Goodness, that took a while ...

[blamebrampton]

That last month has been interesting. As is usually the case, after something very stressful, I fell over in a heap with flu. The annoying sort where one is febrile, knackered and filled with joint pain rather than the snotty manky kind where at least one is so obviously ill that one receives sympathy from all around. The obvious downside to this is that typing has been painful all month, the ridiculous downside is that I have spent many evenings languishing on the sofa with a blanket clutched to my bosom, apparently about to sing a charming aria regarding imminent death from tuberculosis and cold hands. Bloody Puccini.

That's not the only thing that's been keeping me from typing, there's this, too:

We bit the bullet and went to the cat pound. There we looked at many little cats who all performed great feats of cuteness in a bid to have us choose them. In the corner was a little black and white cat who looked at us, sniffed disdainfully, and went back to bathing in her little patch of sunlight. I picked her up; she was so soft and small. She nestled against me and purred for a moment. The pound woman said "Oh yes, that's Cookie, she's been here for five months, I don't know why no one wants her. She had kittens that were all adopted, and a best friend who was adopted, but she is always left behind."

I looked at her, and she looked back at me with a cat expression that very clearly said "Yeah, you feel sorry for me, but I know you will go away and forget about me." I put her back down and she went back to sunbathing, ignoring us while the other kitties continued trying to make us love them.

Naturally I decided she must be mine.

J and I went away to think about it for a day or two, the next day I rang back and paid for Cookie's desexing and put her on reserve. We went to pick her up the following weekend. I was worried about J, because it was too soon in many ways, but I thought that such a low-key, sweet and pretty little cat might be just what he needed to take his mind of Min.

We went to pick her up the following weekend, and J had several damp-eyed Min moments along the way. They brought Cookie out to us and she was very shy and diffident. I had a vague worry that I had chosen a feeble cat. We opened the little cat flap on the top of the carrier, she slinkied her way out of the hole, which is only just large enough to stick an adult hand through. Then she sat on top of the carrier, squinted at us and began to purr. Her domination of the Brammers household began at that moment.

Once home, she sat under the sofa for a bit, then climbed out to sit on first me, then J. We were won over fully by then. That night she played with some of her toys, quietly, and then came and slept on the edge of the bed for a while. The next morning we heard her running up and down the hall, but when we finally rose from bed, she was nowhere to be seen. We decided she must be hiding, so left her to herself for a while, but after three hours we began looking for her.

Not under the sofa, not under either bed, not nestled in the spare bed duvet, not snuggled in the fabric store in the craft room. We could hear the odd little jingle of her bell (I normally only bell outside cats (well, never Min, she'd have eaten it), but thought it would be a good plan for her first few days inside). After a few more hours of fruitless searching, I told J that the bell sounded as though it was coming from the chimney.

He agreed, despite the fact that it the chimney is fronted by one of those old-fashioned fireplaces that have a little gate to the chimney, it was only open a crack, but then, she is a very small cat. J took my camera and shot photographs upwards and downwards, not a sign. We tore the study apart searching for her.

My friend deense arrived, I apologised for not being able to introduce her to the new cat, and expressed some concern that she had been missing for seven hours and apparently I had managed to kill two cats within the one month. Hurrah. Deense talked me down off the cat-killing ledge, and made me watch stupid telly.

An hour later, I heard a jingle jingle. J came out with Cookie in his arms. Apparently she had been hiding in the soot at the bottom of the chimney and had stuck her little face out of the crack in the gate a moment before, with a chirpy miaow. There was great joy at the discovery.

The following week fell into a quick pattern, Cookie would wake us up to play with her a little earlier than our normal time, then we would go to work, then we would come home and she would fall upon us with glee demanding we play for an hour or two. When I went to write, she would sit on the laptop, which is apparently a heated cat bed, who knew? After two days of this, J turned to me and said: "We need to get a cat for the cat."

The following weekend we went to another pound, and looked at several cats. Most of them were too pale to live outside at all (and in the summer, we want them to be outside in the daytime, because our house is small and our garden is perfect for cats), the ones who weren't were haters of other cats.

We were perplexed; so many kitties, yet none perfect. There were a few cages in the adult cat area that were filled with older kittens, around four months old. J wandered over to one and found a little tortiseshell girl kitten that was being swiped to one side by her rambunctious brothers. He scooped her up for a quick pat, she scampered up onto his shoulder and nestled against his neck, then began to groom his hair.

And that was how Monster came to live with us. And yes, J named her, he is so terribly funny. They amuse each other endlessly and are unbelievably distracting for us. We still miss Min, we know that Min would have eaten them, but they are bringing smiles into the house, and we know that we rescued Cookie from a certain and imminent death, so that's cheering.

leochi's cat and Draco drawings have been making me smile of late, but I am still miles behind on commenting on everything. I am also miles behind on reading Worldcup. I think that I am doomed to remain so. I have a few things I wanted to talk about on the commenting palaver, but that involves me having energy enough to do so. Right now, it is time to return to the blanky and the kitties.

Comments

[libby-drew.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Kitteh! She looks adorable. I bet she's happy to have adopted such caring parents. :D

So sorry you've been ill, darling. *sends healing thoughts*

[calanthe-fics.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor Brammers! I have missed you so much but accept my third place behind kitties and sickness.

My advice to you is don't try to catch up with fandom. Let your friends tell you which fics to read and leave it at that. Much as you'd love to be WonderWoman (and probably do in fact own a pair of spankly knickers) at your ripe old age it's probably best to aim low and thus save much disappointment.

[vaysh11.livejournal.com]

Ah, missed you and cat updates and detailed and cleverly worded commentary :-). Cookie and Monster just sound so utterly adorable. *happy sigh*

Hope to see you all well sooon!

[raitala.livejournal.com]

Cookie looks so sweet! I think it's great you've gone and got new cats - it's really the only way to get over the death of a beloved pet. I hope you start feeling better soon. :)

[alex-s9.livejournal.com]

Do you know that Cookie looks just like my Pimpo? As if they were twins. And right now they have similar personalities as well, quite shy and cuddly. And lately Pimpo developed a psychosis: he keeps licking his front paw. The doctor says it the result of surgery.

Best of luck with both cats.

[pushdragon.livejournal.com]

I love your cat stories. As you know, it helps with my constant cat craving. So thank you!

I hope you shake your fever soon, my dear. Take care.

[absynthedrinker.livejournal.com]

Cookie looks just like my cat Madeleine. I look forward to all the new kitteh stories. I hope you feel better soon. Thanks for being a "cat" person.

Peace,

Bubba

[joanwilder.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear how sick you were--stress'll do that. You hold up fine until it's done, then wham!

Cookie and Monsters are lucky kitties; how nice you got a cat for your cat--many people don't realize that this is the best thing you can do for them. I'm sure you'll have years of pleasure while they deign to live with you and J. ♥

[bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com]

Yay for the new kitties - I got the pics too. Adorable. Ben loves loves loves cats so I keep having to fight the temptation to go to the shelter and get one because, really, it would be a pretty shitty existance for a cat, living solely to be terrorized by a toddler. Plus, we're drowning in animal hair as it is.

I hope you are feeling better soon. World Cup has been pretty wicked. There are definitely a few stand-outs amongst the stories and the artwork has been awesome, even when not my personal cup of tea. I haven't been commenting though - too much pressure!

Ben is sick again and I feel it coming on for me too. No surprise there. He started daycare last Monday and was the only kid without a super snotty nose. By Friday, he had a super snotty nose. *sighs*

Anyway, rest, feel better, snuggle kitties, and come back to us when you have the energy - we miss you!

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Two new kitties! And so pretty! That's the good sort of distraction. :-)

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

Cats make everything better, don't they?

[rocket62204.livejournal.com]

"Right now, it is time to return to the blanky and the kitties."

That sounds like my idea of bliss. :) And the kitties sound adorable. Cookie's pic is beautiful. *pets her and Monster*

My cat Bunnie (she's a Manx ^.^ ) loves to sleep on my bed. When she was a kitten, she lived inside for a few months. Now she's an outside cat, and whenever we open the door, she darts inside and looks around like "Well, it's my house, isn't it?" :D

[tnumfive.livejournal.com]

It's crazy, as soon as I started reading this an ad for the ASPCA came on with sad eyed kitties and puppies and "In the Arms of an Angel" playing in the background and before it was over, I was contemplating going to the shelter to adopt a small army of critters.

I'm really glad to hear you got a tortie. I personally love them, but they're the hardest color to get adopted because most people think they're ugly. I once had a tortie named Rick James. No one ever called her just "Rick" or "James", she was "Rick James". Darling, darling cat. Where I lived you pretty much HAD to have outdoor cats to keep the mice from sneaking out of the woods into the house. An unfortunate truth is that outdoor cats don't tend to live as long as indoor cats.

I was sad to hear about Min, but I'm glad to see two shelter cats given a good home :)

[(Anonymous)]

She's so cute! Goddamn it, I need a cat!

Also, that's the third cookiemonster reference to pop up in my life today. What could the universe be telling me?

[miriravan.livejournal.com]

Oh, cute, cute! Kittens are so much fun, and it's so sweet that they love each other. My four mostly tolerate one another, but there is no love, so sad (or, you know, aggravating).

Congratulations on your new family members, and I'm glad you're feeling better.

[lisbet.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the new kitties! They sound adorable:)

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

As I'm reading this Kai and Loki are alternately jumping into the water in the bath, and diving across my bed and down the stairs. It's like cat stories in sens-a-round.

I hope the evol stress lurgy is finally losing the fight - hitting high C is never fun with only 20% lung capacity.

Your kitties are beautiful - and I think have found themselves a wonderful home. How is the Min ghost going? is she still leaping out at them from dark places?

*hugs and sends kitty love*

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

i had a cat that looked like cookie, she was a foundling and fairly psychotic. also half siamese. have you checked out cookie's full voice yet? mine was named persephone (though she was nearly named antigone. my other cat was named casseopia). someone suggested i call her boots. er, no.

i'm so pleased you have newe little furballs around your house. [*snuggles*]

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Aww ... such adorable kitty stories. You rescued them both, and I suspect their antics will help mend your hearts. ♥

Hope you're feeling better.