In the Kitchen With Cookie

Bernadette October 1, 2017October 1, 2017 1 Comment cats, cats in the kitchen, feline photographs, tortoiseshell cat

“The adventures, misadventures and creative efforts of a certain tortoiseshell kitty in my kitchen!”

She was intelligent and self-aware, curious and inventive yet feigned humility, and this habit of crawling into kitchen items always seemed to be a thinly veiled bid for a photo op. Until her last year Cookie hated having her photo taken; her objection may have only been that she wanted to choose her venue and pose. She was ostentatious about these kitchen poses, pausing to look directly at me, then arranging herself just so.

My kitchen has no lack of things to get into, safely, of course. I’ve found Cookie curled up in the basket with the tomatoes, curled up on my serving platter while I’m cooking dinner, and curled up next to a rustic loaf of bread on the bread board in imitation of its shape and color.

I don’t know how Cookie managed to tuck herself into some of the places she chose. She did this all her life but most of these photos were taken when she was 18 or 19 years old. She’d always had some difficulty walking and climbing, yet stepping into an one-gallon enamel pot, having a bath and curling up for a nap were not a problem. I had to take a second look when I’d walk in the kitchen and out of the corner of my eye see Cookie’s tortoiseshell fur somewhere it, well, normally wouldn’t be—I certainly can’t say “where it shouldn’t be” because it apparently very well should be where it was because Cookie put herself there.

The above text is from the calendar I designed and published in 2012, but it’s the same text I’d write today about Cookie and her endearing habit of fitting herself into things in the kitchen. She had to have some idea of its effect on me because I laughed hysterically every time I found her in one of these escapades, especially if I’d been frantically searching for her prior to finding her in, say, the soup pot where no one would think an elderly adult cat could fit.

I took many of these photos in her last two years because prior to that she would pop out of whatever she was in and give me the “no photo” look. But in those last two years she seemed to want to preserver her legacy because, as I mentioned above, she would outright pose. And many of the photos were taken coincidentally in autumn, and as I see them come past here on The Creative Cat I remember the moment, and Cookie’s habits, and those times.

The calendar also included a recipe each month, nearly all my own, nearly all derived from cooking from my organic garden for two decades, and both the gardening and the cooking duly supervised by felines, especially Cookie.

Mimi and I remember Cookie in the garden where she loved to nap and supervise me. I’m so glad Cookie passed her kitchen and garden wisdom along to Mimi so that I never go without guidance, and never lack for a friend. Until I get my garden back together and create more memories I’ll be happy to remember these.

Below is the entire list of images including the title page and back cover. Each month is linked to a post I wrote about it so you can also read about the photo and see the recipe, and the calendar page for each month also includes many other photos along the same theme.

images of cat calendars — In the Kitchen With Cookie, journal and wall style.

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Title Page

(This image does not link to a post.)

January-Cookie Cake?

February-Cookie Apple Crisp

March-Rotini Bed

April-Crabapple Crisp

May-Cookie in the Salad Bowl

June-Tomato for Your Pillow

July-Cookie Picks Sweet Corn

August-Cookie in the Pasta Bowl

September-Cookie in Every Pot

October-Chocolate Chip Cookies

November-Two Naughty Torties

December-Kitties and Cream

Back Cover

tortoiseshell cat with apples — How do you like them apples?!

Lots of good memories…

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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.