While I am in a fiction slump, the nonfiction is as good as ever. I just have to share a marvelous quote from Roger Deakin’s Notes from Walnut Tree Farm:
If you want to know what it’s like to be a tree, sleep with a cat on your bed and feel it manoeuvring and exploring your curves and hollows for the most comfortable nest.
Waldo and Dickens both sleep on me at night, they each have their place and should one or the other be in the wrong place a fight ensues. I’m not sure I feel like a tree though unless trees get woken up at 2 in the morning with tickling whiskers to the face because it is imperative that someone’s belly be scratched right now.
Still, it’s a nice sentiment.
Weeds 
Sometimes when I’ve slept with several cats on the bed, I wake up feeling very Ent-ish. I am not very, um, bendable.
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Jeanne, LOL, I know that Entish feeling! Sometimes the cats sleep in such a stretched out weird way that when I wake up I feel stiff and creaky and slow.
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I think I’m glad that Turtle is an old cat (she’ll be 14 in a week or so). She likes to snuggle with me at night while I’m reading in bed before going to sleep. But she leaves shortly after I turn off the light. She’s back any time between 5:00AM and 7:00AM, meowing for breakfast – even though she always has a bowl of perfectly tasty (I’m sure) dry food.
I wouldn’t want to be a tree. You can’t run away from danger – like idiots with chainsaws!
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Cats on the bed are so hilarious – especially when purring loudly! Two cats growling at each other sounds more challenging.
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Ian, they can be hilarious because each of them wants to be closer to my head for some reason so there is always a competition. And when one starts purring the other does too. It is funny they each have their bed territory for sleeping and woe to the violator. Not so funny when they start brawling on top of me!
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Joan, Turtle sounds like such a sweetie. My previous cat was like Turtle but Waldo and Dickens seem to be melded to my body sometimes. As the weather warms though they will start to get too warm and begin sleeping elsewhere and I will no longer wake up feeling trapped by furry animals.
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Wonderful quote! Thanks for sharing it! So evocative!
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rhapsody, glad you liked it!
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What a shame I’m allergic to cats. I’d love to be a tree.
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whisperinggums, allergic to cats? What a shame! How about a small dog? I bet you could get a similar effect 🙂
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True … we did have a smallish dog but she died a couple of years ago. Very sad though she was 14.5. Unfortunately, I was somewhat allergic to her (she was a poodle and supposed to be good for people with allergies but it was quite that simple). More often than not when I touch a friend’s dog these days my eczema is set off something frightful. I adore dogs but I have a horrible feeling we’ve had our last one.
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Poor you! I have so many allergies I am often surprised I have no food or pet ones. I count myself lucky in that. I like dogs but I like them best when they belong to other people. Bookman is a dog person but after are one and only dog together we have decided no more. Too much work and too hard when they die. Not that cats are easy, but they don’t quite take up as much space as a dog does.
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You are lucky not to have pet allergies. Mr Gums is very allergic to cats. His eyes just stream. I’m somewhat allergic but not like he is. Dogs do take up more “space” as you say. I love it – but of course it does have its challenges. They are harder to leave if you want to travel etc, for a start.
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I’ve always known a Roger Deakins who’s the brilliant cinematography for many acclaimed movies, and I thought, is he an author too? But no, just found out these are two different RD’s, but both excellent voices in their field. Interesting quote. And yes, I’m beginning to drift away from the ‘popular reading list’ and just follow my heart. Have been reading Hardy, you know that (sorry Proust), and after FFTMC, I’ve now started The Bostonians (since I’ll be visiting that city in the fall) And, I’m also listening to David Brooks’ new book The Road to Character. If you’re still looking for a good non-fiction, here’s one.
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Arti, oh how funny there are two Deakins! I know, poor Proust. We will get back to him eventually and pay him proper attention. Maybe he will be perfect for the hot days of summer? Thanks for the Brooks recommendation. I will look into it! 🙂
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I once let a cat of ours sleep on the bed. He kept waking me up every couple of hours, tinkling the little bell on his collar, to tell me what a lovely idea this was. It never happened again. You are very kind!
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litlove, since both the cats are strictly indoors they don’t wear collars or bells and tend to be rather quiet except when they are running through the house playing they tend to sound like elephants crashing through the jungle. Bookman thinks I am far too kind. If one of the cats wakes him up at night he tosses them off the bed.
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