Think On These Things

When reading things about China and Japan, I came across this line, which was only part of a sentence, but it seems like good advice, "give it a happy name." As a general rule, good words encourage good thoughts and negative words encourage negative thoughts. It's a little bit like the advice in Philippians 4:8



"whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things."

Chinese Food

For the last few weeks we have been enjoying food they served us every day in China, watermelon and fresh tomatoes. I've also been eating greens, in the form of leaf lettuce, and I bought an eggplant at farmer's market today to cook. (John won't eat the eggplant) Those were things we had every day. At this time of year, the fresh produce is delicious. We are so blessed!

The Last Cat is Gone

We had our cat put to sleep today. He had cancer and he was obviously miserable. I have owned at least one cat since 1979 so this is the first time in years that we have no cat. I was 14 when my little sister got her first cat, Puss N Boots. In college I was not allowed to have any pets and my first apartment for my first teaching job did not allow them either. Other than that, I've had cats for a long time.

I'm going to wait a while to replace the cat, if I do. A year or two ago I found out I am a little bit allergic to cats. If I make up my mind to get another one though, that will be irrelevant.

Right now we have one dog. She is a good girl and learns quickly. We have had many dogs in the past, but this one is the most obedient and the most eager to please us. She acts like a real dog. Our other dogs acted more like cats. They would run the other way when we called and would not come unless they felt like it. Our cats were more obedient and eager to please than our dogs. It was the cats who would greet us at the door when we came home and growled a warning when a stranger came to the door. So this dog is different and that is good. Most of my life I have had a preference for cats.

It's going to be different.