Tuesday, December 19, 2006

orion and jingle bell

yesterday there was a flyer in the mailbox from a foster home for cats. seems the county shelter was so overrun that the foster mother had somewhere around 60 cats at her home and pottery studio that needed adopting. one of our two cats died last summer, and the other cat is just pure evil, so i'd been considering another kitten in the back of my brain for awhile.

when this flyer appeared, i showed it to t, and he thought it might be a good idea to get a kitten for jane. she wants SO BADLY to be friends with the devil cat, but tibby wants nothing to do with her. i called the foster parent, her name is siglinda scarpa, and she also happens to be a reknowned italian-american sculptor. if you need to rent a villa in tuscany, give her a call!

we agreed to meet the cats today when i got done volunteering at the school christmas parties. i went home, grabbed t, and away we went to the goat house gallery. it is a beautiful goat farm, with dogs, cats, and peafowl running around, and fountains trickling behind bent-wood fences along the path from the house to the studio. the studio was almost infested with cats of every size, shape and color. i am a "cat person," so snuggling a zillion sweet kitties was heaven to me. there were several possibilities in the kitten department, but i left the ultimate decision to t. it came down to a sweet, trilling black female or a brother and sister grey tabby set.

t decided on the siblings.

we brought them home and let them get used to some sounds and smells on the back porch, including jane. jane was far more scared of them than they were of her! she cowered when they growled, but within minutes they were all doing fine. the kids got off the bus, and we blindfolded them to surprise them and put one kitten in each of their laps. they had NO IDEA this was coming, so their little faces lit up, and then the laughing ensued.

s claimed the girl and christened her "jingle bell."


h claimed the boy and named him "orion."

they're terrorizing the christmas tree as i type, but there is loads of giggling involved so i am happy. i'll keep you up to date on our new arrivals as the days go by!

5 comments:

Booklogged said...

They are pretty darn cute. My favorite cats are tabbies. I can just imagine the kids' tickledness. We have a picture (somewhere) of one of our cats on the third branch from the top of our Christmas tree. Come to think of it, we also have a picture of one of the parakeets of long ago on the third branch ( different tree).

J said...

Oh, they're GORGEOUS!

When I was a little girl, we had cats that would climb the tree and knock it down. My mom finally put a hook in the ceiling, and attached the tree with a thin rope. That held it upright through all of their play fights up and down the trunk!

Lotus Reads said...

Congrats on your two new additions, they're adorable and I just love their names!!!

Enjoy them, Melissa, they are lucky to have found such a good home!

Beenzzz said...

Oh MY!!! What sweet little babies!!!!!!! I love cats as you can tell. :)

Smoothieshake said...

awww! that's awesome that ur kids named them right away. and jane can use some company! how is tibby with the new kitties? how old are they? I am more of a dog person but...these cats are quite possible some of the cutest i've ever seen:)