The Royal Egyptian Feline Sharing Morning CoffeeThe one who does not like to be photographed spent some time with me over coffee on a recent holiday morning. She is a royal, deigned to be pampered and carefully handled, and her spirit followed me home from a visit to the Cairo Museum of Antiquities and was reincarnated in Pasadena.
She keeps the ghosts and evil spirits away, as they do not like her passing through them. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, discusses the ancient Egyptian cult of the feline and how the felines were used to protect the human's realm from evil.
On a recent sunny holiday morning the Royal and I shared a whispered conversation and a cup of coffee. I have a love of Turkish coffee and the coffee houses of Vienna, Prague and Budapest, although we have been known to visit the Original Pantry in downtown Los Angeles.
I am very lucky to be loved by this feline; she is happy when I'm free to spend time with her. This was a holiday gift for both of us! California - Land of Sunshine on the edge of the Continent!
She is very regal!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, Chieftess, and when the big, giant Alpha cat doesn't give her wide berth, she swats him with a vengence!
ReplyDeleteThat's all good to know about this cat. Butt, how's your cat with rats!?
ReplyDeleteCO, she's the rat killer of all times! What a hunter, and always proud of the kill. Poor little Mickey and Minnie, we feel sorry for the mice, but sadly they intruded on the Royal's territory.
ReplyDeleteJust picked up my own Bastet yesterday from the San Gabriel Humane Society. Walked in and walked out with a neutered, micro-chipped, vaccinated, leukemia tested (negative) kitty all for 99 bucks. His name is True.
ReplyDeletePasadenaadjacent,
ReplyDeleteThanks for rescuing a feline. Mine are all feral children from the yard who were rescued from 1998 on, and fixed by the Pasadena Humane Society. Now the garden is guarded by the Alpha male to make sure no interlopers try to squat, but he is small and no match for the mean alley cats, the skunks, the raccoons (who eat cats!), the opossums, and the arch danger, the coyote (who love to dine on cat flesh!). I had to start bringing in the small Alpha territorial guard at night, because every morning he would show up injured and the vet bills were bankrupting. Now the spayed females (still pretty feral and not possible to bring in at night) stay out at night on their heating pad and seem to know to run if a cat hungry predator shows up, at least so far.
I didn't know that about raccoons. We have a ton of them in my neighborhood. They live in the drains and I'm near the Arroyo a few blocks over from Pasadena's Laguna Lake (I think thats it's name). I have a combination household. I have a 500 dollar cat and one who came up from the streets. Half feral. just enough feral to make him an unpleasant companion.
ReplyDeleteJust discovered your blog thanks to Petrea over at Pasadena Daily Photo. Not sure why I've been so out of the loop! I love what you're posting. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeletePA, I had a raccoon try to drag off a sick cat right in front of me. You live near Pasadena's historic Johnston's Lake, the only surviving lake in the greater Pasadena area, fed by San Rafael Creek (sometimes spelled Johnson's Lake) and we have photographs going back to the time when it was a sheep ranch. The Church of the Angels was built by the grieving widow of the ranch owner who died in his native England while visiting, and his body was brought back to the Church of the Angels and laid to rest. The crypt is in the hillside just east of the main entrance. Here from comments on Petrea's Pasadena Daily Photo
ReplyDeletehttp://pasadenadailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/07/now-and-then-church-of-angels.html
For historical detail, the church was built by Francis Campbell-Johnson as a memorial to her husband, Alexander, and a place of worship for the people of Garvanza on the San Rafael Ranch land they owned.
It was directly inspired by this church in England http://ukattraction.com/south-east-england/st-marys-church-dorking.htm
Pasadena tried to "claim" it much earlier, as Francis selected a site near the town of Garvanza over the objections of her friends who thought it should be built either in Pasadena or Los Angeles rther than this small town.
In 1899, the town of Garvanza was among the very first suburbs incorporated into what was to become the vast metropolis of Los Angeles. (perhaps a reason the postcard says "Los Angeles") I imagine that around that time her old friends in Pasadena finally got their way and the church was placed just inside its city boundaries.
Ben, welcome and please leave comments about your experience of the area of Avenue to the Sky!
By the way, Bob's Big Boy on South Lake and Del Mar is supposed to have its Grand Opening on Monday, January 25, 2010!
All hail the Bastet! The Egyptians were a practical people and needed a friendly spirit to help with protecting the harvested crops.
I tend to call it Laguna Lake because it's the name of the street running next to it (I'm one of the people who told Petrea about it). Pasadena eventually got the church address but we people of the Highlands still have the worker's cabins across the street.
ReplyDeleteThe street I live on is named after one of those sheep farmers. In fact the house next to me was built in 1895.
PA, about a year ago I came across a big family stash of historical photos from the Campbell-Johnston (Johnson) ranch. I haven't scanned them in yet, but I will in the coming month and try to present them here in a coherent fashion along with a detailed history which appears in "The Tales of Annandale". Please tell me about the "workers' cabins", as I'm not aware of this and where are they located and what do they look like?
ReplyDelete