This week little pink buds in clusters of fours are appearing quietly on the palm sized plant that I received during the lunar new year this January.
“Clusters” has taken on an ominous tone these days, so I hope seeing clusters of flowers helps to provide some balance.
3 days ago the super pink moon graced the night sky even as residents in Singapore retreated indoors to avoid Covid-19.
And on that full moon night among the pink buds and under the pink moon, I sat up with Grace, my 13-year-old cat.
She had suffered rat glue trapping in her kittenhood while living on the streets of Little India and endured spaying and dental surgeries after her rescue. Now in her old age she had to battle blindness and ill-health.
Her life hadn’t been great in the normal sense, but she was loved, treated for her discomforts and had outlived the vet’s projection of her life span by 11 years.
After a final drink of honey water to quench her thirst and in anticipation of a sweet rebirth, eye drops on her eyes to regain her sight in the life to come, and a brief cuddle, Grace left her body without struggle.
The stars were sparkling that night as I lit a butter lamp to give thanks for her easy passing and to guide her home. 善终 meaning a peaceful death is one of the 5 blessings (五福）
Yesterday on Maundy Thursday, Grace’s ashes came back to me in a small porcelain urn.
Amidst the restrictions of physical movements, sufferings of loss and shortages of tangible goods, I hope that acceptance of whatever we’re facing will also allow compassion to flow, so that our heart can expand a little & we can breathe a bit easier, even as our body retreats temporarily from the outside world.
Ollie, my own cat, approves of my shelter work. I hope many cats at shelters will have access to bigger spaces.
The skinny Girl Cat hurried towards me, pressing her bony face against the wire mesh, seeking comfort.
She’s been on medicines to manage diarrhoea. Meanwhile her beddings were soiled and her fur were unkempt from the runs.
My friend, with clean beddings in hand bravely entered Girl Cat’s enclosure. She had to remove the dirty ones from their aerial bed frames before putting on the fresh ones, while trying not to inhale the smells.
Prayerfully, I wiped down Girl Cat’s body with donated good quality wet wipes and removed as much stains from her fur as possible. Her tail was crusty.
Like all children, Girl Cat received the cleaning of snot and tear stains on her face with a bit of protest, but was generally grateful for the human touch.
Admittedly, the handling of bodily fluids or wastes of another creature is not a task to be taken lightly. So we wear gloves and masks for protection & to create a psychological buffer for peace of mind. But the heart is a store house of emotions.
And even as we flinched at the sight of a sickly cat and her mess, the awareness of how her tummy must have hurt, and how sore her lower body must have felt, gave us the power to overcome our personal misgivings and get on with the cleaning.
Girl Cat would need time to respond to her medications. Till then she would continue to soil herself and her beddings. Till then she would need help in keeping clean. She was hand raised from birth, and now in sickness, continues to be cared for at the shelter, the only home she has ever known.
But in her sickness, Girl Cat has cured us of our fears of bodily wastes & reminded us how wonderful it is to be alive and to be able to offer up our breaths, our strengths and our sensibilities for the mitigation of misery in others.
For my friend who was born and raised in comfort & cleanliness all her life, making her rounds of litter box cleaning and bedding changes for 100 plus cats at the shelter the whole afternoon afternoon had successfully freed her from her scatological anxieties.
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;”
– part of “St Francis & the Sow,” poem by Galway Kinnell
I found this poem years ago in Oprah’s magazine. When it was time to discard the magazine, I removed the page that featured Kinnell’s poem & used it to dress up the cover of my journal.
Since childhood, I had compulsions to touch tree barks and flowers, and greet them. Warnings about getting bitten by insects on the vegetation, or simply that they were “dirty” kept me from acting out my fantasies.
Galway Kinnell’s poem liberated me. 😊
And now I’ve even got a cat to join me.
So here’s wishing the gift of self-blessing on all my friends. May our flowering from within grant us the capabilities to help others from without to flower.
Yesterday I spent some time at the Metta Cats & Dogs Sanctuary in Lim Chu Kang, Singapore.
The location of the shelter is among plant nursery and landscaping companies, which makes it not that readily accessible to people who do not drive.
I was therefore very touched to meet a 17-year-old volunteer who came all that way to do some chores for the animals. His name was Daryl.
Daryl and my two friends would hang the newly unwrapped metal frames inside the cats’ enclosures and slip pillow case beddings over them to form little airmocks for the kitty residents.
I love this picture because of the contrast between the human’s focus and the cat’s relaxed look.
The airmocks create vertical space for the cats and allow them to sleep suspended from the floor.
I felt very useful seated on a low stool unwrapping the frames and asked Daryl if he could take a couple of pictures of me.
I wanted my pictures to show that animal volunteerism can also include doing chores that don’t necessarily involve handling animals.
Daryl ended up making a video recording of me instead of just taking stills.
And this old woman was still wondering why was he taking so long to capture a couple of pictures! 🤣
When it was our time to bid goodbye to the shelter cats, the young man was still scrubbing the wicker furniture with another volunteer.
And I was very happy to overhear one of the young adult volunteers saying to Daryl that she would give the kind hearted JC boy a lift out to the main road after she had fed all the cats.
The day ended for me full of hope for a better world through kindness to animals & people.
The turquoise stone necklace from Nepal. Turquoise is cherished among Tibetans, First Nation Peoples, Egyptians and many old cultures for its many healing & spiritual purposes.
Today I wore my necklace of turquoise stones from Nepal to an animal shelter in Singapore. My friend had invited me to join her for some volunteering work there.
Turquoise is called the Sky Stone by Tibetans. It has many healing properties. By having turquoise on me, I wanted to remind myself to constantly project vibes of health & vitality, and not pity on the animals that I saw or touched. And of course I also wanted to look good and dress up for the cats and dogs.
Like most animal shelters, this one is located in a fairly remote part of Sg. Volunteering is a commitment that requires planning, time and travelling.
Not one to take such an opportunity lightly, we decided to dedicate today’s work at the shelter to my friend’s late brother. He had set an example of kindness to animals for his younger sister during their growing up years.
When he was studying in JC (Junior College), he rescued a kitten. He was the first in her family to persuade their parents to adopt a dog. And because of him, their home has become a refuge for a number of animals over the years.
Upon our arrival at the shelter we met a young man who was there on his own. Daryl had just completed JC and wanted to spend his time helping animals.
When my friend’s brother rescued his first kitten years ago, he was around the same age as this volunteer, Daryl. ♥️
So the morning went by with us unwrapping metal frames, hooking them to each enclosure to increase vertical space for the cats, and slipping pillow cases over the frames to form beddings for the feline occupants to sleep comfortably above ground.
“Hurry up, housekeeper! Make my bed!” Miss Tortoiseshell urged.Our labour gave the shelter operator who is on 24/7 a bit of rest, and freed up time for the more experienced volunteers to tend to the cats’ feeding & cleaning needs.
A few were trying to climb onto their midair contraptions even as their “housekeepers” were still making their beds.
When the beddings were secured, the cats took to their mini airmocks with gratitude.
A very talented dessert chef also came to make the beds for animals! She brought SWEETNESS to the shelter.
Meanwhile, the rain came, followed by the glorious sun.
This little calico girl demanded cuddles from everyone.
Towards tea time, every single cat that was visible to us was acknowledged. Eye contact, smiles, head rubs, cuddles and wishes of healing were given & received.
This shy one came closer and put her face against the wire netting for some contact after hearing the steady intonation of the prayer of compassion. This ginger baby and his mom were rescued from culling at a resort. May business owners be kind and wise to all sentient beings, not just to the ones that can talk and pay.Even the more nervous kitties stood their ground, calmly facing us as we spoke softly to them.
And the kitties in hiding would have felt our goodwill, for the whole shelter was bathed in a golden afternoon light when our mission was completed.
After the shelter, we stopped by a cafe for some needed hydration & reflection. The cafe was located in a garden nursery with very strong balinese landscape features.
We took pictures with the balinese stone carvings of dancers and frangipani, and the Rainbow showed up to join us. Of course there are scientific and technical explanation for its appearance in the photos. But we were thrilled with the unexpectedness of it all, as if we had been bestowed some divine blessings even as we were simply having fun.
The Rainbow is a much loved symbol in many cultures. It is ever present even if we’re not consciously seeking it.
When I got home later in the evening I checked a text that was sent from Nepal during our time at the shelter.
The text came with a picture.
“Lisa, what’s this?” Reena texted. I lost this turquoise earring in the hills of Hatibaan. We searched outside and inside of Reena’s car. Her driver nearly took the car seats apart. But the earring refused to show. Now months later, it appeared.
It showed my Nepali host, Reena, holding on her palm, one half of the turquoise earrings that matched the necklace I wore today. I had lost that earring last December in Nepal.
And just this morning I was wondering if I would ever see the missing half of my earrings again.
The surprise emergence of a little turquoise after being lost for months seemed to be showing me that what is spoken or thought of with love can never be completely lost.
And this thought encourages me to dedicate whatever remaining time and energy I have to seemingly “lost” causes.
It also strengthens my habit of performing deeds of relief in the name of people and animals that have left this earthly realm.
Like the Rainbow that arches over us, we are constantly held and supported by the sacred presence of those we love.
“Run to the Rescue with Love, and Peace will follow.” – River Phoenix, the late brother of Joachim Phoenix.
Ollie inspects the newly bought red radishes from Sheng Shiong Supermarket. He hopes the sunlight by the living room windows will be enough for them to continue sprouting the few leaves they have. He puts one in a snail shape pot containing soil and water it. The leaves are looking good, but the red radish root appears to be shriveling. So Ollie prays over it. Red Radish Two grows slowly but steadily. Ollie is pleased to see the lush green leaves thriving even if there’s no sign of flowers. “Just take your time. I know we cannot hurry Mother Nature,” Ollie says to his Red Radishes 1,2 and 3. Ollie’s puppy friend, Nicki Ning-en sniffs at Red Radish Two. Ollie tries to make sure his Red Radishes get to meet the morning sun. Red Radish One is flowering while Red Radish Two needs more time. Ollie is happy to see his plants thriving under the sun & windhorse prayers flags everyday. A cat loves his garden even if it’s made up of a few pots of plants. Ollie is greeted by the new blooms of Radish Two on the 13th Day of the Lunar New Year celebration. The first flower is pink.
Ollie learns to see hope in the size of a potato, like the small red radish. And even if it cannot grow as fast as he likes, or may not even flower after all the troubles, being kind and showing care is definitely an act of hope.
Yesterday around sunset, Ollie sat by the window and gave thanks for the Windhorses and his little garden of 2 small pots of radish leaves and 1 flower.
This morning when he woke up, there were 5 flowers!
“Ma, we have 5 flowers!” – Ollie the old cat
[五福临门] means the Arrival of Five Blessings. It is an old Chinese greeting which sounds nice but I never really felt its meaning till today.
The Five Blessings are longevity, prosperity, good health, magnanimity and an auspicious end when a full life has been lived.
In Chinese folklores, humans were born on the 7th day of the lunar new year. This day is called “ren ri” [人日].
Ollie and I would like to take this auspicious morning of 5 flowers blooming in our home to wish all friends and all human beings the Five Blessings, for our benefit and the benefit of all sentient beings.
Ollie the old cat sits by the window as if thanking the sun for the lush green leaves of the red radish and the wind that causes the windhorses to fly.
He’s a housebound cat living in a high rise flat. This is probably as close as he can get to sun, soil, wind & greenery.
Ollie and I would like to take this auspicious morning of 5 flowers blooming in our home to wish all friends and all human beings the Five Blessings, for our benefit and the benefit of all sentient beings.
Lisa Ong 