Daily Photo: Always Waiting for Dinner
They do gather to wait for dinner every night, but this was a very interesting arrangement with Bean standing over Bella and demanding dinner and Bella not minding at all, instead of Giuseppe leading the way and singing. I see it all the time, but I never get tired of seeing them all together. Charm was looking out the window thinking of squirrel for dinner, and Mimi and Mewsette were sitting in boxes at my feet. They don’t care for the big crowd up there.
I actually posted this on Facebook earlier this evening because I couldn’t wait.
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What other photos did I feature on this date?
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From the Archives: A June Morning, 2002
On sunny June mornings when I look out the basement door at the sun dappling the brick patio I’d built there, I always picture Moses reclining on the bricks, now and then rolling on her back and slowly rolling all the way over, soaking in the sun from above and its reflected heat from below. She rolled around on those bricks nearly every day of the year, even in winter, even when I had to clear snow. She was as stubborn as the bricks she rolled on, but I would have parted the clouds myself for her to have her daily sunny nap on the bricks. As one of my occasional vintage photos, here is Moses enjoying a June morning just as I’ll always remember her.
Moses was 12 before she sat on my lap, and I could never pet her with both hands, only one at a time. Long before she trusted me enough to pet her, I was besotted with her shy and gentle personality, and as long as I didn’t make any attempt to pick her up or entrap her in any way, or any loud noises or fast moves, she would sit near me purring and blinking at me happily. I nearly cried with happiness when she did this. With her thick gray fur and sweet personality—”If she was any sweeter, she’d melt,” I always said—I called her The Velveteen Kitty.
When other people entered the house, she sidled off behind something and seemed to disappear. If she was frightened and couldn’t hide she rolled up in a ball and hid her face but never ran away. And she was absolutely silent, only after several years giving a little “silent meow” but talking happily to herself late at night when all other cats were in bed with me as I heard the sound of a bizzy ball downstairs.
I initially thought she was simply too wary or frightened to run and play like other kittens, but I also noticed that sometimes her hind legs wobbled. She could jump short distances but certainly not like the others, and she never ran but only trotted and went up and down the steps like a bunny. But when her hind legs didn’t seem to catch up to the rest of her body I asked the veterinarian about it and had her X-rayed. Her legs had seemed to quit developing at some point, the joint not completed and working properly, the bones smaller than they should be, the muscles undeveloped. Whether this was from prenatal or post-natal malnutrition, a genetic condition or all of the above no one could know. Though she couldn’t run and play but could only sit or lie down and only do a partial cat stretch, and this condition must have been quite painful, she never let this get in her way of enjoying her day, always ready with a soft purr and an eye blink for me.
When glucosamine/chondroitin supplements became available I gave her the pills for about a month. It made no difference in her ability and only served to make her wary of me, and while she tolerated the pill she gave me one of her very direct looks and headed for a spot of sunshine, or asked to be allowed into her outside areas so she could soak in the sunshine. This was her preferred therapy.
In her later years she was the spirit of my garden, her main goal to find the sunniest spot on some nice, warm bricks and have a really good nap as birds, voles and other creatures went about their daily habits to her sleepy disregard. She quit running when strangers arrived as her hearing and eyesight began to fail in her later teens and she simply wasn’t as aware of them. She made it to her nineteenth year, accepting all of her physical limitations but enjoying life no less than some other cats who race around the house, beg for attention and steal food.
Read more about Moses in My Favorite Feral, and My Enlightenment.
And a few other photos: Early, and Late, in the Year
And browse the archives for Moses
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Cool Cats
The temperatures were so high this week that I had to take away the red plaid bed, and Lakota was not happy! But he was also getting overheated in there—he’d get up and drag himself over to the tile floor and lie there. I gave them a fluffy rug and the two did fine right away. They are doing well and every once in a while a block the top of the stairs and let the two roam the upstairs for some exercise.
Jojo has lovely green eyes, and fits right into the black and green bathroom theme!
Lakota likes to turn in a circle and rub his face on all his catnip toys. But here it’s time for a sunbath, so play must stop for a while.
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Desktop Performances
Everything was going fine, then Jelly Bean decided to turn himself inside out and sing.
Really, how am I supposed to work under these conditions? Bean did all sorts of stretches and rolls, and big sturdy Mewsette didn’t even wake up. Was this all an act to amuse me. Or abuse me? Please guys, I have work to do!
Jelly Bean stops to make sure I’m looking.
Later, all is peaceful as the sun passes behind the houses at the top of the hill, and all five cats are deeply slumbering on my desk, in the dark puddle on the left it’s Mimi and Giuseppe and on the right it’s Mr. Sunshine, Bean and Mewsette.
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Wouldn’t you like five sleek black house panthers to take over your desk? June is Adopt a Cat Month, and here’s a fine selection of black cats to choose from!
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. 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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They are so easily amused! Adopt during Adopt a Cat Month!
Browse some rescued cats and kittens!
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.
Inspired by felines you know! Visit Portraits of Animals on Etsy.
© 2015 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
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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guys…we iz all ways waitin for dinner two even if itz brek fest time….. 🙂 ♥♥
🙂