Hi! I am Miss Susie. I am a little calico cat that was found many moons ago on a misty November day in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was a few days later — as I was sitting in a warm place — that I shared with many other shelter kittens that the two most sparkly sets of green eyes stared at me, and I knew something beautiful was about to happen.
These eyes belong to two spirited boys with the kindest touch and, although I heard a voice saying that I may not be suited for children, I made sure I purred so loud that they could not doubt and would take me home.
Those two boys and their mom, Nora, brought me home to their little paradise where a big, fat house tiger, named Big Kitty, was already waiting for me. I was named after their kindergarten teacher, Miss Susie, who filled those boys’ early school years with so much fun and joy. It was through her that the Cat Stevens song ”If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” came to be what all three of them seem to be creating their days by.
There are truly no dull moments around here and personally I spend a lot of time just observing this funny circus from my very favorite little spots around this house.
As Nora wakes in the morning, she usually disappears for a while and returns with shoes covered in sand. Her room — where she creates in, and also sleeps in and gardens in — goes through many different stages as the day unfolds.
As Nora’s bedroom transforms into her studio most mornings, the sparkly California morning sun gently spreads its glimmer and makes it seem as though little fairies are dancing all around spreading their magical dust over her palette and canvases.
I love sitting by the window under the cosmos flowers and the little olive tree and contemplating Nora as she emerges into her world of the most vibrant colors. As she dances and paints and offers the tales of her soul through movement and color, I make sure to let her know when her work is at its most touching, rawest heartful truth. I elegantly place myself in front of the creations and stay there until Nora gets the message that it is surely time to document this moment with a photo. I just don’t know how Nora would ever run this whole show without me.
My brother, that big tiger cat, is very useful to warm up against on foggy mornings, but honestly, he definitely has not acquired himself the grand job that I am fulfilling here. Mostly, he just lounges, spread out all over the floor somewhere, walking over wet paintings and knocking paintbrush glasses over.
It truly is quite a spectacle every day to be living in this world of colors and paint, and as Nora displays her purpose through her art it feels as though every day is a new musical, as Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet cited: “When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.”
My favorite part of being Nora’s dedicated studio assistant is definitely when she plays her make-believe games and creates all kinds of installations with flowers, ladders, curtains and fun things to create her little wonderland for her work. I just love climbing on the props and smelling the flowers and finding new, exquisite places to pose in her work and make it shine.
Nora also writes beautiful words from what touches her heart. Here are some I will leave you with, which sum up my life as a little studio assistant in Nora’s world:
“Shimmering in turquoise and coral,
Iridescent like the inside of an abalone shell
Softly touching the core of my soul like sunglitter on the ocean at dawn
Yours are the most beautiful colors I have ever seen.”
Hi! I am Miss Susie. I am a little calico cat that was found many moons ago on a misty November day in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was a few days later — as I was sitting in a warm place — that I shared with many other shelter kittens that the two most sparkly sets of green eyes stared at me, and I knew something beautiful was about to happen.
These eyes belong to two spirited boys with the kindest touch and, although I heard a voice saying that I may not be suited for children, I made sure I purred so loud that they could not doubt and would take me home.
Those two boys and their mom, Nora, brought me home to their little paradise where a big, fat house tiger, named Big Kitty, was already waiting for me. I was named after their kindergarten teacher, Miss Susie, who filled those boys’ early school years with so much fun and joy. It was through her that the Cat Stevens song ”If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” came to be what all three of them seem to be creating their days by.
There are truly no dull moments around here and personally I spend a lot of time just observing this funny circus from my very favorite little spots around this house.
As Nora wakes in the morning, she usually disappears for a while and returns with shoes covered in sand. Her room — where she creates in, and also sleeps in and gardens in — goes through many different stages as the day unfolds.
As Nora’s bedroom transforms into her studio most mornings, the sparkly California morning sun gently spreads its glimmer and makes it seem as though little fairies are dancing all around spreading their magical dust over her palette and canvases.
I love sitting by the window under the cosmos flowers and the little olive tree and contemplating Nora as she emerges into her world of the most vibrant colors. As she dances and paints and offers the tales of her soul through movement and color, I make sure to let her know when her work is at its most touching, rawest heartful truth. I elegantly place myself in front of the creations and stay there until Nora gets the message that it is surely time to document this moment with a photo. I just don’t know how Nora would ever run this whole show without me.
My brother, that big tiger cat, is very useful to warm up against on foggy mornings, but honestly, he definitely has not acquired himself the grand job that I am fulfilling here. Mostly, he just lounges, spread out all over the floor somewhere, walking over wet paintings and knocking paintbrush glasses over.
It truly is quite a spectacle every day to be living in this world of colors and paint, and as Nora displays her purpose through her art it feels as though every day is a new musical, as Kahlil Gibran in
The Prophet cited: “When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.”
My favorite part of being Nora’s dedicated studio assistant is definitely when she plays her make-believe games and creates all kinds of installations with flowers, ladders, curtains and fun things to create her little wonderland for her work. I just love climbing on the props and smelling the flowers and finding new, exquisite places to pose in her work and make it shine.
Nora also writes beautiful words from what touches her heart. Here are some I will leave you with, which sum up my life as a little studio assistant in Nora’s world:
“Shimmering in turquoise and coral,
Iridescent like the inside of an abalone shell
Softly touching the core of my soul like sunglitter on the ocean at dawn
Yours are the most beautiful colors I have ever seen.”
