We lost our wonderful black cat yesterday completely unexpectedly. Laura went to get her for snuggles and found her cool and stiff. I think she might already have been dead when I took the picture of her in the Friday cat blogging immediately below this. It’s the position she was in when we found her tonight—curled up in one of her favorite spots. She was fat and grumpy and a bully who beat up the other cats, but she was also a sweetheart who loved to snuggle with her people and had a marvelous diesel engine purr. I’m in a complete state of shock as I write this. She hadn’t given any indication of poor health. A cat we loved is simply, suddenly gone, and there’s nothing we can do about it except mourn her. That’s the second cat we’ve lost in four months and I’m kind of broken about it. Please people, hug your loved ones and tell them how much they mean to you. You never know when the chance will be gone forever.
Here’s what she looked like when we brought her home.
Move over old man! (Spot passed not long after this)
She approached napping with reckless abandon.
Sprawl!
She was an explorer and too smart for her own good.
I conquered the kitchen!
I is in your drawers walking on your stuffs.
Hey there, want to bring me some treats?
I like treats.
I really really like treats!
Keep the plates coming thumb-monkey, I’m just getting started.
She possessed a certain gleeful malevolence.
If I was your size, I’d eat you. You know that right?
I am secretly the dragon Toothless.
It my chair, back off.
My puzzle my rules.
But she could also be playful.
All shall love me and despair.
She was utterly devoted to her nap partner. (Asleep on Laura’s chest)
She didn’t take shit from anybody.
Well, most of the time.
She could look grumpy in the most elegant of circumstances.
She adored the sun.
And the radiators. Here she is on a low bench I made so she and Meglet
could get up and down more easily as they got older.
She was very interested in the neighbors.
This is her watching robins build a nest above the window.
She was gluten free and knew which shelf she belonged on.
Adored the screen porch or anywhere she could be above other cats.
I am the queen of the bathroom!
Did I mention she knew how to sprawl.
Dignity was not her long suit.
Really really not her long suit.
She loved to hang out in our reading nook.
Or anyplace with defensible borders, really.
She had a talent for looking bored.
And for being comfortable in her skin.
This is how I saw her the most often—peering over the edge of a basket
I’m going miss her so much.
