Life with Kittens
I didn't post a blog about it. I'm not sure why. We had to put our beloved little diva, Valencia, to sleep on January 26. She had been sick for a couple of weeks, been through a series of tests at the vets, and when the doctor said "cancer" we decided that our beautiful girl had suffered enough. It was heart wrenching.
And then we tried to adjust to life without a cat. Valencia had come to us as an eight-week old rescue. She was just three months shy of being 14 when she passed. Our home felt so wrong without her. And saying hello and good-bye to the fish just wasn't the same.
So on Valentine's weekend, we decided to go the humane society and see who was there. We met a pair of kittens, a brother and a sister, who had just been brought in off the street. I picked up the little girl, a brown/gray tabby and she just settled against my chest. When I went to put her down, she wouldn't let go. Clearly, I had been picked. We went in knowing we wanted two cats, so her brother automatically became part of the package. When we were in the office filling out the adoption paperwork, the kittens were brought to us. The little boy, an inquisitive little black cat with two splashes of white on his tummy, kept rubbing on Steve's legs as he ran around. He'd run off and explore, run back and rub Steve's leg, then run off again. Over and over. Clearly, Steve had been picked, too.
Naming them was a challenge. The names we had pre-picked didn't fit them. We had settled on another pair when a friend commented that "Merlin is a good name for a black cat." Steve has long loved the Arthurian legend, particularly as told in the series written by Mary Stewart. Thus, the little boy was dubbed Myrddin Emrys. That's the Welsh version of Merlin's name. It's pronounced MER-then Em-ris. Wanting to stick with the theme, I pondered female names from the legend. Neither Morgaine nor Morgana really fit. And I wouldn't go with Guinevere because I never really liked the character. In some versions of the Arthurian legend, Nimue is the name of the Lady of the Lake, the priestess who gave Arthur Excalibur. In Stewart's series, the Lady was Vivienne and Nimue was Merlin's lover. Nimue, pronounced NIM-way fit. And so our kittens were dubbed Welsh names that no one can pronounce. :-)
They've been a part of our family for about six weeks now. We forgot how crazed life with kittens can be, but it's good to have cats back in our lives. We still miss Valencia. But having Myrddin and Nimue helps a lot.
This video was shot the other day as we were leaving the apartment. We have installed an accordion door across the hallway so they are contained in a specific, kitten-proofed area. The kittens hate being apart from us.
And then we tried to adjust to life without a cat. Valencia had come to us as an eight-week old rescue. She was just three months shy of being 14 when she passed. Our home felt so wrong without her. And saying hello and good-bye to the fish just wasn't the same.
So on Valentine's weekend, we decided to go the humane society and see who was there. We met a pair of kittens, a brother and a sister, who had just been brought in off the street. I picked up the little girl, a brown/gray tabby and she just settled against my chest. When I went to put her down, she wouldn't let go. Clearly, I had been picked. We went in knowing we wanted two cats, so her brother automatically became part of the package. When we were in the office filling out the adoption paperwork, the kittens were brought to us. The little boy, an inquisitive little black cat with two splashes of white on his tummy, kept rubbing on Steve's legs as he ran around. He'd run off and explore, run back and rub Steve's leg, then run off again. Over and over. Clearly, Steve had been picked, too.
Naming them was a challenge. The names we had pre-picked didn't fit them. We had settled on another pair when a friend commented that "Merlin is a good name for a black cat." Steve has long loved the Arthurian legend, particularly as told in the series written by Mary Stewart. Thus, the little boy was dubbed Myrddin Emrys. That's the Welsh version of Merlin's name. It's pronounced MER-then Em-ris. Wanting to stick with the theme, I pondered female names from the legend. Neither Morgaine nor Morgana really fit. And I wouldn't go with Guinevere because I never really liked the character. In some versions of the Arthurian legend, Nimue is the name of the Lady of the Lake, the priestess who gave Arthur Excalibur. In Stewart's series, the Lady was Vivienne and Nimue was Merlin's lover. Nimue, pronounced NIM-way fit. And so our kittens were dubbed Welsh names that no one can pronounce. :-)
They've been a part of our family for about six weeks now. We forgot how crazed life with kittens can be, but it's good to have cats back in our lives. We still miss Valencia. But having Myrddin and Nimue helps a lot.
This video was shot the other day as we were leaving the apartment. We have installed an accordion door across the hallway so they are contained in a specific, kitten-proofed area. The kittens hate being apart from us.
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