From the Archives: Office Cats, 2007
A busy October day in the office begins in 2007 with Namir draped on the work I needed to do while Peaches napped over in the corner, and ended later with Namir in a box and Cookie draped over paperwork. I know they did this every day, and I’m not sure why I took photos this one particular day, but I’m glad for the memory.
At 10:40 a.m. by the little clock on my desk they were well into their morning naps and had no intention of moving. In fact, they often expanded and covered everything. I’ve always been glad for the keyboard shelf and often had my papers on my lap, or on top of Namir, or whoever else happened to be there. I would be in the thick of work, little typesetting jobs and calling for quotes on things and managing correspondence, my afternoon set up for larger projects where I could settle down and focus once the busy work was done.
And often in those days I was managing affairs for my mother and brother. I’d just moved my brother to his apartment near me the previous month and was still answering questions, helping him navigate, and teaching him how to take the bus to visit our mother so he could go on his own. Hopefully, I could stay at home all day and work, though that was rarely the situation.
Namir needed his four cardiac medications twice daily, and I avoided mealtimes so he could eat in peace and digest his food, but his medication time was coming up soon. After lunch, the Famous Four would be permitted to come down the steps and visit the office and maybe the kitchen, for a few hours, and Namir, big brother and foster, would have his work cut out for him, shepherding the little silhouettes around and teaching them how to walk all over the messy desk without falling, and where the good places were to be conveniently placed to be petted. I didn’t photograph them on this particular day, but they looked like this. Mimi would be somewhere, still feeling as if her kittens were more important than she was.
Later, dark outside but the doors and windows still open, Namir and Cookie are exhausted.
It takes a lot of energy to keep track of a busy human!
Apparently I kept waking up Namir, and he’s pretty over that.
And now he’s trying to hide.
It could actually be very late, like after midnight, and I may have had to run off to take care of some health issue somewhere for a family member, and at that moment be concerned by how late it was and how much I had to do. In any case, no matter what happened, they were always there for me. I know I’ve always been comforted by being able to reach out and just put my hand on a cat on my desk or on my lap, and the kitty would start to purr. They always knew.
Photos From the Archives and Vintage Photos
Photos pulled “From the Archives” were taken by one or another digital camera of mine between 2002 and, well, yesterday, but usually they are older than that, and I had never had the chance to feature them. Vintage Photos are from my film archives back to 1983 when I purchased my Pentax K-1000 camera. They’re a fun way to “introduce” other members of my feline family who came and went before I began blogging, and to illustrate my feline family in general from days gone by.
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Namir turns his gaze up to me, enchanting me with his “bedroom eyes” as we spend a morning in the garden. I have prints on paper and canvas and a sympathy card on Portraits of Animals.
Copyright
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals 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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