From the Archives: A Sunny Morning, March 25, 2007
Lucy, Namir and Peaches had their sites staked out on the kitchen table on this bright and sunny March morning, but the fun continued upstairs on the landing. Here, aside from me standing in front of her, Lucy is watching birds out the dining room window. Namir is facing out the front door which is in the next room. Peaches is sitting near the stove and counter from whence the food arrives. Breakfast is over, but she also knows she might get an extra little serving because she’s a little old lady, and I love her to pieces.
A little later Namir and Lucy follow me upstairs, or probably Namir follows me and Lucy follows Namir, but in any case we join Cookie upstairs on the sunny landing. They are nearly camouflaged in the way the sunlight falls and then breaks up in random patterns and I know that’s why I took this photo, because they are there, and not there. Cookie is on the left, Namir is in the top center looking at Lucy in the bottom right.
And on the windowsill a moment later was Kelly, to round out the full complement of cats in my house at that time.
Most of the time I’ve lived with cats I’ve had nine cats, which always seemed to be my magic number, but really I rarely had fewer than seven. The previous year at this time I’d had eight, but then I’d lost Moses and Cream and Sophie and Stanley, and gained Lucy, who joined Cookie and Kelly and Namir and Peaches. After all the losses in the previous year I was getting used to the smaller size of my household, resting after all that had happened, knowing the universe would bring me more cats if I was meant to have them, as I always said. And we were simply enjoying a sunny morning in March, they enjoying the sun, and I enjoying capturing their images.
The old Olympus point and shoot digital was good for its day but never my favorite, not handling color well and especially not contrasts, a think a totally loved in my photos, so shadows are filled with no detail and highlights are overexposed with no detail, but the essence is there. I took a number of close up photos and caught Namir and Cookie, dozing in the warm sunshine through the tall casement at the top of the stairs, warming the wood boards of the floor, possibly the coziest spot in the entire house.
I adore Cookie’s little nose and all her freckles.
And a sweet photo of Lucy with a very mature feline expression, “Yes?” Such a little girl, she was just about to turn one year old. Our time had gone so fast and much was taken by all our recent losses, but a sunny morning was a sunny morning to enjoy.
Of course, less than a month later, Lucy would be diagnosed with FIP, and while it took me completely by surprise, having seen no symptoms of anything until she began showing lethargy after her surgery, I can see in photos like this one and others from this time that she wasn’t quite the same energetic kitten she had been, for instance, in January in the photo “Lucy’s Garden” just two months before. She wasn’t as active, her eyes weren’t as round, she didn’t look as robust as she had. All my other cats at the time were old, and all the caretaking had make me forget what kittens were like and that at the great age of one they should still be flying about with toys and annoying their elder brothers. I thought Lucy was just maturing.
Noticing wouldn’t have made any difference anyway, so I could just love her as the new life of my household. We had our time together to work and bond even after her diagnosis, and she and the universe did bring me the cats I needed later that year, in late July.
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Photos From the Archives are digital photos taken before I began blogging, and Vintage Photos are from my film archives back to 1983 when I purchased my Pentax K-1000 camera.
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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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So beautiful! We love the light and shadows play. Our old Olympus camera was fantastic at close ups but not good with color balance either. Our 12 year old Canon is okay with color but not terribly good with close ups. *sigh*
They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I replaced that Olympus with a Pentax DSLR to also replace my Pentax K1000 film camera. Luxury, but I get the photos I need.