Coffee with Moe - Bautumns Up for 2020

Coffee with Moe
Bautumns up!
Fall 2020

Open my heart,
So that today I can feel...
How beautiful it is to love...
How beautiful is it to live.
- Jose Antonio Santos Islers “El Mariachi”

7c
editorial
18c
20/20 Vision
8c
Hiber-Nation
22c
Bird Nerd-ing
12c
Studio Sentinels
26c
Simple things
presents: Bautumn’s up, with Moe & friends
ISSUE 16: BAUTUMN’S UP
October 2020
On The Cover: A very neighbourly coffee
with a hare may never happen. But, by
letting go of preconceived notions and
painting them in a different light! What a
garden delight a rabbit can be.
For digital Prints & Commission work, please
Contact: monique@moecreative.com
Website: www.moecreative.com
Blog: www.moecreative.com/blog
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/moecreative/
IG: www.instagram.com/moe_creative
Coffee with Moe Digital Magazine is
published in association with Moe Creative
Inc. based in Calgary, Alberta Canada
Publishing made possible by Moe Creative, Yumpo & the
Adobe Suite of Products.
* Art & photography by Monique for Moe Creative inc.
Many thanks to Family, Friends & Inspiration:
Gratefully & alphabetically:
AB, AC, AG, AL, AR, BCV, BD, CF, CG, CR,
CS, DD, DK, DL, DO, DR, EC, ED, EN, GD,
GDC, HC, HM, IF, JD, JH, JM, JR, JS, KH,
KN, KW, LB, LD, LK, LM, LOL, LP, MB, MC,
MH, MQ, MS, MY, ND, NH, NS, PA, PB, RC,
RS, SB, SH, SK, SP, SMG, TN, TR, VH, YK.
& all Moe Creative’s clientele & suppliers.
All for whom this issue was created, with
heart & much gratitude.
© 2020 Moe Creative Inc. All rights reserved.

Hello!
I’m so glad you’ve joined me for coffee today!
The weirdness of this year has touched everyone’s lives.
Between a global pandemic, heart-breaking hatred, raging fires and
a whole lot of fall out and struggles stemming from it all. This fall
finds many of us reeling to grasp a fresh sense of normal while
connecting with familiar and new ways to fill our hearts with joy.
While this issue of Coffee with Moe doesn’t have global answers,
it does explore some very autumninal thoughts on simple joys and
there’s even an allergen free introduction to my cuddly & curious
studio cats.
Always remember, that every issue of Coffee with Moe , was created
with heart. A way to help you take a break from life, to sip a cup of
something warming and indulge in some much needed self-care.
So tuck yourself away for a few moments, grab that cuppa, while
taking a collective look at what a little down time and sharing can
do for you.
XO Moe

Hiber-Nation
Hiber (Latin: Winter, wintered, wintery; It also refers to sleep, sleeping; Inactive,
inactivity; Dormant, dormancy [Suspended animation or a lack of activity])
Nation: A large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or
language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.
A long winter’s nap, Oooooo it sounds so inviting and luxurious
on a cold and wintery afternoon. But isn’t it a bit, indulgent?
Perhaps even a smidge, dare I say, lazy?
No, actually. As it turns out, napping isn’t just for babies and
bears any more.
There’s good hard science that proves that most of the
negative and stereotypical perceptions about napping are just
plain false.
I get it. When we’re little toddlers and afraid to miss a moment
of the world around us, taking a nap seems
like absolute torture. It seems, that this
perceived torture could scar our world view
of napping for many years to come.
But as we grow up and start adulting our
way through the multiple stresses of living,
napping can act as a healthful booster-shot
between our regular night time sleep.
In fact, there’s evidence that stopping for a
wee snooze of 30 minutes or less between
lunch and 3pm, paired with an idle walk or
a bit of stretching before bed can help us
achieve a more effective night’s rest.
Studies boast that naps will not only
reduce your fatigue, but improve your
mood, your performance and memory
while boosting your immunity. Naps also
induce a more relaxed state of being which
will help you recover from any stressful
situations you may have come across.
If you travel or drive long distances, a short
nap will work better at keeping you alert
than a large coffee (sorry coffee). It will
also increase your reaction time which is
an invaluable asset on any roadway.
No matter how you look at it. It seems that
bears and babes have had a leg up on us
average folk when it comes to the benefits
behind catching a few zzzz’s. Isn’t it time
we level up the playing field and put all that
negative hogwash about napping behind
us? It’s a luxury that every body in every
nation can afford.

...
“ THEY HAVE BECOME
GUARDIANS
OF BEING.”
From the book:
GUARDIANS OF BEING
by Eckhart Tolle &
Patrick McDonnell
“ THE VITAL FUNCTION THAT PETS FULFILL
IN THIS WORLD HASN’T BEEN FULLY
RECOGNIZED.
THEY KEEP MILLIONS OF PEOPLE SANE ”
...

Studio Sentinels
primed to be her complete socialite self.
While it may, or may not be food related,
Lu will flirt and flit her way around any
room filled with any humans. A bit rough
and tumble, she may have inherited her
wild fearlessness from her feral mama.
Despite her cat-ness, Lulu was absolutely
a duck in her previous life. Her first act of
destruction in our home was dismantling
the cat water fountain to jump inside and
play. She’s been on the hunt for water ever
since. Lu is as brave as she is loving and
I feel privileged to see her grow into her
outrageously bold cat self. Watch out!
Like any pet owner, I could gush for hours
about the loveliness of my cats.
They chill with me while I read and work,
greet me at the door begging adorably for
belly rubs even if I’ve only been out in the
garden for 5 minutes. They require love,
clean litter, sustenance and the playing of
hunting games to tucker them out. Easy.
But like any animal. Cats have distinct
personalities, likes, dislikes and diva
moments. Here are some quick stats on
my guardians of being: Tahlulah and Nala.
Constant characters in my studio
Talulah
Age: 2.5
Star Sign: Taurus
Nickname: Lu, Lu Lu or Lucky Lu
Cat type: Torbie. Runt. Rescue.
Signature meow: A tiny mew to say hello
Signature move: The side flop (usually
awkward, always full throttle)
Fav. toy(s): Anything she can chew on or
chase and eat.
Fav. hunting game: Chase, catch and eat
big bouncy bites of kibble. Small bits are
snubbed.
Career aspirations: Beach Bum
Fav. Food: If it’s on the floor it’s fair game.
Leisurely activities: Playing in any water
anywhere. A sink, tub, cat dish, unattended
cups, melting snow etc./ Interacting with
birds and squirrels outside the living room
windows, for hours./ Doing whatever Nala
is doing/ Nap time with me/ Nap time/
Greeting everyone at the door/ Nap time/
Watching animal videos/ Nap time...
Diva moments: Pouts if you cuddle, or
praise Nala in her presence/ If her water
barrel nears empty, she’ll push the barrel
down the stairs. Same with the cat food
bowl.
Her down side: She’s not really chatty,
and after she’s done flirting, cuddles or is
no longer amused, she’d rather be
watching birds or catting with Nala.
Quirks: A very poignant glare (The disgust/
disappointment is palpable)/ Tries to ride
Nala around the house like a horse/
When my alarm goes off in the morning
she’ll perch on top of me, lean down with
her front paws to the bed and knead
biscuits until I get up/ Begs to eat ever
thing you’re eating, but actually won’t/
Sorry, not sorry about everything/
Makes that >>> deer in headlights eyes
every time I try to sneak a photo of her.
Cuddle Time: Every time I sit, she flops
lovingly by my side. She doesn’t have a
motor on her like Nala, but she sure does
like her hind toes massaged. The look of
bliss on her face, and those splayed out
toes says it all. If I go to bed later than 10
at night, she’s already warming up my spot
on the bed when I get there.
Her-story: Having started life at a busy
rescue, I think she’s seen it all. Lu was

Studio Sentinels
cont’d
NALA
Age: 4
Star Sign: Libra
Nickname: Nala Bird, Bird or Pumpkin Pie
Cat Type: Cheetoh. Runt. Rescue.
Signature meow: Chirping like a bird
Signature move(s): The Door Dash & the
Meerkat
Fav. toy(s): Crumpled up teabags & grey
mice. (No other hue will do)
Career aspirations: Parkour Instructor
Fav. Food: Fish anything & wild boar bites
Fav. hunting game: She loves to play
fetch and will fetch your arm off, if you’ve
the time
Leisurely activities: Napping in a variety
of cardboard boxes & sunny spots/ Playing
chase, watching birds & sleeping with Lu
Lu/ Solo mousing and yowling when a tea
bag has been victoriously caught/ Feeding
her grey mouse (aka putting it in her food
or water)/ Drinking “fresh water” from a
dripping tub/ Watching animal videos
Diva moments:
Likely to push anything off a ledge if she
feels ignored/ Meows progressively louder
if what she wants is not happening.
(She’s fluent in advance charades.)
Quirks:
She must smell everything you eat or bring
in the house./ Has a sixth sense regarding
when you are about to get up and THAT is
when she must sit on your lap./ An undying
curiosity for what is behind any closed door
& must participate in zoom meetings
Her downside: She has allergies the poor
thing. A humidifier 24/7 is all that helps.
Also, she was badly traumatized before
we got her and we can not quell her fear of
strangers or loud noises.
Her upside: She’s funny, smarter than I’d
like, engaging, purrs like a motor, is a pretty
amazing communicator and just the
sweetest darn feline I could as for.
Cuddle time: She’s a mass of muscle and
thankfully, equally gentle. Her fur is both
silky and soft and she always welcomes
a tousling and belly rubs from those she
knows well.
Her-story: When I met Nala as a kitten,
she marched right up to me, chirped like
a small bird, plopped herself into my lap
and went to sleep. According to her foster
mom, I was the only person she hadn’t run
and hid from since her arrival at their house
months earlier. To this day, she’s terrified
of strangers, children, dogs, fireworks and
motorcycles etc. Around the house, she
challenges with her intelligence, as much
as she charms with her sweetness. She is
my near constant companion. Either joining
me in every room I’m in, or resting within
direct line of sight. She’s very sweet, chatty,
inquisitive and I look forward to many years
to come of her fine felineness. Her future is
bright and full of complex obstacle course
play. Heads up!

20/20 Vision
“Vision
without action is merely a dream.
Action without vision just passes the time.
Vision with action can change the world”
- Joel A Barke
I’ve always loved questions that start out:
If money was no object...
I know, to you logical folks out there, it’s silly because money is an object.
But hear me out, there’s logic at the heart of this.
You see you’re brain doesn’t know what’s real and what isn’t. It just knows that
you’ve asked a question and now it must find an answer. This is an automatic
response of your brain, scientists like to call Instinctive Elaboration. If you reason
away the question before your brain gets to work, then guess what? Your brain
won’t seek to find you answers to these potentially life altering questions.
Now. Before we dig in, let’s set our brains to a simple task.
Let’s ask the question: How many windows are in your home?
______?
I bet somewhere in your head you started counting, am I right? It’s automatic.
What a fabulous little response centre you’re housing right in your very head!
So now that we know our brain is automatically on our side, let’s get ready to
spread our wings and start exercising this instinctive and elaboration muscle.
But wait.
Isn’t vision without action merely a dream?
Absolutely.
So when we ask ourselves money is no object questions like:
Who would you be?
What would you do?
Etc.
It’s best to do so with pen and paper or recorder in hand.
There is going to be a jumble of information that starts tumbling out of your eager
brain and you don’t want to miss out on capturing any of it!
I mean, any of it.
cont’d

20/20 Vision cont’d
It’s very important to note that the best way to proceed is by taking a “yes and”
acceptance approach to every idea that comes up. The word NO, or negative
thinking stops the process. It closes doorways and blocks pathways in your brain
that may have seemed illogical in the moment. Often, odd thoughts may have
just been your brains way of sorting through information to access major breakthroughs
in thought and/or potential action(s).
If this all seems overwhelming, don’t worry. This is simply the act of brain
dumping. A process you’ll start enjoying once all the worries, stresses and
anxiety around not living your best life start fading in the background of some
follow-up actions.
How are you going to decide on how to act on all of this data?
Sorting and organizing it to fit your own personal logic (charts, bubble maps etc.)
so that you can take birds eye, or all encompassing, view of your catalogued
dream and start noticing a path or few that may lead you to your ideal future.
Trust that every single idea or action that comes to you can and will scale.
Yes, your brain might have been tasked with the whole dream, but as in the
window question, it can only figure out the right answer window by window. Or
step by step. Or This, then that. Once you start seeing a path, the actions you
need to take start lining up in a relative order.
That’s right, folks. Logic.
From here, it’s a matter of choosing and making habits that support your ideal
path. Empowering yourself with new skills and know-how that will help turn an
abstract dream into a scaleable new reality with 20/20 vision.

Bird Nerd-ing
Colder weather is settling in and our
little songbird friends need us more than ever.
Why do they need us?
Because “progress” has led us to clear away their
natural means of foraging. We’ve made way for new
roads, parks and neighbourhoods. Our chosen
trimmings are mowed swaths of grass,
ornamental or “cool” non-native trees and
cleaned up fall gardens with narry a
leftover fruit, nor seed in sight.
So what can we do, to nurture
songbirds with their delightful
orchestra and cheerful
antics?
Here’s some simple do & do nots that will
help you get started simply, without wasting
money or ticking off the neighbours along
the way.
THE DO’s
The feeder matters
Pick one that has a squirrel baffel and
mesh sides. Place it out of reach for most
jumping predators and determined
squirrels.
Cheap birdfood costs extra
Extra sifting through seeds for the birds,
extra food on the ground for mice, and
extra clean up for you. Niger seeds cost
more but are disliked by squirrels and
loved by finches. Suet blocks are great for
cold weather and loved by songbirds and
woodpeckers alike. Black oil sunflower
seeds are nutrient dense and loved by all
songbirds. I feed more than 30 songbird
and woodpecker species throughout the
year on approx. $30 CAD a month.
Cleanup
Is important to keep mice, skunks and
more from telling their friends about your
yard. It’s as easy as shovelling seed shell
waste into your compost bin.
Provide water
Everything needs water to survive. I have
song birds that don’t visit my feeders but
use the birdbath and interact with the other
birds in my yard.
Keep one feeder up all year.
Why? Babies and weary migrating birds of
course. The joy of fluffy bird babies or that
rarely seen species is really hard to beat.
Bonus: How to care for the bigger birds
A lot of the bigger black and blue birds are
the cleaners of the wild kingdom. Their
penchance for meat means, I do not
encourage spring visits. In late summer,
they swing by for fresh fruit. I make sure
I’ve planted enough for us both. In the
deep dark of winter if it dips below -40C, I
will clear a high spot far from my songbirds
and plunk a handful of cat food each day.
Meaty cat food provides the energy they
may need to survive the harsh winter’s
cold. I do try to keep in mind that a healthy
ecosystem includes all wildlife, not just my
preferred feathery beings.
I also keep in mind that putting cat food
out more than on the coldest days will start
attracting all sorts of unexpected visitors.
THE DO NOT’s
Peanuts in the shell are from hell
Seriously, ask any gardener. Squirrels and
large birds fed this way tend to hide their
food for later in all the local planters and
flower beds. This digs up and kills pricey
plants in the process which is a total headache
for your neighbors. This need to hide
food often brings them to wee nooks and
crannies where songbirds have hidden
their nests. Bigger bird and squirrels that
eat peanuts will drop their loot to pilage a
nest full of tasty eggs anyday.
cont’d

Bird Nerd-ing cont’d
cont’d.
SOMETIMES,
THE SMALLEST THINGS
TAKE UP THE MOST
ROOM IN YOUR HEART
- A.A. MILNE
Cats Kill
I have cats, I know what a strong hunting
instinct they have. Keep your cat inside,
or in a run, or leashed somewhere safe for
both your cats and the birds. In the states
alone, domestic cats are said to kill up to
4 billion song birds a year. Letting cats out
and unprotected also lessens their cat lives
by 50% or more.
Window Pains
If you put up a feeder, be sure to put bird
deflectors in your windows. What a bird
can’t see, can be a pain in the neck.
Fostering local songbirds can be a
rewarding and enriching experience.
With pitfalls that can be easily
avoided, the benefits flourish.
And so do the lives, antics
and songs of our wild,
flighty neighbours.

Simple Things
Sometimes, we get so caught
up in life that we forget that
we don’t always have to be
busy; we don’t always need to
be checking our mail, or rushing
to the next thing.
We need to remind ourselves
that it’s OK - and absolutely
neccessary - to slow it all down.
To take a break and enjoy
nature. To turn off the TV and
simply be together. To enjoy a
game of cards. To ask our kids
what they’re wondering about.
To call our parents. To watch a
sunrise. To enjoy the smell of a
burning candle...
We must never forget to enjoy
the little things, because they
are never as little as we think.
- Nikki Banas

Thanks for visiting!
Next issue of Coffee with Moe
will arrive in April, 2021.
Until then...
Happy Holidays Everyone!