. We are so blessed. This said, we should be doing this work for more than that reason alone
for sure. There are countless other reasons to do this type of work. For me, it was one of the more intense
experiences I have had. So far.
Tom.
Comment by Tom Acquistapace — 11/12/2006 @ 2:05 am
Lovely cat pictures. In my lifetime (Iam now 64)I have been owned my 10 cats, not to mention numerous kittens along the way. They are great friends.
I wish you well with your work.
Comment by Will — 12/1/2006 @ 1:25 pm
These cats looks great (Elanor especially)! I’m very fond of cats, actually I’m owned by one
Comment by A cats lover — 6/28/2007 @ 4:56 pm
Beautiful cats. I love Eleanor! I also love to hear about helping animals in need. Good job.
Comment by Tina — 7/26/2007 @ 1:46 am
Elanor was a flower in the Lord of the Rings book here’s the quote from the page:
“Here ever bloom the winter flowers in the unfading grass: the yellow elanor, and the pale niphredil. Here we will stay awhile, and come to the city of the Galadhrim at dusk.”
Quite beautiful I think and a fantasic name for such a pretty cat!
Comment by Elanor — 9/13/2007 @ 5:26 pm
I don’t think the local birds would agree that our cats’ intentions are altogether peaceful, but they’re good enough at getting out of the way that it doesn’t really matter.
I do think cats bring a lot of peace to humans, though - it can be very soothing stroking them if you’re upset. I’m sure that in the challenges your work involves Elanor and her friends provide a lot of comfort and encouragement.
I’m very impressed with your lovely pictures of them, too. My own experience of trying to take photographs of cats, dogs or any other animals is that they generally wait till I’ve lined up what should be the perfect shot, then as I take the picture they move off, leaving me with a very pretty-colored abstract blur.
Thanks for a very enjoyable visit to your site, and may God bless all the valuable work you do.
Comment by Aislinn O'Connor — 11/16/2007 @ 11:34 am
O wow just found the cat’s page
It was a kind of confirmation to me that our office cats really do belong there and we are not just totally loony (tho I don’t know that the two are mutually exclusive) Skitty and Junior live at Caring Hands office for many reasons but mainly that we want them there. They keep us company late nights restocking food shelves, writing grant applications, trying to figure what to do next and how Skit is behginning to be an official greeter when ppl come for help. Caring Hands is a rural grassroots ministry in Southern Appalachia…very different from your pace yet both belong to Jesus and reach out in His name to help and sometimes to show others how to help themselves and to help othes who have needs.
Comment by Ann — 3/22/2008 @ 4:15 pm