Wordless Wednesday: A Valentine

A litter valentine from my cats…

Cat valentine

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Wordless Wednesday: Sun Lamp

Every Cat Loves Her Own Sun Lamp!

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Wordless Wednesday: Merry Xmas to Me!

I Think That is Mine…

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Cats Can Be Great Pets…REALLY!

I saw this video yesterday about a cat saving a little boy from being mauled by a dog. It prompted many comments. Cat lovers came out in droves to give credit to their feline friends; many talking about their cats alerting them to fires.

It made me think of a time when our family cat helped prevent a home break-in. This is one of those “family legends” that gets told over and over. My mother loves animals, but is definitely partial to dogs, so the fact that she gives so much credit to the cat in this story is a great compliment.

My father was working out of state and coming home on weekends. In the wee hours of Monday morning, my mother would drive my father up the street to meet his coworkers so they could commute together up to New York. My mother had come home and gone back to bed to read and enjoy a little time for herself before the morning chaos began. The cat was resting comfortably on the bed; our dachshund was in her own bed in the kitchen, down the hall from my parent’s bedroom. As my mother tells it, the cat suddenly sat up and ran down the hall. She said, “Misty, what’s wrong?” And then she heard the dog growl and bark. She called out, “Who’s there?”

She got up out of bed and went down the hall and saw the dog attacking a foot in the door! She screamed. My brother heard her and came downstairs with the only thing he could grab…a baseball bat. My bedroom was on the first floor near the stairs, so I heard my brother racing down the stairs and I got up to see what was going on. By the time we got to the kitchen, the foot was gone. My mother told my brother, “Someone was here!” He went outside to look around, but whoever it was had disappeared. My mother was very shaken up. She kept saying with amazement, that the cat knew someone was there before the dog and the dog was in the same room! “Thank you, Misty!” she said over and over.

Misty — Ever Vigilant

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A Word a Week Photograph Challenge: Sign

This is a new challenge for me, but when I saw it, I knew I had something to post:

 

Cat Sign

Join the challenge here.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

This week’s photo topic is a good one: Inside. There are so many ways this could be demonstrated I will probably do more than one post!

But I will start with this one. My cat Aimee likes to go inside her “tunnel” to play with her toy.

Aimee in her “tunnel”

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Carefree

I’m a bit late participating in this week’s challenge, but this photo of my cat, Zoee says “carefree” to me.

Zoee likes her new cat furniture…

This is a far-cry from her “screaming” this morning as she went off to the vet’s in a new carrier (one she thought was too small) to get her nails trimmed…

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Illumination

This week’s photo challenge topic is illumination.

As you all know, my favorite subject is my cats.

Here’s a shot of Aimee when we first adopted her as a kitten looking out the blinds. I decided on black and white. She looks so fuzzy illuminated by the natural light coming through the blinds. (This was taken with a camera phone.)

Aimee sees her new world through the blinds.

And here is a more recent photo of Zoee in her colorful glory, basking in the light of the window and my desk lamp.

Zoee loves the warmth of the halogen desk lamp.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Renewal

This week’s photo challenge leaves a lot of room for interpretation; there are so many types of renewal and they can be so personal. It can be a recharging of energy or an expending of energy. Physical renewal can include exercise like walking or yoga, as well as its opposite, rest or sleep.

Physical renewal: sleep

Nature has its own type of renewal. Forest fires can actually be nature’s way of renewing a forest. Without a fire it takes many many years for fallen trees to break down, with the help of insects and weather, into soil.

Rotting Tree

Finally, there is spiritual renewal. For some people this involves going to some sort of church. In the Christian religion, Jesus is a symbol of renewal.

Graveyard statue of Jesus

 

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Sunday Post: Wonderful

I struggled a little with Jake’s topic this week; “wonderful” is not a word I use often. (I tend to be more of a “fabulous” girl…giggle.)

I pondered. When do I use the word? It tends to be about something large in scope, something made up of a lot of small details, or something abstract like a trip or a story…or a life.

I started focusing on a “wonderful life” because of the movie by that name. As usual that initially made me think of my dad, but I have written about him a lot. My second thought was of the pets I have had in my life, all wonderful in their own individual ways. Ultimately for this post, I chose Simone, the kitty we called “the queen.”

Simone the Queen

Simone was over 20 years old when she died; she was the center of our lives, and believe me, she ruled our little kingdom. (If you want to read a bit more about her, check out this post…warning: it is a tearjerker.)

This was what I wrote on Facebook when she passed away in 2009: Rest in Peace our beloved girl. She lived quite a life: 3 states, 6 homes, thousands of miles. She loved baseball, hockey, and Wolf Blitzer (!). She loved Alan’s cooking. She was the queen of kitties and will always live in our hearts.

The condolence wishes were many because she was family. Our friends knew the stories: how she used to stop the cuckoo clock by grabbing the pendulum because it kept her awake; how she would lie on top of the tv when a hockey game was on and chase the players with her paw; how she loved certain music and would sit mesmerized in front of the TV when Wolf Blitzer reported on CNN; how she hung around when my husband cooked and had to have just a taste of everything. When she went in for her check-up at 15 years old, the vet was amazed at her and wrote in capital letters in her record: AN EXCELLENT KITTY! I loved that she said that at the time, but now I say, “No…she was gentle, strong, loving and WONDERFUL!”

Simone at 18

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