Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Lunch First, Photos Later, Maybe: 2011

two tortoiseshell cats
Tortitude preventing a good photo.

Cookie and Kelly decidedly do not look at me when I take their photo. I should be feeding them lunch, not fooling around with that thing I put in front of my face which they are so tired of—and at their ages, 17 and 19, they have every right to be very, very tired of me and that thing. Meals have been held for far too many photos.

Plus, I’m acting like an fool, waving my hands and yelling at them as if they don’t know I’m there when they surely do. I have some stupid thing made of shiny strips that I’m waving above my head. They don’t care. They’ve seen it all. They are intentionally ignoring me to make the point that photos are not important. Lunch is important. Now.

They should know after all these years that if they just look at me, just once, I’ll stop fooling around and feed them.

They did. I got my photo, they got their lunch. Compromise. It works every time, especially if the light is good.

But aren’t they the very image of feline tolerance of human foolishness?

Cookie and Kelly got their Senior Tortie Lunch Special in my studio where they could eat in peace without five younger cats wondering why they weren’t getting lunch as well. While no one would have even considered trying to steal Cookie’s food—she apparently sent out some signal that I couldn’t see which caused a great amount of respect to be given to her—Kelly was and still is an easy target, and if one of the others would walk near her or look at her, she would feel uncomfortable and even stop eating, which meant that someone else would get her lunch.

But I could spend some quiet time with just the two of them, the studio was cooler and quieter, and at this time I was still arranging it and we had a nice time each lunchtime.

And while Cookie and Kelly are both tortoiseshell cats, they are quite different in personality and build and markings, but here you can see the one similarity between the two—their front paws. Their left paws are nearly solid black with just a few speckles, while their right paws are nearly solid black except the first toe on the inside, pretty much the same color of caramel. Of all the photos I made them wait for their meals for me to shoot, I made them wait until I got the photo I wanted of their paws all lined up, but I never got it. The photo was either blurry or badly lit or someone’s tail landed on top of their paws. No wonder I got such tortitude when I tried to get this photo!


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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.

Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

2 thoughts on “Lunch First, Photos Later, Maybe: 2011

    • Savannah, I looked forward to it every day. They would wait in the kitchen, and initially I had to pick up Kelly and carry her and both dishes, and Cookie would follow. Then I didn’t want Cookie to have to walk all that way since she didn’t mind but couldn’t walk too fast, so I would pick up each one and tuck her under my arm in the kitchen, “One tortoiseshell, two tortoiseshell…” A very sweet memory.

      Reply

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