Truth be told, I wonder if the title of this blog will push my readers away or produce an uncontrolled magnetic pull of a finger to press READ MORE.

Perfection is a flawless state where everything is exactly right.

If we still had our kitty, Little Bear, I could have cleverly named this blog post Purr-fect, only because our love for this little furry cat-man was perfect. Even so, Little Bear himself was far from perfect. He had spraying issues. For example, he peed into the violin case of a friend who was playing violin duets with Rick! Little Bear also had kidney issues, as well as a real problem of pouncing on us before sunrise, as we were sleeping -even on Saturdays and Sundays- in order to wake us up to get the day going.

Not the clearest photo, but my heart still melts when I see his little white paws!

But really what is perfect? The Taj Mahal is deemed the world’s most perfect building. And I found these examples on line:

An example of perfect is a soft avocado without bruises. An example of perfect is a female singer who sings contralto, mezzo soprano and soprano. An example of perfect is right size allen wrench for the job.

Another example of perfect was last week’s Seattle sky two days in row. The photos from this blog post were taken on my Green Lake walk on one of the only two consecutive crispy cold days of perfectly clear skies after eighty (yes, 80!!) consecutive days of clouds and/or rain. We “Rainy City” folks were out in droves soaking up Vitamin D. By the way, I feel I have no right saying anything negative about the eighty days of cloud coverage because I spent three weeks of the eighty days enjoying sunshine in India last month.

By the way, if you look closely at the sky photos, you will see a few light clouds sneaking their way into the photo, preparing us for the next spate of rainy and cloudy days. Nearly perfectly blue…

This blog post was mostly inspired by the following poem by Ron Padgett. Rick sent this my way this morning.  Enjoy!

Excerpts from “How to be Perfect”
by Ron Padgett

Get some sleep.

Eat an orange every morning.

Be friendly. It will help make you happy.

Hope for everything. Expect nothing.

Take care of things close to home first. Straighten up your room
before you save the world. Then save the world.
Be nice to people before they have a chance to behave badly.

Don’t stay angry about anything for more than a week, but don’t
forget what made you angry. Hold your anger out at arm’s length
and look at it, as if it were a glass ball. Then add it to your glass
ball collection.

Wear comfortable shoes.

Do not spend too much time with large groups of people.

Plan your day so you never have to rush.

Show your appreciation to people who do things for you, even if
you have paid them, even if they do favors you don’t want.

After dinner, wash the dishes.

Calm down.

Don’t expect your children to love you, so they can, if they want
to.

Don’t be too self-critical or too self-congratulatory.

Don’t think that progress exists. It doesn’t.

Imagine what you would like to see happen, and then don’t do
anything to make it impossible.

Forgive your country every once in a while. If that is not
possible, go to another one.

If you feel tired, rest.

Don’t be depressed about growing older. It will make you feel
even older. Which is depressing.

Do one thing at a time.

If you burn your finger, put ice on it immediately. If you bang
your finger with a hammer, hold your hand in the air for 20
minutes. you will be surprised by the curative powers of ice and
gravity.

Do not inhale smoke.

Take a deep breath.

Do not smart off to a policeman.

Be good.

Be honest with yourself, diplomatic with others.

Do not go crazy a lot. It’s a waste of time.

Drink plenty of water. When asked what you would like to
drink, say, “Water, please.”

Take out the trash.

Love life.

Use exact change.

When there’s shooting in the street, don’t go near the window.