Thursday, April 18, 2024
black catscat photographscookiedaily photofrom the archiveskellylucymy household of felinestortoiseshell cats

From the Archives: April 23, 2007, Cookie, Kelly and Lucy

tortoiseshell cat
Cookie Looks at Me

You may recognize the photo above from my Animal Sympathy Cards—it’s Cookie giving me a very serious look. It’s funny that all this time I’d thought, especially knowing the rest of this series of photos (there is always a series of photos) that I’d taken this photo out in the back yard, specifically with Cookie on the deck and me in my garden below, but that’s not so—she was right here on the shelf on my desk with the red brick porch pillar behind her and the morning sun on her face. Probably her expression is telling me that I am intolerably dull and we really need to go out into the yard. Sometimes Cookie thought she ran the show.

As I gather all my years of digital photos into one place I’ve been spending probably too much time looking through them, but I’ve been enjoying what I’ve found. I am surprised there are days when I have no photos of cats, and days back in this era when I have no photos at all. Then there are days like this where I have several series of photos of different cats at different times of the day. At this point in 2007, I hated this camera, and I don’t use “hate” loosely—it took way too long to focus to photograph cats well, all the photos were a little too red no matter how I adjusted it, I couldn’t control the contrast and lots of little details in each photo that I won’t go into; I can even look at a few and distinctly remember moments of frustration. Still, I took plenty of photos, and I’m glad I have them.

Below, Kelly enjoys a morning roll on the bed. This was always her habit after breakfast, to sit in the sun at the top of the stairs (there’s one of her there, but it’s badly exposed, darn), then hop over into my bedroom roll around on the bed while talking and bathing herself. I tried to catch her in mid-roll, but here I managed to catch and hold her attention for just a moment so I could see those big green eyes. When Kelly was happy, I was happy, but I know she can’t figure out what I’m laughing at.

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Kelly on the Bed

And then later in the day, Lucy settled on the bed. This is my favorite photo of the series, just Lucy perfectly curled in all that white on the bed. I remember thinking, though, that even though she was cute, something was wrong. Lucy followed me all over, and when she wasn’t with me she was with one of the other cats, especially Namir, who she adored, but she was never alone. Here she was alone on the bed, and not as responsive to her pets and compliments or invitations to play as usual. I’d talked to my veterinarian a few times about vague symptoms I’d noticed since her spay, and on April 25 she was diagnosed with FIP. But she was still my kitten, and I love to see photos of her.

black cat on bed
Lucy on the bed.

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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.


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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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