Dear Cat, the Earth is Tilting

The Cat Lovers Hop has started! I hope you are emotionally prepared for all things catty for the next few days.  In honor of the CLH I have a cat story for you.

Every morning I find myself explaining to the cat about axial tilt and seasonal changes. Explaining that to a cat is rather like explaining quantum physics to... to... ...to a 50 year old school secretary.

See, Charles likes to see the sunshine streaming in through the kitchen window in the morning. He trots around chirping and purring until you open the blinds. Then he rushes over the wall where the sunshine hits. What he really likes about the sunshine is the shadows it makes as it comes through the various plants and things on the porch. He likes windy days when the shadows move. He likes it when I make my lunch and cause shadows in his stream of sunshine. He really likes it when my sparkly bracelet catches a ray and leaves sparkly bits all over the walls and ceilings.

But alas, the seasons are changing and every morning Charles escorts me down the hall to the kitchen telling me about his day and how he just can't wait to see the sun and how I'm the best mom ever for inviting the sun into our house.  Then I open the blinds and no sun.

No sun! Then Charles has an emotional meltdown that parents of toddlers will recognize. He squawks, he chirps, he runs around after me and runs back to the wall still devoid of shadows. He will not let me be until I fix it. For awhile there I got away with telling Charles the sun was sleeping in and will be by to visit soon, but now the tilt is too far for the sun to reach into the kitchen window.

I feel bad for Charles because you can see how upset he is. So this morning I was pleased when I noticed out the front window that sun had gotten up and was making long shadows across the front yard. "Charles, Charles! Come here! Your friend the sun is playing in the front yard today!" Charles came running because he comes when you call, expecting great things of you. Charles leaped into the window and saw the sunbeams. He was really happy.

That is right up until he realized those shadows weren't doing anything. They weren't moving the wind (since there wasn't any), his mom wasn't going to walk through them as she made her lunch and no mysterious bracelet sparkles were going to show up to entertain him.

Then with a crashing of gears, motors and metal the trashmen turned onto our street. "Oh look, Charles! The Green Men are here!" Charles watched with fascination as this huge noisy truck reached out an arm, plucked up the garbage can from across the street and dumped into the big hole in it's back. Charles quivered and looked at me in alarm. If he could talk, you just know he'd say, "Mom! The Green Men are taking those people's things! They are talking those people's things!" I know Charles would say that because he is concerned whenever the Blue Men come and take "the important things Dad put in that blue bin" in front of our house.

So for whatever reason I decided to explain it to Charles in kid-talk. I told him that both the Green Men and the Blue Men liked to get presents so we put presents in green or blue bins and put them on road for them to come get. I reminded him how everyone likes presents, which Charles could relate to. When I left that morning, Charles was sitting in the window waiting for the Blue Men to come get presents his Dad left them on the sidewalk in the blue bin. You could see the wheels turning in his little cat brain. I'm sure he was wondering if there were cat treats or fuzzy balls in the blue bin. After all, those are the best presents.

The Fine Print: Greeting stamp by Stampin' Up, stickers from Recollections, other stuff from my stash. BTW, the Green Men don't come down our side of the street, they visit us in the alley, but Charles doesn't care what happens in the alley.