New Year...Really?
This is the last evening of 2018 --a year I'm quite content to see the butt of. I know, I was determinedly upbeat throughout this year, but have regained my sanity. Let Roofcat attest:
Unlike his feline relatives, Roofcat does not get cute. Nor does he say much, especially not "babycattalk". Lesson: don't read everything you believe. He sure doesn't, or vice versa, nor do I (or does I?).
This has nothing to do with my fiercest accomplishment of the year, I turned 69 years old,
a human sort of age best defined by roofcats:
Figure out what the hell you are and do it on purpose. Well, there are only two things I can think of to say about that. 69 is an invertible number. It looks the same as its upsidedown self. I believe 88 is the next one. Then comes 96. I hope to have something more to comment on my eleventyoneth birthday (lll).
But that's just being silly. The future is not only about getting old. Except for the occasional emergency ambulance ride, I feel young as I ever did. The future should make us happy:
We are now exploring interstellar space with Voyager 2. Intelligence is a function of the Universe, which is very big, and we are trying to find where to clamp the jumper cables. There's a serviceable closing sentence here: Time has braced my love of the universe --and certainty of its promise in humanity and nature-- into the most definite thing I know. Not sure about Roofcat but there is no firmer truth in me.
The New Year found her way in (without any assistance from me) about eighteen hours ago here. Eighteen very hot hours.
ReplyDeleteI hope that she treats you and Norma a great deal more gently this year.
Sending you both wishes for health and happiness.
Most kind EC., It's still 20 minutes until New Year here but I'll think of you as I ring the big brass bell from the back porch. Best wishes!
DeleteIt is 1.1.19 here, and I'm struggling to remain awake. I will keep up the struggle long enough to wish you and Norma a very good 2019, and a much better year than 2018. "May the wind always be at your backs...."
ReplyDeleteKind Tom, thanks. Best of new years and all years to you as well.
DeleteHappy New Year. 2019 is going to be better. Roofcat would tell you that, if he talked more.
ReplyDeleteDear Harry, Roofcat says nothing but lets us use our house which he sits on. All he asks of life is a bit of shelter and a sunbeam. I learn from Roofcat.
DeleteHappy New Year. Perhaps we will all get together to celebrate god old eleventyone with you.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year, Emma. May I reserve a dance with you on our eleventyoneth party?
DeleteOf course.
DeleteIs Roofcat a wildcat? Was Norma in peril when she shot that amazing photo? I hope not!
ReplyDeleteNow that the pressure of living an invertible year is over for awhile, I hope the only excitement in yours and Norma's lives is the fun kind. Emergency ambulance rides are bad for the blood pressure.
All the best to you and Norma in 2019, Geo. I hope it's a good one.
O_Jenny, Roofcat always just looks grumpy but isn't really. He's a neighbor-cat who vacations on our roof. We reciprocate your good wishes for the coming year.
DeleteGoodness, until i googled 'roofcat' I had no idea there were so many different interps of the slang. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting here in my recliner, wondering when Ann, across the street, is going to take her tree down. Fake tree, but lets not quibble about that.
Winter has decided to show it's face, -8 this morning, but up to near 10 as I write this afternoon.
I hope to hell your year is better than the last, Geo. Me too. No idea if it will be....I think consigning a expectation on a specific date on the calendar is a bit odd, don't you think?
Anyway, in tradition, best to you and all of yours. In Mulligan tradition, here's to us, and those like us....most of them are dead.
Cheers, pal.
Mike
Good heavens, Mike! I too just googled that and was shocked. Roofcat has been enjoying our rooftop sunbeams and shelters for years. Urban Dictionary defines him as an "...American male that sits on a roof while eating a pizza.
DeleteOf course, as a Californian, I was immediately reminded of SF poet, Kenneth Patchen's "Because they were very poor that winter/The only mother he could afford was a skinny old man/Who sat on the roof all day drinking champagne--". (from his book "Because It Is"). Personally, I prefer the grumpy gray cat. And yes, in Mulligan and My tradition, I too raise my glass. Here's to us my friend.
Happy New Year and a belated Happy Birthday. The ride around the sun gains
ReplyDelete"nuance" and peculiarity as we add years, doesn't it. Yet each day is a chance to stand under the mysteries of the canopy. Like you, I think intelligence is a function and maybe even a motive of the universe. Cheers!
Let's hope we're right, Tom. Does a universe composing itself in thought --in goodness and purpose-- include us in its self-awareness? Roofcat remains silent on the matter; could mean it is settled to his satisfaction.
DeleteI'm certain of your grace, kindhearted, and eloquent nature -- just to add even more certainty to this page.
ReplyDeleteA year of positive, welcomed newness to you and Norma, Geo. And loads of it.
Love too.
Beautiful Robyn, thanks. And may all good things come to you.
DeleteI slept from one year to the next, and actually forgot. Too tired for enforced Happy New jollities, I managed to ignore it till almost this second day of January. Looking at my new diary, I shall be tired till the winter gives out, but things may improve in the spring. This should be the year we buy our bit of land, so the tiredness will pay off. By summer, I may even be a roofcat! Norma can take my photo :-) Happy Every Day We Can Be xx
ReplyDeleteAll my best hopes for your land plans go with you into this new year. Roofcat has relatives worldwide and some may conduct seminars in your country. I'll go ask him.
DeleteI like RoofCat. He/She doesn't waste time with words. He/She just observes, shrugs and moves on. In 2019 perhaps I will try to be more like RoofCat and less like me who uses way too many words to say mostly nothing at all. One thing I am certain of is that I will always visit here to get my messages from the universe. I wish you a positive and healthy New Year Geo.....keep reading the universe for us.
ReplyDeleteDelightful comment, Delores. Thanks. Indeed, Roofcat is a creature of few words, but I have heard him call other cats perfectly awful names at night. Personally, I prefer your gentle humor and insightful writing. All best wishes to you!
DeleteGeo, what the . . .? In only a few months I will turn 79, ten years OLDER than you! Your writing is stellar and you are still a young man so as the philosophers would say "keep on truckin'". By the way, I love your line about " . . . where to clamp the jumper cables."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bruce! We're both still young detectives in a big universe, no matter what our annular rings add up to. You remind me fondly of Grateful Dead's "Truckin'" and R. Crumb's grate, I mean great, Zap Comic homage: "Keep truckin', like the do-dah man/Together, more or less in line, just keep truckin' on." Happy new year!
DeleteAhh, you’re just a young’un, Geo. You have much to look forward to because next year when you turn 70, real freedom comes. It’s the ‘I don’t give a damn what you think’ decade. It’s like being reborn. I bet Roofcat knows what I mean.
ReplyDeleteI hope this year will be kinder to you. Take care, get healthy, and even during the bad times, look for the upbeat. We all have to do that; we can never give up hope.
Lovely Arleen, if all goes well I shall turn 70 this year --I am a 49er-- and look forward to "rebirth" (and yes, Roofcat would know more about reincarnation, having 9 lives). Let's indeed, be kinder to ourselves. I learn from you.
DeleteWhen our gr-daughters stayed up longer than we did, we felt their joy and our pain.
ReplyDeleteRoofrat has no lover for you, just disdain. If you forget to feet Roofcat, God help you.
Dear Susan, excellent observations! But unless I misjudge Roofcat, he expects no food from me. He has a backdoor food angel across the field but only hunting rights on my property. Norma keeps a tub of fresh water for all animals and they seem to enjoy a truce there, and of course he's got dibs on the roof.
DeleteI just turned 63 … I can say my dad say: No worries, baby, just turn the numbers around … smiles … Anyway, friend Geo … Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy and healthy New Year … Onward bound, eh? says this Alberta cat and her cat. PS: I added a post to my travel blog.
ReplyDeleteDear Cat, happy 63rd and happy New Year! Will visit your post directly.
DeleteHappy New Year, Geo... may your silliness continue on to 111 and beyond (but I'm sure when you're 111, I'll be gone cause I don't think there is much chance I'll make it to 104)
ReplyDeletewww.thepulpitandthepen.com
Dear Sage, I believe humans weren't designed to be exact,only closely approximate. Anything in the neighborhood of 104-111 will probably be satisfactory. All best wishes to you.
DeleteHappy New Year, Geo!
ReplyDeleteI hope that 2019 brings you and Norma an easier time of it, with better health, greater fulfillment, and much happiness and love. I am hopeful that this year will be better than last!
I'll turn 69 in March, so I'm not far behind you. I'm grateful for every day, every year. We live in an amazing time, and I look forward to the adventures the future will bring for me and for the world. I think and 111th birthday bash as an awesome idea. Include me in the guest list please!
Dear Louise, thanks for positive wishes. Your excitement about the present and future is precisely what I need right now. Likewise, I reciprocate: you must save a dance (an easy one) for me at my 111th birthday party. I am, after all, 4 months your senior and quite within my rights. All best wishes to you and yours in this and every year.
DeleteHAPPY NEW YEAR, dude! May 2019 treat you and yours with kindness and good health. OUT with the old troublesome year and IN with a fresh start!
ReplyDeleteI, too, feel as young as I ever did. Sure, every joint in my body likes to "sing" whenever I move, but it's all good.
Thanks, dear Susan. I trust 2019 will treat you and yours well too. Your joints sing? Sounds more pleasant than mine, which joined the percussion section instead of the choir. But you're right, it's all good.
DeleteGood point! Now that you mention it, my joints do sound more percussive than lyrical. (So much for ever "sneaking up" on anyone anymore...)
DeleteGeo.January 5, 2019 at 2:45 PM
ReplyDeleteForward from Willie
12:25 PM (2 hours ago)
M. Collier wrote: I firmly believe to an eternal. Absolutely indestructible being time is... Irrelevant... Even non existant. So. Don't get too comfortable.. Lol there's much much much more to come... Things we are Actually incapable as yet of imagining or if we did. Comprehending. And forever and ever and ever is... In-finite. In an infinite multiverse. And we... Are indestructible! I also belive. Very strongly. We gain the attributes of Angels. To cross dimensions and universes with a thought. And without a thought of any danger to us in the least. I believe we are utterly clueless infants during the brief moment of earthlife and will ALL THEN do infantile things...
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Geo. to Willie 2:38 PM (0 minutes ago):
Dear Will, thanks for forwarding M. Collier's excellent comment on my post at "Trainride of The Enigmas". I too believe the brain exploits some sort of quantum coherence, but what tremendous operations turn beyond our
" ...five and country senses..." (D. Thomas) is quite an extensive frontier. Whether we proceed into further forms or end here, we are definitely here to observe and learn. As for the "multiverse" I can only quote Bachman–Turner Overdrive: "You Aint Seen Nothin' Yet".
---- Geo.