I iz not cat. I iz quiet fuzzy blue lump.

You IZ cat !! and you iz tasty

"Do what you will," he sez. "I'm not moving."

Such a good mouser is Kai!

I can't stand the cuteness!

I lay curled on my side in the darkness last night, drifting off to sleep. Then I heard the four-part thump-thump of Wicket landing on the bed. A moment later I felt his soft breath on my cheek, so I reached a hand out of my nest of blankets, and scratched his head. Then he made a circuit around my entire body, leaning heavily against me the whole way, as close to a full-body hug as a cat can get, I guess. He rounded my feet and came back towards my head. I waited, waited, knowing what was to come. Sure enough, I felt his breath again on the back of my neck, I don't call him Snuffler for nothing, and then--there it was--the munch-munch of him noshing on my hair. I had to laugh out loud.

All three

Mz. Jen and Wicket, tea-time

Ugliest yet (sorry Wicket, had to do it)

Gorgeous girl

Bella's lip has been lookin' funny lately.

It's her bottom lip. Just in front it's swollen a little, giving her a sultry, full-lipped look (this picture was pre-swell). It doesn't keep her from drinking or eating or rubbing her face along every available surface as I scratch her back, though.

I'll keep an eye on it...

Wicket in the window

All of WIcket plus Kai's nose

Up close and personal

Pop! goes the Wicket....

Wicket stalks Girl-Under-the-Bed

Ways to recognize my cats in the dark...

In the night, before I sleep...

Wicket stumbles as he lands. It's a thump-sound of at least three parts, then a pause for recovery. He's got a sweaty little boy smell (in a good way), and the skin around his neck bunches as he walks.

I know Kai by the thick, soft plush of his coat, and the way he lifts his head to meet my hand, and the way that he always nibbles my fingers if I offer them in just the right way. I can feel his backbone bones.

I know Meera by the lack of backbone bones. She's generously proportioned, and she's least likely to come near my face. She sits still as I rub my thumb across her nose and eyes and forehead, and purrs, purrs, purrs.

Pretty Girl 1

Pretty girl 2

Meera crawls INTO the blue chair

Wicket gives it a try

Pensive

Kai hangs over...

...the edge of his favorite piece of furniture: the teacart.

Sympathy blogging...

...for my friend Lizzie, who's feeling pretty bad right now.

The other day I went out to eat at the Olive Garden, and brought home a giant bag of leftovers. A giant, paper bag with handles. A giant, paper bag with handles that Kai found irresistable.

I left it on the kitchen floor, and only realized my mistake when I heard the bag being dragged at horrendous speed from one room to the other. By the time I got to Kai, he'd disentangled himself, but he wouldn't let me near him for hours. He stayed under the bed and just looked so scared still. It broke my heart.

The next day he was back to his usual self, but oh the guilt! The guilt!

Is Wicket prettier here?!

Or here?!

Mock catfight: Wicket vs. Kai

Post-mock catfight

More Kai, black and white

Kai sleeping in black and white

Soooo reflective of their personalities...

After being gone for days, and wondering what kind of welcome I'd receive, I unlocked my apartment door, and called for the kitties.

Wicket sat in his usual spot, about two feet inside the front door (Jen, he can back up when he wants too!), mewing his little head off. Very vocal, that one. Then he ignored me for the rest of the night, sniffing corners and staring out the window until 2 a.m. rolled around, when he curled around my sleeping head and started purring.

Kai came trotting from the bedroom, and was all cuddles and leg rubs all evening.

Meera stayed under the bed during the somewhat chaotic process of unpacking, except for the two times that she darted out, made a beeline to me for some headscratch, and ran back to her hidey-hole.

Typical! (I love typical)

Wicket and the turtle

So on the last day of my incredible vacation this past weekend, I picked up this turtle magnet from the Museum of Natural History on Cape Cod. Immediately I thought of my bebbies, and sure enough, here's Wicket making friends... (Its legs are on springs!!)

Back on Wednesday!

This lil photographer will be incommunicado until Wednesday... So here are a few more pics of wobbly Wicket to tide us all over:

Back to back

Airborne!

(Kai, Wicket, Kai)

Caption this photo!

"...and the stars in their paths agree, the great riddle of the universe shall break on the seventh day of..."

OR

"...dang! i shouldn't have eaten that last kibble..."

Meera, being inscrutable

"Guys, look how wide I can open my mouth"

"Joe, is this mike on?"

Oh No He Didn't

You wouldn't believe how tenaciously a cat can cling to a smooth surface. I had to pull him out by his hind legs because he wouldn't back up and he couldn't turn around. Jeez lawheeze.

Never before seen

There she lay, entirely at ease and oblivious to everything in the room. Such an unnatural state for Meera that I doubted myself. Was this truly Meera? A second glance at her generous girth left no room for doubt. It must be she, yet I had never seen her so...relaxed.

She lay as though there weren't two black-eyed boys in the next room, sparking with electricity and ferociously on the prowl. She lay as though her human weren't two feet away, dying to put her ear to that exposed belly and listen to her heartbeat.

I've glimpsed flashes of white as she leapt from floor to chair, or as she tussled with her brother, so I knew she carried tiny cloudlets in the luxuriance of her underbelly. But who would have predicted the shapes of those clouds? Can it be that we've shared space for a year and a half, and I never knew about the heart she hides?

Take a look...

ACHOO (baba) !!

So we went three whole days without sneezing, and then Wicket had to go and ruin it all by spraying us all as we lay on the couch. And then within the next two hours, MeeraKai & I all sneezed ourselves...

To freak out, or not to freak out, that is the question...


Is this the universe telling me to vacuum more often?? Will Terry Pratchett weigh in on this one?

Their wildlife counterparts...

If Kai is a meerkat (see http://meerakai.blogspot.com/2007/03/hmmm.html), then Wicket is a desert fox...

(And now it's so obvious, Aunt Jennie! Thx!)

kaiwicketmeera

From below and to the left, a crazy-mad-beautiful eye

Awwww....

My newest little loaf of bread.

Kai in the blue light, last night

Wicket...waiting....watching....

Steam clouds and water beads

Meera has a partner now, at least in one thing she does--waiting for me to open the bathroom door after my shower. Where once there was one little loaf of bread waiting patiently for the fun of steam clouds and water beads, now there are two!

But Wicket still isn't allowed to attack her tail... No! she says, That is NOT a toy!

To do: find rugs with rubber tread

The lady who lives below me says that when I'm gone she can hear a herd of elephants racing from one end of the apartment to the other. She's not complaining; she loves to know they're keeping themselves entertained. Her cat Boobers jumps onto the kitchen counter and turns her head to follow my cats' progress across the floor above.

This morning I was caught in the stampede of Kai and Wicket. From bedroom to living room to kitchen, to living room and bedroom again. Is there anything funnier than watching a cat try to race around on un-carpeted floors? I keep meaning to get more rugs, guys, really I do.

...drifting along with a tumblin' tumbleweed...

There's always that one stubborn little fluff of hair that escapes the vacuum cleaner. Somehow it knows where to safely hide from 64 horsepower suckage, and then when the machine bent on its destruction is tucked away and the lady of the house curls into the couch with a book and a cat, this little tumbleweed rolls serenely out of its hiding spot and tickles her toes.

Yesterday afternoon the fluff went airborne for a moment. It was amibitious, daring, and beautiful as it rode the air current. And blissfully unaware. The moment it left the ground, Meera locked her eyes onto it, then watched it rise two feet into the air and drift over the arm of the blue chair...at which point she leaped and snagged it, and ate it.

Which death is better? Death by vacuum, or death by Meera?