"Words that we say weave a pattern of lace".

Hello dear friends and readers one and all,

This post's title is a lyric line from my song "Conversation".  I haven't posted in a while.  My muse was always with me but I had tons of mundane tasks that are now either done and out of the way or piled up in a dusty stack in a remote corner of my mind (I was going to say "brain" but realized that could sound a bit scary :) I've just taken a deep, wonderful breath ... aahhh. Now to weave some amazing thoughts into our pattern of lace.

I'd like to first tell you about my dog's sitter and friend, Jennifer the Pet Nanny. Jennifer took the lovely picture you'll see currently at the top of the pix column; in it Ruby was in the process of lifting her right paw to shake hands.  Jennifer is such a loving, capable, pleasant  person that I highly recommend her for anyone in the Knoxville area who has a pet needing regular or occasional care and companionship.  Her contact number is (865) 216-6118.

I'd like to share with you some quotes that I particularly like, each one is on a different emotional level and is personally special to me.

The first is:

"Even this late it happens;
The coming of love, the coming of light.
You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves,
Stars gather, dreams pour into your  pillows". ... by Mark Strand.     

The second is:

"The wondrous voice, the voice of the one who attends to the cries of the world,
The noble voice, the voice of the rising tide surpassing all the sounds of the world,
Let our mind be attuned to that voice.
Put aside all doubt and meditate on the pure and holy nature of the one who regards the cries of the world,
Because that is our reliance in situations of pain, distress, calamity, death.
Perfect in all merits, beholding all sentient beings with compassionate eyes,
Making the ocean of blessing limitless,
Before this one, we should incline." ... by Thich Nhat Hanh.

The third is:

"Soul is something creative, something active. Soul is honesty.  I sing to people about what matters.  I sing to people who accept it like it is. There are tears when it's sad and smiles when it's happy.  It seems simple to me, but to some, feelings take courage"... by Aretha Franklin.

And to those awesome words I'd like to add my own little one-liner: "We are all in the same cosmic canoe'"... Clara the Lady Wolf.

Please, if you haven't, check out my music video "Fantastik Five".  And  if you like it, click on the You Tube "Like" tab.  Please also send your blog comments to the blog; it's easy, just click on Anonymous.  Thank you :)  Peace and blessings.

Pets For Vets ...

I just learned about a wonderful organization called Pets For Vets.  I posted a lot of information about it on my Animal Ministry blog.  Please check that out at http://animalministry.blogspot.com.  The organization has chapters throughout the U.S. to help veterans suffering from PTSD by matching them (re personality and needs) with rescued shelter dogs.  There is a video there, too, and it will make you feel good :)

Pet-Lovers' Easy Way To Help Animals --

Each day, go to www.theanimalrescuesite.com and click on the purple "click here to give" button. For each click, the website sponsors donate food and care for rescued homeless companion animals who are in animal shelters. It’s so easy for us feel good about helping in this way and it costs us nothing, except a few seconds of time.

Animals Need Help --

Wolves and Horses –

They are very much in need of letters to legislators. To help the U.S. wolves who are now being exterminated due to Bush’s unconscionable removal of them from the Endangered Species List, please visit the websites of Defenders Of Wildlife at www.defenders.org and Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund at www.callofftheguns.org for complete information on where to write, how to help.

To help U.S. horses who are are bought up at auctions and shipped under inhumane, crowded conditions without food and water, across the borders into Mexico and Canada, where they are grossly mis-handled and barbarically slaughtered for an Asian and European market, please write to your U.S. congressman and senator asking them to support S.311 and H.R. 503 the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Get names and addresses at http://www..senate.gov and http://www.house.gov . Visit http://www.frontrangeequinerescue.org for more information. It's important for us to get involved on behalf of the animals, for their sake and for our own; they are a vital part of the natural ecological tapestry and heritage of our country.

On the Home Scene –

The economy isn’t doing any good for the dog and cat overpopulation problem, but there are low-cost spay/neuter clinics in almost every locale, including here in Knoxville. The only humane way to reduce the huge number of shelter euthanasias is to have your cat and dog spayed or neutered. Additionally, he or she will be a better, more home-loving pet, often cleaner, too. It’s the right thing to do. Every dog and cat deserves a loving home, so we need to put the brakes on letting pets produce litters and patronizing back yard breeders and pet shops (every litter born takes away potential homes for animals who are waiting out their "time" in shelters, hoping to be adopted ... hoping not to be taken to that room in the back). I worked for three years as a hands-on volunteer at a local shelter. It was gut-wrenching, yet rewarding, too, to be able to offer whatever help I could to the shelter animals -- walking them, cleaning their cages, refilling their water bowls, talking to prospective adopters.

Please spay and neuter so that shelter personnel can stop killing abandoned and surrendered healthy dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens. It’s the biggest and best way we can show our love for our pets.

Grieving Pet Loss

Grief is the price we pay for loving our pets, for endearing them to us – but it’s worth it. Worth it, of course, for the companionship and affection they share with us, for their unconditional love. Even more than that, though, having a beloved pet connects us in such a deeply spiritual way with something much bigger than ourselves, something hard to describe with mere words – the tapestry, mutuality, and interconnectedness of life. I recently was talking about these things with a very dear friend who is mourning the recent passing of his cat who had been with him for almost 17 years.

On my website at http://claralandau.home.comcast.net I have a link entitled The Story Of Lucky. It may be helpful to readers who are going through the grief process. Time, after all, is the best healer, but there are people and books that can be of great help in a more immediate sense. I talk about some of them on the Lucky link.

Let's Demand Safe Food For Ourselves & Our Pets!

Remember the pet food recall, brought about by the illness and deaths of many pets due to poisonous, chemically-tainted ingredients imported from China? Our federal government really needs to be prodded to actually do something to prevent this from happening again. We are the only ones who can do the prodding.

At this very moment, there is a so-called website for public comment about Docket 2007n-0487 (regarding the FDA's need to regulate the processing and labeling of pet and human food ingredients). I say "so-called" because it has been inoperable and inaccessible since its supposed inception. Do a web-search for Docket 2007n-0487 and you'll find plenty of comments ... from people who want to access the site but can't; you'll find the site address there, too. I just have to wonder if the site is a planned failure or hoax being perpetrated on the public -- you know, maybe the industry or importers want it to be inoperable; or, maybe it's just another government blunder. I just finished writing a letter (yes, I know that takes more time and seems like a hassle, but it feels important to do) to my two U.S. senators and U.S. congressman, requesting that the FDA institute effective regulations regarding importation, processing, and labeling of food ingredients for pet and human food products.

Our pets have been the canaries in the mine-shaft ... alerting us, via their illnesses and deaths, to the dangers of foods and additives imported from China. Last summer, there was a comprehensive, revealing magazine article I read while in a doctor's waiting room; it was either TIme or Newsweek ... I think it was Time. It had photographs I will never forget -- about the thousands of Chinese "factory" workers (folks, we would call these places something other than "factories") who are lined up like robots in long lines that stretched on and on, uniformed and hooded and masked from head to toe, as they stood there, very close to one another, working on whatever product line to which they were assigned; their uniforms were color-coded by product; each photo showed a different product and its workers. The article said that they live in dormitories above the work area and one photograph showed massive amounts of garbage that had been thrown out the little dorm windows to the building surface below. I had to wonder how any product made under these conditions -- where everything was being done as cheaply as possible -- could be trusted to be safe or reliable. Also, in my mind, these are inhumane conditions under which workers should not be forced to work (and live) ... all so that we in the US can see "made in China" on practically every product we buy at our favorite stores? But, see, that label doesn't appear on food product ingredients.

I would like to see the imports from China stopped or restricted ... and, most definitely, regulated!