Jon Carroll Cat column

[AmberLee]

15 Oct column (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/15/DD90585.DTL) . Enjoy. :D :cool:

[Cataholic]

That was a nice interlude into the land of cat! Reminds me to ask if anyone knows who does the poem with the phrase, "and the fog rolled in on little cat's paws" or something to that effect. Anyone know the author?

[Edwina's Secretary]

At last I know what to call those mats of hair that tell me Edwina has found a new "special place" -- middens


Occasionally I come across a Bucket midden, a flattened mat of gray hair on some high and distant shelf, but I'm always one step behind. It's as though she had been a radical in the '60s, had been indicted in an unfortunate bombing incident and had been on the run ever since.

Great column! So descriptive!

[weeze]

Baby used to disappear until I discovered her inside the boxspring mattress.. she's very resourceful

[kitten645]

The fog coming in on cat's feet reference comes from T.S. Eliot's The Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. It's also the basis for the Broadway play "Cat's"

[Cataholic]

Kitten645, thanks alot! I now remember it...duh, after you told me, right? :) :)

[AmberLee]

Originally posted by kitten645
The fog coming in on cat's feet reference comes from T.S. Eliot's The Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. It's also the basis for the Broadway play "Cat's"

Oopsie... no. There are some magnificent lyrics/lines from T. S. Eliot's book, but that specific line came from Carl Sandburg.

Fog
Carl Sandburg

---------------------------------------------------------

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

(I love 'em both.)

[Barbara]

I am sure cats can de-materialize and materialize again. When my Mom was catsitting, I told her that Filou would vansih somewhere in the apartment and in the moment of her total despair would sit in the middle of the room saying "What's this fuzz all about?" in an indignated way.
When it happened to her she had forgotten and asked all the neighbors whether they had seen him and of course, after some hours, there he was, in the middle of the living room....
(I never find middens - so this is a proof that he was in some other world...)

[Logan]

How precious and how true, Pauline!!! Thanks for sharing that! Bucket and Mimi sound very much alike, except for sleeping in the bed.

[Cataholic]

Amberlee- thank you! Is that the whole poem? It is sooo apropos, isn't it? I think it would be neat to have that poem behind a picture of one of my cats...you know, shadow-ish background? Thanks for the correction.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Well, I hope you are all happy! This thread sent me to my "The Poetry of Robert Frost" looking for this poem. (I'm still looking.) Opened the book to an inscription from a long ago love who gave me the book for Christmas, 1986. Found a card in it -- that kind that comes with flowers with a Frost quote...from another long ago love (A particular poem of Frost's is a great favorite of mine. I can still recite it.)

On my...such nostalgia!

[Cataholic]

Oh ES...isn't that just a bonus to PT? Wisdom of cats and long ago loves??? I am surrounded by nostalgia...everyone gets me cat gifts (I don't know why :rolleyes: ), and then leave my life, and I am surrounded by the memories! Can get rid of the loves, but not the cat gifts :D :D