Spring blooms life!

Happy Easter, Dear Readers! 

Spring shows us how plants and trees which have been dormant for winter come back to life. The animal world outside welcomes births of new life. The symbolism of new life and rebirth during the season makes the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus glorious.

Today, we celebrate Easter; it is “Pascha” in Greek, and "Pasqua" in Italian. You may notice the similarity of those words as they translate to the Jewish festival of Passover. You may have also noticed that my brother's name is the Italian word. 🐱 His name was inspired by a Tori Amos song lyric. 𝅘𝅥𝅲

Here he is, our little Easter Bunny: 

And it'll never get old to share these Easter photos of my older brother, Stray Cat: 

Whether you celebrate Easter or just celebrate spring, we hope your Sunday and your entire week is wonderful. 

Purr & Paw, 

-Stivali.🐾

April is the kindest month. April gets you out of your head and out working in the garden. - Marty Rubin.

Festival of Lights

Hello Readers!

Mamma is preparing for Christmas, but that is not the only holiday of the season. Hanukkah 2019 will begin this evening and ends the evening of  Monday, December 30.

Learn about the History of Hanukkah here. Thank you, History Channel. 🐱

Do you celebrate Hanukkah? Or, if you know someone who does, did you know that to wish someone a Happy Hanukkah, you would say “Hanukkah Sameach!” or “Chag Sameach!” (meaning: Happy Holiday)? In Hebrew we would say “Chag Urim Sameach!”.

Mamma likes to bake and cook. To her utter disbelief, we cannot help her, we have too much fur. If you are looking for new recipes for Hanukkah, check these out: Hanukkah Recipes & Tips

Whatever you celebrate, we wish you full bellies, joyful laughter, and much happiness as you celebrate.

We are at the screen door looking outside in this photo. 

How cute is this cat nip filled stocking from our Aunt Julie? 

From our home to yours, Happy Holidays! 

Purr & Paw, 🐾

-Stivali.

Merry everything, and a happy, always! 

Mamma's Day!

We are so excited to announce that our mamma's birthday was this week and she is healthy, happy, and one year older! 😺 We celebrate all month long - but now that August is done, we have to welcome September and say "Ciao" to the August birthday-month. 

She received the most amazing birthday card. The envelope was addressed to "Mamma". She instinctively knew that someone special made her a card from us!

A Happy Birthday wish from the cats!

And all the kiddies were represented. Me, and Kismet, and Stray Cat, and Pasqua Bunny:

And on the back, even our little feral Grigio was represented:  

Isn't this the most amazing and thoughtful card you have ever seen? 🐱 We give huge kudos, purrs, and pets to our beautiful Aunt Josie who is a talented artist and as you can plainly see - extremely creative. We love her! 😻 Thank you, Aunt Josie, for going to Hallmark for us and for making sure our mamma knew we did not forget her special day.

We hope all of you enjoy the start of your September with a celebration day of your own: a day off from your work, chores, and responsibilities. Tomorrow is Labor Day, a celebration created by the labor movement, dedicated to the achievements of American workers. May it remind all of us to have strength, to be prosperous, and respect the well-being of our country.

Thank you for all you do to make America great!

Purr & Paw,

-Stivali.

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is to celebrate. - Oprah Winfrey. 

Happy August

Happy August, Readers,

August is one of our favorite months around here. We celebrate mamma all month long since she was born on the very last day of the month!

Also in August, we celebrate our friends: Jeff, Corinne, Ryan, Lisa Marie, Dan, Elaine, Bob, Peter, and our cousin, Michaella. :) If you were born in August - we also celebrate YOU! 🎂
Happy Birthday, Everyone!

We also honor mamma's orange tabby, Kismet, and her German Shepherd, Zoe, who both passed away in August of 2009. Pasqua and I never met either of them but mamma often speaks about them and shares stories of all the funny things they did when they were with her on earth. ❤

This week, I began waking mamma up before her alarm and would ask for cuddles. This makes her very happy, and I hope it reminds her of Kismet and Stray Cat - her two sweet boys who used to offer morning cuddles often.

Did you know that originally, August was called Sextilis? Before January and February were added to the Roman Calendar, August was the sixth month of the year, hence its original name. But when it became the eighth month of the year, it was later renamed in honor of the first emperor of Rome, Caesar Augustus, to Augustus. Isn't that interesting to know?

Most nights this week our Grigio (grey kitty) has come to the door for food but still won't let mamma approach. We are hopeful he will learn to trust us soon.

Yes, Pasqua named the feral kitten the same name as his favorite toy - the grey mouse. He insisted on naming the kitten "Grey" too.😍

No blog post is complete without pictures of us from this week:

We are very happy kitties indeed, not to mention utterly adorable, too.

Enjoy your week, Everyone!

Purr & Paw,
-Stivali.

August - it's like the Sunday of summer. 

Happier than gelato!

How was everyone's weekend? We had a blast. We are truly enjoying becoming friends. Even if I get irritated with the little guy, things are pretty good.

Mamma's friend said that we make her happier than gelato... and you know what? I think we do. 😼😼

The latest news about the bathroom sink is... Pasqua is stepping over the boundary here. Ummm, Kitten, I like to drink from the tap, not sit in the sink... He is not a very good student to my teachings.

On Easter Sunday, mamma attempted to do an Easter photo session to commemorate our first Easter with our Easter kitty... they were a total fail. The best of the worst:  

Mamma is gonna have to order this Pasqua solo-photo as next year's Easter card -and right quick, otherwise, she may forget to do it next year. How adorable is this? Buona Pasqua from Pasqua! 

And alas, sleeping is still one of our favorite things to do. Take note of me here. Adorable, as per usual:

Of course, we cannot forget what this month also represents to us. The day mamma first took in little Stray Cat all the way back in 2007. He was a little wee one as you may have noticed in the previous blog post.  After hanging around outside for awhile, she finally let him in on April 24th. About a week later, he had his first vet appointment and the doctor assessed he was about eight months to one year old. So we just celebrate all month long as Stray Cat's gotcha-day and pseudo "birth" day. 

I think of him every day, and I know mamma does, too. I don't know if Pasqua and I will ever be how Stray Cat and I were, but I am willing to try to be nicer in honor of Stray. He was a terrific big brother. We were very close and got along beautifully.

If you have two or more cats and feel like you are dealing with some sibling rivalry, check out this great article from our friends at Catser which shares tips on how to handle it: Cat behavior - do cats get jealous?

Enjoy your last week of April, Dear Readers.

Purr & Paw,
-Stivali.

Pasqua is Six Months Old Today!

Happy St Patrick's Day, Readers!

We are celebrating all day long. Not just for St Patrick, the sheep herder, and patron saint of Ireland (although, he wasn't actually Irish! Interesting fun-fact!), we celebrate also today because Pasqua is now six months old!

😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸

Did you know that St Patrick's real name is believed to be Maewyn Succat, but when he became a priest he changed his name to Patrick? Look at his real name, though: Succat. Isn't that something?

😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸

Another coincidence we take note of today: when Italian-American males are named Pasqua or Pasquale, their nickname very commonly is Pat. These coincidences on the day we celebrate St Patrick and our little Pasqua Scheggiare are not accidents, and we believe they are signals from God to remind us that we are truly blessed.

😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸

At six months old, these are some of Pasqua's favorite things:

• treats
• my food (he prefers it over his kitten food!)
• a little grey mouse we named Grigio (not to be confused with my beloved Verdi)
• napping/sleeping
• playing peek-a-boo and fetch
• cuddling with mamma
• hiding with me when visitors come over (I am teaching him this habit to our mom's disappointment)
• sun puddling
• looking out the windows and glass doors
• hanging out with mamma when she works from home

And some of our favorite photos:

They named him "Chip" at the Cat Sanctuary where we adopted him from.

It is not safe to refill my food container in Pasqua's presence.

Playing fetch (Grigio is in Pasqua's mouth).

Enjoying the view from the sun room.

He sleeps a lot in the most adorable poses. Example 1.

Example 2 - how is that even comfortable?

Six month portrait.  Getting so big!

I offer this Irish Blessing for all of you: "May you have love that never ends, lots of money, and lots of friends. Health be yours, whatever you do, and may God send many blessings to you!"

Purr & Paw,
-Stivali.

Who is St Francis of Assisi?

A long long long time ago, in my mamma's homeland of Italia, a man named Giovanni was born. I am talking, way longer than the births of Nonno Tony and Nonna Toni - like hundreds of years earlier.  Giovanni was born in Assisi, which is like, 5 - maybe 5 and a half hours away from where my nonni were born. ANYHOW, I digress...

This man, Giovanni, was a charismatic leader of an evangelical movement, he really liked helping the poor, and he had an affinity for animals. It was actually well-known that he would preach to animals. Isn't that adorable? 

If I lived in Italia in the 1100's, I would have liked to hear his sermons for sure! 

I don't have enough time tonight to tell you all about Giovanni's adventures in Assisi, but what I will tell you is that this lovely man's name was changed to Francesco (the same name as my bisnonno (great grandfather's)), and was canonized a saint a mere two years after he died. 

Much later, he became the patron saint of Italia, as well as the patron saint of ecology and animals. His "feast" day is October 04 (mamma's is August 15, if anyone was curious!). It is on this day we celebrate his love for all creations (poor, rich, furry, or human)! 

Because St Francis of Assisi cared for all of the animals, my mamma's church has a beautiful ceremony for animals to honor his feast day. I have been to many of these blessing ceremonies, they are wonderful. This year, the church held the celebration on October 07, and this is the first year I went without my big brother. ☹

The weather was cloudy and kind of muggy.  There were lots of dogs there this year, and mamma kept me in my cage-house. I felt safe, but still a little leery. I was one of three cats - the best looking, mind you. There was an older female, blind, pretty tortoise shell, being held lovingly by her mother. There was a gorgeous tiger striped boy cat, big, inside a duffle bag carrier. We three quietly listened to Father Richard say many beautiful prayers over all of us animals. The dogs were mostly restless, they barked, smelled one another - essentially, dogs - a very noisy bunch. I looked back and forth to my feline companions and felt such pride in our excellent behavior.

It was a very nice celebration. I found solace at church. Father Richard was very sweet to all of us and sprinkled holy water on each of our heads before saying "Bye".  It was a good day. 

The gathering for the Blessing of Animals.

Me, being a good kitty.

Father Richard praying over us.

Don't forget to say a prayer for me and all of the animals (I promise I am praying for all of you!). Thank you!

Purr & Paw,
-Stivali.