Thank you.

In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday in memory of those who passed away while serving in the United States Military.

Today we remember and thank all the men and women who died while serving to protect our freedom and honor of our nation. It is a reminder to us, that each day we should express gratitude towards those who gave their life to give us the freedom to live and enjoy our life.

Traditionally, towns host parades, people decorate graves and visit memorials, you may also notice people wearing a red poppy. 

The poppy is symbolic of  the bright red blooms on broken ground, which inspired Lieutenant Colonel McCrae to write the poem, In Flanders Fields, in which he wrote of the fallen soldiers buried under poppies. His poem was first published in 1915, and would subsequently be used at memorial ceremonies.

Many blessings to all of you, and today, we leave you with John McCrae's poem:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Purr & Paw,

-Stivali. 🐾

God Bless America! 

Welcome 2021!

Happy New Year, Readers!

Humans made it through a year filled with difficulties and uncertainties, but for us cats, it was one of the best years of our lives!

We are happy cats, with mamma home a lot, and we have zero complaints about 2020. 2020 is gone now, and we realize humans learned a lot about what matters most in life during the past year. 

For us, it has always been faith, family, food, and fun. We will get 2021 off to a great start by continuing our habit of starting each day with prayers of thanksgiving. For those of you who are re-examining your life we encourage you to pay attention to your thoughts and words. 

When humans focus on things they can't do anything about, they are not living in peace - they live in frustration instead. Mamma knows that when she starts to worry about things that are out of her control, anxiety and stress sneak in. We don't want that for her or you. 

How much thankfulness are you expressing in your life? If you want a challenge in 2021, try to get through one day without one complaint. 

As you challenge yourself each day to do this, you may find how easy an attitude of gratitude can be. By this time next year, you will have become outrageously thankful. Take it from us cats: meow and you get treats; climb on the sofa, you get to relax. Focus on the good things that you can control. Focus on being thankful for all your blessings.

Here is one of our blessings from the week - our feral Grigio, who we love desperately, visited us daily. 

We hope 2021 brings you health, peace, and joy.

Purr & Paw,

-Stivali. 🐾

The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals. - Melody Beattie.

Finding our Mecca for Thanksgiving

I was thinking of ways to help my mamma deal with the upcoming holiday season, other than being my adorable self and allowing her to cuddle me.

In my research I learned about M.E.C.C.A.:

Meditate

Exercise

Create

Connect

Accomplish

This seems pretty intuitive, but thought it was helpful enough to share with all of you. This has been a tough year for most of us, and anything we can do to stay grounded yet hopeful may help us through the holiday season.

Read more about M.E.C.C.A. here: Tips from LiveHappy

We hope you take some time this week to meditate, exercise, create something beautiful, connect with your loved ones, and accomplish something (maybe a task you have been putting off for a long while, this may be the perfect week to tackle it). 

This week we prepare for an annual holiday in the United States celebrating autumn harvest and all our blessings of the past year. The Thanksgiving tradition began a very long time ago, and wide it was proclaimed nation-wide in 1789 by George Washington.

This is a deep-rooted religious tradition; however, now it’s celebrated as a secular holiday. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November here in the States; in Canada it is celebrated on the second Monday of October. Federal legislation set our contemporary date of the fourth Thursday of November in 1941.

Us cats know that Thanksgiving is not going to be the same for most of us in 2020. Please be mindful and respect family members and loved ones who have various comfort levels in joining in-person celebrations. This is a perfect opportunity to have a no-judgement zone and show respect for those who choose not to join in-person gatherings.

We give thanks despite this challenging year. We are grateful to you, our readers, who continue to support our little blog. Even if you aren’t able to physically be with your loved ones this year, we sincerely hope your Thanksgiving is filled with love. 

Merriam Webster defines the word mecca as a place regarded as a center for a group. May you find a special mecca in your world to carry you through this holiday season. Maybe meditating, exercising, creating, connecting, and accomplishing will help us all get there. 😺 

Purr & Paw,
-Stivali. 🐾

Vegetables are a must on any diet. I recommend carrot cake, zucchini muffins, and pumpkin bread. - Pasqua Scheggiare Marino.

Pasqua's Birthday Week!

Hello Readers, 

The week that just passed was filled with much sadness for all Americans. We do not take it lightly, instead, we focus on the good we know exists in humans. Every crisis has a silver lining. One deep thinker, Michelle Dean, said, "Crisis forces commonality of purpose on one another." 

Commonality of purpose. Such a great thought. A strong sense of purpose has a powerful positive effect on our lives. When we have a sense of purpose, we know exactly what we are doing, "on purpose", making life less complicated and less stressful. When you are "on purpose" there is less space for negativity to take over our lives.

You may remember last year, we celebrated Pasqua turning one with this post: Pasqua is one!

This year on his birthday, we are once again reminded of the bountiful joys we receive from our family and friends. We are blessed to have so much love from everyone around us. 

We are thankful for all of the things we have in life, no matter how insignificant they may seem to be. Our mamma teaches us to have an attitude of gratitude and to be optimistic. So we are always hopeful  good things will happen in our future. She says both gratitude and optimism are advantages we have that improve our outlook on life, and it is why we are such happy cats. This is our "on purpose". 

We realize humans have lots of stress, which causes havoc on health, so an attitude of gratitude and an optimistic outlook helps all of us, feline or human, to be more resilient in times of crisis or calm. 

Be "on purpose" with your attitude, and may peace be with you, always.

-Stivali. 🐾

Happiness will never elude you if you begin each day appreciating the countless priceless gifts that life has blessed you with. - Author Unknown.

Imitating is My New Job! :)

Tell me this is not purrfect.

I think even Miley Cyrus would agree.

This thanksgiving week, I am thankful for you, Dear Readers, and I am thankful for my mamma, my big brother Stray Cat, food, bed, my home, and all of my toys. I am also thankful for my aunts and nonno who try to love me (but I hiss or hide) and my sweet nonna who comes to feed me and visit with me while my ma is out for too long. I have a lot to be thankful for. Including my new job, that I think I am very talented in - imitating beautiful famous people and the poses they do. 

What are you thankful for?

My ma lives her life in a constant state of prayer and gratitude. I want to be just like her. 💗

Purr & Paw, 

-Stivali.

Much to be grateful for.

My ma always says to live a life of thanks and giving, and it is most appropriate on Thanksgiving to share with you her thoughts on living with an attitude of gratitude and to give give give give give (all while expecting nothing in return).

This year, my sister and I are very thankful for our new home. It is warm and has plenty of space for us to roam. We are thankful for the food mamma buys us, and for all the love she gives us. We are grateful for her and God most of all.

I am thankful for the doctors at the animal hospital where I go very often.  I am thankful that I am healthy enough to spend another Thanksgiving with my family.

We are all grateful to our readers, and send to the web-universe blessings of Thanksgiving to all of you, your families and friends, too.

Thank you!

We celebrate it, but this was too funny not to share.