Does anyone else remember Sylvanian Families, the tiny, vaguely humanoid woodland creatures from the late 80s? For each species (bear, rabbit, squirrel…) you could collect the mom, dad, brother and sister - sold separately, of course.
As a little girl, I wanted them all. But, nowadays, all I want is one Sylvan(ian) family.
Together we’ve lamented that, sometimes, it’s just not meant to be.
But sometimes it’s not meant to be because something sweeter is meant to be…and there’s no need for lamenting after all.
It’s inevitable. At least once a week, during the course of a tour of Tabby’s Place, a wide-eyed visitor will ask me, “Do you really know all of the cats’ names?”
I understand their surprise - 100+ cats is a lot. But do you really know all of your friends and family members’ names? I’ll bet you can name more than 100 TV and movie stars. When you consider how much time I’m blessed to spend with these furry souls, and what individuals they are, it would be nothing short of a dishonor not to honor each of them by knowing their unique, personal names.
But some cats seem to have fun making this a bit tricky. If knowing most of the cats’ names is equivalent to passing a kindergarten spelling test, keeping all the shy black cats of Suite C straight is more like passing Ph.D.-level comprehensive exams in astrophysics.
You know how it goes.
You’ve spent hours working on a 5,000-piece picture puzzle, painstakingly matching up colors and patterns and shapes until a beautiful portrait comes together. About 4,950 pieces in, you’re on a roll and know it’s a shoo-in that you’ll finish it now. But just as you’re ready to pop in that last triumphant piece…where is that last piece? It’s just one stupid little piece of cardboard, but without it, the whole thing is woefully, all-too-obviously incomplete.
And so it was with our own Puzzle.
An oft-heard comment among visitors to Tabby’s Place is, “Your cats are so big!”
Is it the Ringoes, NJ water? Are cats like koi, growing to fill their space, so that cage-free living means enormous cats? Honestly, our cats don’t look unusually large to me…well, except for a certain contingent. Some call these guys the fat cats, but I’ll stick with plus-sized, or the latest buzz word, full-fashioned. And, truth be told, these sizable sweeties are growing in number.
(6)
(26)
(251)
