Peekay, Politics, and Baseball
These past months have been excruciatingly stressful and challenging. This election has been different from any we as a nation have experienced in our long history as a democracy. Today is November 8th. America has voted. Now the work begins to heal our nation or save it from the authoritarian powers that wish to destroy it as they have outlined in their Project 2025 manifesto.
For months, I have been carrying this weight as my fellow Americans have, talking about the country’s future and waiting for answers and all the while life goes on, one day and worry at a time. Blessedly, I have a kitten by my side that helps me de-stress and keeps me smiling. Those of you who read my weekly blog have already been introduced to Peekay who is now six months old. And if you are just meeting him you can scroll back to my earlier blogs and catch up on his story; www.cathysalter.com.
Peekay is an incredibly energetic ginger tabby and Bengal mix—breeds known for their curiosity and athletic prowess. At 5:15 a.m. he stealthily creeps up from the end of the bed and pounces on my head. Play time commences and for the next few hours he explores the house with his stuffed cat toy Peekaboo in his mouth, mimicking my movements, stretched out under my feet when I’m cooking, or trying to distract me while I try to write my weekly blogs. But gradually he’s accepting that some down time is required when I leave for a couple hours midday and in the evenings to be with Kit at the Lodge.
These early November nights, it’s already dark when I get home. By then Peekay is eager to catch, fetch, and pounce on anything resembling a ball. During the 2024 World Series, Kit and I watched the first five innings of each game, and Peekay and I watched the rest after I arrived home.
For five nights, my furry friend and I rooted for the Dodgers and cheered on their gritty team effort. We were captured by the lightening quick movements of players running for a base or diving to catch a ball, and we were one with the fans until the final inning at Yankee Stadium when it was all over and the Dodgers were world champs. Nothing was more thrilling that Freddie Freeman’s grand slam homerun in the 10th inning of Game 1.
On warm afternoons that are growing increasingly shorter, Peekay spends an hour outside in his collapsible cat tunnel watching autumn leaves twirl as they fall and listening to the sounds from the forest that he looks out on beyond our deck. On rainy days, indoor birdwatching takes place atop a small red café table next to a large glass window that looks out on my meditation pathway. From this lofty perch, he and Peekaboo hunker down to watch the antics of big furry gray squirrels and tiny chipmunk-sized “flying” squirrels as they dash about munching and burying backyard treats that I put out each morning. When Peekay dreams of flying like the little red squirrels, I tell him about the Flying Wallendas—a famous circus family from a century ago. He’s a born acrobat already able to keep his balance effortlessly while walking from end to end on my ballet barre.
Now that the World Series is over, Peekay snuggles up on a wool blanket that I spread over my lap and snoozes while I read. Last week, I shared the latest adventures of the characters in Richard Osmond’s newest novel, We Solve Murders. A black cat on the book’s cover catches his attention. “His name is ‘Trouble’” I tell my little friend. “You’d know about that, wouldn’t you?” And when a ginger tabby like Peekay makes its entrance on the final pages of the novel, he’s certain there will be a secquel. “More trouble,” I say, but by then he is sound asleep, whiskers twitching, chasing dreams of his own.
Peace my friends. May our dreams for unity, kindness, healing, and the promise of an America for all Americans come true in the days to come.