Whiskers and Tales, er, Tails

This lovely, cold winter morning I awoke to find a small, stiff, dead mouse on my hallway rug. Almost stepped on it in bare feet. Gross. Well, that woke me up pretty fast. Didn’t even need coffee to jump-start my engine.

The poor mouse didn’t just drop dead. We have two four-legged, whiskered, furry friends. Zoe and Blueberry. To them, a mouse is like a soccer ball. SCORE!! Once it stops moving, game over. These are not the kind of  felines that would eat a mouse. Gross. They are nice Jewish cats and would prefer something boneless. Preferably, poached salmon with a little dill sauce. Only the best for my little girls.

We are definitely a cat family. We’ve had many cats over the years. My husband adores dogs, but he is highly allergic. I love dogs too. But I love sleeping in when I don’t have to get to work at the crack of dawn. Zoe and Blueberry know not to wake us in the mornings. We’ve trained them well.

Zoe is mostly ragdoll.  Long hair, silky and soft. She’s beautiful. And she knows it. Try to pet her. Not happening. She walks away. Only cat I ever met who doesn’t like to be petted. Except late at night. She curls up next to me in bed and then the petting and purring begins. And if I try to move away, she just holds on to me. Sometimes I get a cat bath on my arm. That’s love for ya.

Blueberry is part Russian Blue. She’s sleek and elegant. And fast. That girl can run. And destroy. It’s like having a locomotive in my house. And when the two of them play chase, forget trying to do anything. Just sit and get out of the way. Blueberry has a motor in her that you can hear from across the room. She adores my husband. Even sits on his lap when he’s working on his laptop. She’s so loveable.

I have a baby grand in my living room. Well of course I do. It sits in the tower part of the living room (See photos on side bar for Opus 111). On a sunny day, both cats sleep on top of the piano. We have special cushions for them so their nails won’t scratch the finish. One cat on one end and the other at the opposite end. There are windows all around so the sun comes in and it’s a perfect place for a cat nap.

I love cats because they ARE so independent. I know so many people who tell me cats are not as nice as dogs. They aren’t loyal blah, blah, blah. I beg to differ good people. MY Zoe greets me at the door when I come home from work. I pick her up, give her a hug and then she squirms and I let her down and she follows me around the house like a shadow.

Sammy (my keyboard man) and Maddy (from Trieste) have a zoo in their house. They have 2 dogs, 3 cats and at last count I believe 6 or 7 kittens. Sammy loves cats so much that if he had the means he would take every stray cat and give it a home. Maddy has a difficult time giving away the kittens. Not because people won’t take them, but because she loves them so much.

Cats can sense when there is a cat lover in their presence. Sammy has no problem picking up Zoe (when he’s here in Boston). She knows he’s a cat person. She’ll tolerate it for like 2 seconds and then it’s ok put me down I have things to do.

I will be the old woman with a cat. Sitting in my big old chair reading. With a cat on my lap. Yeah. I’m not seeing that picture either. OK. I’ll be the hip old woman with a cat hanging out on my piano while I sit at my PC writing blog posts.

Next post from Trieste. Stay tuned!