From the Archives: A Square of Sunshine, July 13, 2005

July 16, 2022July 18, 2022 Bernadette

gray cat in a square of sunshine — A Square of Sunshine

When I walk down the basement stairs on a summer afternoon, or any sunny afternoon, I’ll see that same square of sunshine from the window in the basement door, and remember this scene. I remember Moses and her sweet, patient following of the sunshine around the house, getting every last drop for the long hours where no sun shone in until it came in the front windows in the late afternoon, even in summer.

Every day, she needed to go outside on her bricks to soak up the sun and the stored heat from the bricks she laid on, then she would move to the deck to capture the sun on the decking boards. After that she was scheduled to sit by the back door, behind the thick window in the storm door, to soak up yet more. Her last stop was the basement, to follow the square of sunshine as it moved and became a rectangle and a trapezoid across the concrete floor, until it disappeared in a thin stripe by the door.

Here she rests, not sleeping, on the basement floor in her familiar comma-shape, chin down, front paws curled, hobbled hind legs extended comfortably, and in the shadow next to her hind legs, the tip of her tail is slowly, rhythmically, curling back and tapping down on the floor in absolute bliss. Close enough and I could hear her breathy little purr. You had to know Moses to know when she was happy.

When I tiptoed partway down the basement steps and took this photo in 2005 she was 18, and had taught me much of the subtleties of feline expression, especially formerly feral feline expression.

Photos from the Archives Shared in Previous years

From the Archives: Peaches and Cream First Pictures, July 4, 2005

two calico cats — Rubbing on the walls and things.

The first official photos of Peaches and Cream a few days after they’d arrived on June 30, 2005. I’ve been holding off on these because of the quality and I know I have some on film, somewhere, I’ll find them someday, but for now here are two 15-year-olds who had lost their human and were cared for in the house for a couple of months before they came here. This is how friendly they were, and I think it’s the best justification for adopting senior cats. They just walk in and own the place! Technically, they were fosters, but I knew they were mine if no one adopted them, and doubted anyone would.

Their names were Angel and Rosebud then, before I launched a marketing campaign for their adoption and gave them catchy names. Cream, with the darker spots, wanted all the attention, and Peaches was very deferential to her sister’s wishes. You can see her several times in these photos, looking at her sister and following her example. I had the feeling her sister had been the boss all their lives.

This photo is blurry, but I like the way they are composed. They are just so comfortable with exploring.

Below, they greet a friend who visited (not every visitor here wants to appear on my blog, even though this was years ago), coming all the way down the steps and reaching out for pets.

They were two really wonderful cats, and I’m glad my friend tracked me down and told me their time was nearly up. They really had no place to go from their former home but the shelter or the vet for euthanasia. Fostering really does save lives.

Photos from the Archives Shared in Previous years

From the Archives: Still Life With Orange Cat and More from 2007

orange cat yawning — You humans are such a big yawn.

Mr. Peach thinks he’s hidden among the stuff on the cabinet by the window, but I saw him–and waited for him to see me! He found the whole thing very dull.

orange cat with household things — Still Life With Orange Cat

What’s an orange cat doing in my house? Mr. Peach, or Monsieur le Peche, was a kitty I fostered for a few months while his people determined whether the allergic reaction they were experiencing had anything to do with him. It did not, and he went back home shortly after this. You can read more about him in these links—and he’s also in the book I illustrated.

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From the Archives and Vintage Photos

I’ve decided I’m going to share “archival” and “vintage” photos on weekends from now on. I have so many photos I’ve never shared from decades that I have to set up a set way to share them or I’ll never remember.

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Everyone on the Bed, 2007

six cats on bed — All six of my cats at the time on the bed.

My entire feline family at the moment on June 12, 2007, clockwise from top: Lucy, Cookie, Peaches, Mr. Peach, Namir and Kelly. Only 10 years ago, and the color styles were completely different. I had lost four cats just the year before, my four oldest: Stanley, Sophie, Cream and Moses, and I’d been holding off taking any fosters at the time to care for them in their endstage conditions, and then Lucy was diagnosed with FIP.

I have a few of these through the years, all the cats in the household gathered together. It happened pretty frequently, but oddly enough I rarely photographed it, and often the light wasn’t very good. I think my mind was more on portrait images of my cats and not those including my crowded little house with its difficult dark areas. But up on the bed, that’s another thing. These group photos are rare and treasured, and reminds me what wonderful groups of cats I’ve lived with all through the years.

I took these right around 11:00 p.m. and I’m not sure why but all but Lucy happened to be there when I went upstairs. Of course I had my camera, and Lucy followed me. I took a few photos from the door with just the bedside lamp lit, and then when I went in and turned on more lights Lucy jumped up on the bed with them. I’m not sure she liked what she saw, judging by this photo—these five felines, her mentors, what a sorry, lazy lot!

Actually, Lucy was quite ill at the time. We’d been two months just keeping her comfortable after her diagnosis of effusive FIP and she was losing a little ground all the time, but slowly. She was just a year old but was thin, her front legs were shaved from blood testing and she was no longer the vibrant kitten she had been but still loved to be with me and with her fur siblings. She had about a month left, but we didn’t know that and paid no attention to any deadlines.

To put this briefly in perspective of where my household was at this moment, in March that year the big orange Mr. Peach joined us; one of his humans was having an issue with allergies and I agreed to foster him temporarily so they could clean the house and let a little time pass to see if it was a developing cat allergy. I would keep him forever with a stipend if it had been, but it was not, and they took Mr. Peach back just a week or two after this photo was taken.

I lost Stanley at age 25 in January that year, and Sophie previous November, 2006. Lucy had joined us in June the previous year, I lost Peaches’ sister Cream in March 2006 and Moses in February 2006.

We lost Lucy July 10, 2007, and for three weeks I had only four cats, Peaches, Cookie, Kelly and Namir. It was indeed very strange and quiet, but Mimi and the Four little beans joined us on on July 29. It was a time of deep change, and love and grief, but I remember only the sweetness. Not one of these cats is with me now. I’m so glad I have this photo to remember this moment.

I will add that most of the photos I took were too blurry to use, and it was one of my deciding factors to get a good DSLR, and I purchased my Pentax in October that year.

A few vignettes from the collection:

Mr. Peach, or Monsieur le Peche—this was the only clear photo from this set.

orange cat — Mr. Peach with Kelly’s tail.

Namir, a pile of tangled legs.

Kelly, always near Namir, and with her tail resting on Mr. Peach, ever the little sister with her fur brothers, in fact Kelly loved being surrounded by all of her feline family.

tortoiseshell cat — Kelly loved to be with her family.

Cookie. In one of the blurry photos she is looking at me, which is soooo Cookie in a situation like this, and in another she had rolled over on her back in the infamous “goddess” pose.

Peaches, just a little loaf. It’s funny how cats have individual mannerisms for common positions—she never curled both front paws under symmetrically, but always had the left just underneath and the right wrapped across the front.

I don’t have a good photo of Lucy from this set because, of course, she’s black and difficult to photograph in challenging light! Another rationale for a DSLR, especially once I suddenly had five black cats a short while later, and aware of the value of capturing as many good shots as possible. I was careful with my photos of Lucy anyway because she could look very gaunt and ill. I documented that, but also felt I’d been cheated out of a lifetime of photographing my lithe little house panther so I carefully took photos that were what she possibly would have looked like in the future. I photographed her daily. She loved this pink and gray and white throw rug which I’d always had on the concrete basement floor for Moses who liked to lie in the sun from the window in the basement door. Lucy was diagnosed at about the time the sun came in the window in earnest, and then later when I opened the door each day so the cats could enjoy the sun and air through the screen, Lucy spent time in her sunbath each day on this rug. I have so many photos of her; each set is different, and I found some long lost film prints that are haunting in the intentional distortions I’d made with lenses and filters. For now, here is “Lucy on her beach towel” earlier that day.

black cat on striped towel — Lucy on her beach towel.

(I was so busy in June I forgot to share this, fully a month ago.)

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.

Art and Gifts featuring cats you know! Visit Portraits of Animals

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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.