From the Archives: A Meeting in the Bedroom, 2003
It looks like Sophie and Namir and Stanley were having a conversation in my bedroom and Kelly came in but took a flying leap up onto the chest of drawers. She was like that, kind of unpredictable. The photo is a little blurry, but it’s still a wonderful memory for me of a time and place and cats I loved just being themselves. It might be a little difficult to notice Stanley’s head and ears right next to the chest of drawers in the lower left (and I’m guessing from the lack of spots, because at first I didn’t even see that cat, then thought it was Cookie).
They all liked my bedroom on sunny spring afternoons, especially in those days—before I sold my mother’s house and had no other place to keep her things than my own little house, and then the press of paperwork for two people with constant medical issues. My mother made the braided rug in the middle of the floor from army surplus wool goods after WWII, and it came down to me when she no longer wanted it on top of her carpeting. The cats loved the wool, and the texture, and Kelly, especially would run into the room and fall down and rub herself all over the rug, talking to herself. Sophie and Namir and Stanley did, too, but no one was as enthusiastic as Kelly. I still have the rug, but the thread that held the braided rows together just gave out and it’s been too big of a project for me to repair all these years. I hope to get to it soon.
But just as today, I would often look into my bedroom to see most of the household in there, on the bed, on the floor, on the windowsill, just a bunch of cat friends doing cat things.
Here is Kelly on the chest of drawers. She decided to have a conversation with me, but even though I used the flash my camera wasn’t fast enough to get a photo of her talking. This was in the days of my first little 2MP digital point and shoot, not the best but it certainly captured many moments for this household.
I actually took these photos on March 31, 2003, but I didn’t get to them last weekend. Close enough!
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Photos from the archives in previous years
Kelly Camouflaged, 2006, And More
Kelly is cleverly camouflaged among the cat pillows and she is certain you can’t see her. Kelly loved her secluded little spots, especially on the bed in the afternoon. In 2006 she was the youngest cat in the house at just about 11 years old, but she never seemed to age a day from the day she came here to the day we lost her, always those green eyes and big ears, and her tortie spots. I didn’t want to look at her for too long because she would get up from her happy spot to greet me, and I wanted her to have a wonderful long afternoon nap.
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Moses’ Morning Thermonuclear Treatment
If Mimi insists on going outside in the morning, she is not the first. Moses had suffered pretty severe malnutrition early in life and had bad joints in her legs and some amount of arthritis in her hips. From some time in the mid 90s she had requested to go outside in the sun for at least a few minutes each day, and I’m convinced it helped ease the pain of her joints and arthritis. In 2005, Moses was 18 years old but was still going strong, even for as quiet and understated as this former feral cat was. I apparently had things to do in the kitchen and couldn’t go outside with her, but I had the deck exits blocked and she liked the warmth that pooled right by the door even on a cold sunny morning. As the sun moved, so would she, but she had to come back in eventually. So sweet, my gently little gray tabby girl.
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Wrong Color Camouflage, 2007
Cookie truly believes she’s used her environment to her best advantage in stealthily monitoring the doves on the feeder. It’s unfortunate that Cookie’s feline color perceptions can’t really tell that pink and green does not mask black and orange, but what do I know, I’m just a human, and humans are famous for not seeing what’s important. I’m sure the doves can’t see her in any case, and most of the birds who visit these feeders seem to be aware that a window is between themselves and the cats who are watching them.
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Silly Mewsette and Her Mama Mimi, 2008
Mewsette is very silly. She is so convinced she is camouflaged by the Christmas cactus that she is hanging over the edge of the wardrobe like the plant. Why is she doing this? Because her mom is stalking her! The two get into a happy slapfest and then most likely give in to the warm spring sun and have a nap.
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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