Baby Sparkles and Chubby Lumpkins

So, their actual names are Smokey Joe and the Bandit, but they live up to their nicknames sometimes.  I think that all animals, pets at least, end up with nicknames within families.  We did not name Smokey Joe or Bandit, but we did give them their nicknames.  Smokey Joe is definitely not a 'Smokey Joe' to me, and more often than not we call him Mokity or Baby Sparkles.  Strange nicknames possibly, but it is what it is.  And Bandit, well, I'm not really a fan of the nickname 'Chubby Lumpkins,' but Zac and the boys seem to like it.

These are the newest two animals in the Binkley family and although we've had them for a little while now, I have not previously had a chance to write or blog about them much.  It's funny to think that we've had them almost a year now.  We got them when we were living in Healy, AK.  Poor Waffles was the only animal left in our household for almost a year, since living in Thorne Bay.  It was very evident he was getting fat, lazy, and acting less and less spunky as time went on.  He seemed lonely, too.  He has always seemed to like having other animals around.  He grew up with Zoe and Sissy in Michigan and then he had Punkin in Port Alexander and for a short time Coda in Thorne Bay.  But now here he was all by himself in a house that was much too big for all of us.

So, off to Anchorage we went one weekend, with part of our goal to find a kitten.  I've always liked having two cats together.  I didn't want any more than that and another cat was definitely our best option.  I wanted to give a kitty a home, was looking in particular for a kitten.  I wanted to raise a kitty who would be a cuddly kitty was my goal.  Waffles was the only cat we've had that we got as a kitten, even Punkin was a little older by the time we got her, although she was just a slight little thing.

What did we end up with, but two grown cats.  Siamese at that.  I don't even care that much for Siamese.  They're often aggravating, with an annoying meow and a holier than thou attitude.  I should not have been surprised though when the boys wanted to rescue two kitties instead of one.  Because, after all, "who would take two brother cats together that are already two years old..." and "they have to stay together, they're brothers."  Compassionate, or suckers, I'm not really sure.  But between that and Zac having a thing for Siamese cats, we ended up with 'The Brothers.'

We really couldn't ask for two better cats either.  Baby Sparkles (a.k.a. Smokey Joe, a.k.a. Mokity or Mokity Joe) who will sit curled up in Zac's arms wanted to be held like a baby one minute and will run like a crazy mad man around the house chasing a pen laser the next.  And my Bandit, or as Zac will call him 'Chubby Lumpkins,' who is a better cuddle cat than I could have ever imagined existed.  A cat who will come when called, but only to me, and runs to the bedroom to jump in bed and snuggle at bedtime.  Wakes up in the morning just to come back to our bed to snuggle with me some more.  Instantly purrs for me when I touch him at all.  Will lay with me for longer than I even want to lay down and then makes me feel guilty when I get up because I'm leaving him.  Yet, all at the same time can join his brother in a heartbeat to chase around that silly laser light...  :)

Celtic Roots

As I glance to the right, I still. I stop paddeling and float calmly, silently for what seems like an eternity. Yet again I am fascinated, enthralled by the beauty and wonder of nature. I think of the Book of the Kells and then to the movie of the same name, the stylized artwork, the connections to natural beauty, continuous lines, symbolism.

I am at peace simply due to the fact that I am kayaking here, in the vast openness of the water outside of the village.  However, seeing what God has created here, in nature, in this peaceful and serene area, all I think of is my desire to sketch, to draw, to connect in a way that feels natural and right to me.  I long for the time when I was able to take the time or made myself take the time to not only recreate what someone else has, to craft, but to create something that is new and all my own.

There is a difference in not only craftsmanship of the mundane daily 'crafting' that I feel as though I have been solely doing, but also in how it makes me feel.  How it moves my soul.  From the first day that I came across the open water into the beauty and vastness of Alaska's wilderness nearly four years ago, I felt connected with this place.  I've seen, in it's beauty, art.  The fine arts, visual, pure, uncomplicated.  I still feel it.  Everywhere I've gone, everywhere I've been, I connect to it and it to me.  This is my soul, this is my passion.  It is time to reconnect to what makes me tick, to what I breath for and live for.