Starr Style

Recently, here at Starr Style,  I replaced my badly damaged desk lamp (an entire shelf of books and magazines crashed down onto it) with this whimsical little number from a few years back that was waiting patiently in the attic for an encore.  These three little cutie-cats greet me each morning.

Then 3 more events happened in rapid succession that kept cats on my mind.

Gigi was a precious pink kitty for her first Halloween!

Next, my dear friend, Lance, sent me an email about “More Invisible Cat Accessories.”  At first I thought he didn’t send me the attachment.  Then, I got it!  I’m still LOLing about that one!

And then when I peeked at Facebook this morning, Adrien had posted this photo…

The first LOLcat!

So that clinched it for me.  Today, my 3 cats will appear in cyberspace in my musing!

Actually, there were 4.  The first was named Timmie and he just happened to be there when I was a small child.  I don’t know when he arrived, maybe before I was born.  He was black with white paws and other white markings that made him look like he was wearing a tux!  I do remember thinking that he would look dashing with a top hat and cane.

When we made our first move from my childhood home on Long Island into the city (Queens, actually), Timmie did not take to high-rise living.  Mom and Dad bought our coop apartment on the first floor of the 16-story building because the thought of Timmie falling off the balcony was too much to bear.  Well, within a week, Timmie left us to live in the backyard of a very large house on the same block with dozens of other cats.  We tried to coax him home, but he would not have it.  We had to be content spying him every once in a while as we walked past the house.  And we were stuck living on the first floor when we could have been living in the sky!

And what was it with those cats anyway?  It was the age of Top Cat.  They were supposed to dig city life!

We eventually gave up on Timmie ever coming home.

So, for my 9th birthday, we went to the animal shelter to pick out a kitten.  I remember traveling for a long time on the subway to get there.  It had to have been in a completely different borough like Brooklyn, the Bronx or maybe it was Staten Island.  We had a car, but for some reason we didn’t drive there.

I can remember the first time I saw the little white, fuzzy kitten in the cage with many others.  She was washing the paws of a calico.  I knew right away that she was mine.  She was my Snowball!

And so we headed back home on the subway, but this time with a treasured little kitten in a cardboard box.  That was the first of many travels for Snowball.  She lived fabulously for 19 years, reigned over 10 different homes, traveled up and down the east coast countless times from the Catskill Mountains to the lower ranges of the Chattahoochee River, endured the arrival of Sammy the Samala (more about him in another post) and graciously shared her familial laps, her coveted radiator perches and her cat food bowls with two other strays that adopted us.  And in all that time, she never once tried to leave us.

Snowball

Snowball particularly liked Christmas.  Santa would always bring her a felt mouse stuffed with catnip.  She would entertain us for hours in her catnip haze (hey, it was the 60′s)!

Catnip Aftermath

So, Snowball happily ruled the roost for several years until the arrival of the aforementioned Sammy.  And then to add insult to injury, my brother, Val, came in the house one evening and told mom that there was a sad orange cat with a broken leg hanging around outside.

Ginger’s Arrival

We took the little cat in, nursed her back to health and named her Ginger.  We tried to get help for her leg, but we were told by the vet that it was an old injury and she would live quite well with her limp.

Snowball and Ginger

“Getting to know you.”

After a while, we gave Ginger a second and more “theatrical” name.  It was Bartholo-Mew.  Well you see, our little orange cat began walking around quite normally, and it was only when she was craving some more attention that her little limp would get worse!

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!  In time, Snowball and Ginger became pretty compatible.

What’s funnier than one cat with catnip?  Two cats with catnip!

A few more years passed by and one night another stray literally crashed into our lives.  We were sitting around the kitchen table and we kept hearing a loud noise outside the back door.  Upon investigation, we found a very large white and black cat hanging on to our screen door for dear life. He would fall off and then leap back up and hang on for as long as he could.  This went on for most of the evening.  He was obviously hungry and he was not leaving so, famous last words, we said we would give him some food and then he would probably go on his way.

Well, he never did go on his way, at least for many years.  So when it was clear that our Kat Kingdom was now officially 3, we had to give our new pet a name.  He was obviously male, but the name we chose was Miriam.

Although Snowball was still and would always be the Queen, she really had her whiskers put out of joint when Miriam came to stay.  She spent much of her time hiding up in the wheel well of whichever car was parked in the driveway, probably to have some peace and quiet.  And the rest of her time was spent washing the motor oil off of her coat.  There was a time when we thought we had a gray cat instead of a white one!  But she still always had the first pick of a lap!

Snowball & Mom

Snowball & Dad

After Val and I both grew up and left home, the cats remained with Mom and Dad.  And so it was that during one of my visits home when Snowball was 19 and had been in failing health for a while, I held and petted her for the last time.  She passed peacefully later that night.

Sammy the Samala was gone by this time too, so Ginger and Miriam carried on keeping company for the next years.

Mom and dad were by this time official Snowbirds, spending Easter through Halloween in the Catskills and the winter months in Georgia.  As they were packing up and about to head north one year, Ginger could not be found.  They looked everywhere and waited a few days hoping she would show up, but she didn’t.  After they left, I checked over at their home often, but still no Ginger.  We prayed that she had found another loving family to take her in as we had many years ago.

Two years passed by and during the time my parents were back in Georgia for the winter that year, an orange cat with a limp showed up on their patio!  Could it be?  Although there is no way to be totally sure, the orange cat stayed and she and Miriam became quite close in their old age.  We affectionately named her Bartholo-Mew II!

Miriam & Ginger

A few more years passed and both cats, first Ginger and then Miriam, just as they had each arrived one day years earlier, left and never returned.  And each time, again, we prayed that a loving family took them in and cared for them.

And finally, for the first time in over 40 years, Joan and Ingvald were empty nesters!!

Miriam

Ginger (Bartholo-Mew)

Snowball – The Queen

I can still hear your purrs,

Starr