[Grendel]
Schnoz
Category Archives: Grendel
Teach these eyes to see
Of what world do you partake when outward you look? Or inward even? Or is it inwardly out or outwardly in? I feel they be equals in your eyes, halfworlds in the one case, and halfworlds in the other. For see we not all that you see.
Could I make the journey with you? I fear the road impassible for all but gods, yet still I must ask. Your beck rends from me all but good. I wish to follow.
For my own reflection seen in your eyes tells me of worlds both youngold and oldyoung. Even the universe pleads for but a moment in those places only you know. There, where shadows dance with light and stars with worlds, where galaxies take shape on your breath, where universes unfold like petals just to see you smile, there is where I want to be. Mine eyes ache of desire to consume that which you take for granted. Or perhaps you don’t.
Secrets shatter under your gaze as watchfulness and understanding intertwine to pierce the shrouds of mystery which blind all other life. But to have such vision, I fear, methinks I needs be as you, be stood upon high where other gods reach upward to touch your feet.
Already your soul guides me. Darklight by moon and lightdark by sun, and I find my way by your lamp.
Given so much already you have, I know, yet one more gift I must request: Teach these eyes to see.
[Grendel]
Reshaping the world
“There are people who reshape the world by force or argument, but the cat just lies there, dozing, and the world quietly reshapes itself to suit his comfort and convenience.”
— Allen and Ivy Dodd
[Grendel]
What wonders do you behold?
A day rarely goes by when I fail to ponder what The Kids have seen. By that, I do not just mean what casual passing they have observed, what playful tussles they have watched, and what dark worlds they have envisioned through slowly closing eyelids.
Nay, what I consider is far more extravagant than that.
I wonder precisely what magical realms they have studied with their godlike eyes. What phenomena, invisible to clumsy and weak human eyes, have these five cats seen that I would not—could not—have noticed?
To see through their eyes on but one occasion would be to comprehend finally what the Egyptians worshiped lo these many eons ago. It would be to comprehend in the briefest and most limited of ways how marvelously powerful these creatures are, to see what we fail to see, to notice the most minuscule thing that otherwise would pass by our primate eyes without worry.
So I ask, Grendel, what wonders do you behold?
Put the camera away already
This is another video I accidentally shot with the camera on its side (sometimes I do that thinking of it like a picture that can easily be rotated, and only later do I kick myself for having done so). That means I had to rotate it and add the black blocks on either side in order to maintain the original aspect ratio. So it’s a bit smaller than usual, but I think you can see it clearly enough.
Words aren’t always necessary to communicate what we want. Perhaps it’s a gesture or a glance, but we humans pride ourselves in being able to say without our voices precisely what’s on our minds.
Yet it’s another aspect of our unjustified hubris to think such abilities are solely the purview of clumsy upright apes with the ability to speak (but not to think, which should be obvious).
With my fanny firmly planted on the floor one day as I snapped photos and captured videos of The Kids, eventually Grendel had enough and made it abundantly obvious camera time was over. You can see he kept trying to push it out of the way so we could focus our attention on some quality time.
And when that didn’t work? Try a little affectionate rubbing for good measure.
Only at the end, and only if you listen very closely, you can hear him purring. That’s the only sound he made during the entire exchange. Everything else—volumes of information—came across just fine in touches, glances, and all manner of words unspoken. And I heard every one of them.