Welcome to Day 2 of the
Paws for Thought theme week! Today we're focusing on kitties*! Housecats. Kittycats. Pussycats. Tomcats. Grimalkins. There are somewhere between fifteen and 73 breeds of cat, depending on your source. These include the fluffy Persian, the sleek Siamese, the tail-less Manx and the hairless Sphynx. The smallest breed is the Singapura, which weighs under 5 pounds. The largest breed is the Maine Coon (aka fluff monster) which can weigh as much as 25 pounds.
There are many famous cats: Morris, Grumpy, Smudge, Puss in Boots, Garfield, Sylvester, the Cheshire Cat.
Man’s love of feline companionship is not new. In ancient Egypt, cats were sacred animals, and often mummified at the sanctuary of the cat goddess Bastet or entombed with their owners’ remains. Abraham Lincoln had two cats, one which was fed with a gold fork, and the other which was reputed to be smarter than Lincoln’s whole cabinet. France launched a cat into space (Felicette, who was chosen for her calm disposition, survived the flight), and tradition has a mouser with Britain’s Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street.
Kitties are featured prominently in Daphne Duchesne’s Les Chats, Christine Henry’s Cave Felem, and Florence Manlik’s Le Chat Carre.
View attachment 5698836View attachment 5698830
View attachment 5698832I went searching my scarf drawer for a good ol’ grimalkin, and found them in Pierre Marie’s La Maison des Carres, and Dimitri Rybaltchenko’s Sur Mon Nuage.
View attachment 5698831View attachment 5698833
View attachment 5698834View attachment 5698835
And so, my Silken Sisters and Brothers, I ask you to show me your kitties! Bonus points for showing your real life catkins!
(*Have no fear – wild cats will be featured later this week! And remember, any SOTD is on-theme!)