Beauty and the Beast

Time for another installment of the backlog of photoblogging I mentioned the other day....

This recent photograph marks the first appearance of a picture of our other cat -- the black one with the bright eyes -- on my blog. But don't be fooled by the title. While her eyes may look menacing as they reflect the light back into the camera and her coat serves her well as an "idiot filter" to weed out superstitious folk, she's no beast. And Jerome there on the left being male doubtless prefers to think of himself as more along the lines of "handsome", of course. Or, being a cat, the term "regal" probably comes to his mind. No. The title is hers! And she, of course, is the beauty. I am the beast. Jerome is just an innocent bystander here.

Like Jerome, the black cat has a pen name: Miss Maple. And despite her demonic appearance, she's a very sweet cat -- when I can devote my undivided attention to her. Which is almost always a bit of a problem the way Jerome invariably shows up when I'm around. And this is why I am the beast in this equation. She doesn't like me petting that "other cat".

And sometimes, she seems a little jealous of that "other woman" (AKA my wife), too. When she's out of town on business, I will often roll over at night only to find Miss Maple where my wife usually sleeps!

But I digress. Whenever Jerome shows up, he makes himself completely unavoidable, even when I'm petting Miss Maple. Miss Maple, a very jealous cat, then gets up, pouts, and goes off to another piece of furniture or even another room. Only when Old Man Winter shows up and sends her on a quest for warmth does anything trump her demand to be The Only Cat on the Planet.

Come to think of it, Jerome is doing it even now! I'm supposed to be cat-blogging about Miss Maple and what's happening is that he's threatening to steal the show. And look! There she is, sitting by herself over on the bed. She'll be The Only Cat in the World one way or another, I guess. I'll have to stop by and give her a belly rub when Jerome dozes off...

-- CAV