Travel Tips

My husband and I have two cats, Alpha (pictured here) and Beta, whom we adopted from a rescue group here in Northern Virginia. These two fluffy, stripey boys are from the same litter--brothers!

The organization is called the Feline Foundation of Greater Washington. They rescue stray and feral (wild) cats and take in pets people can no longer care for. The kitties are placed in foster homes with volunteers until they are adopted. Visit their site to learn more and see pictures of their kitties: www.ffgw.org

Here is Beta, a true lounge cat if ever there were one. Check out his giant paws--both cats are polydactyls, meaning that they have extra toes (and claws) on their front feet. Sometimes people call these kinds of cats "Hemingway cats" because Ernest Hemingway kept a bunch of them at his house in Florida. (If you look closely, you can see Alpha enjoying his bed in the background.)

Beta is also known as Twistycat--he can sleep this way! His head and front feet point in one direction and his tail and hind feet point in the other. Sometimes he stretches out one arm, like he's singing opera.

There's a toy mouse in the box. But the box has a divider inside and the mouse is on the other side of the divider.

How do I get it out? I better stick my head in here and figure it out!

These are my sister's cats, Basil and Muffles. They are purebred Oriental Shorthairs, and are wonderful, delicate, sweet cats. They are also related to each other somehow, but not from the same litter. They love to curl up and sleep together like this.

They got their names because she once had a discussion over dinner during which she and a friend decided that some Italian dishes sound like names of street toughs:
Basil Fettucine
Mussels Marinara (changed to Muffles when it became clear the cat was too tiny to be called "Mussels")

Here is Muffles. You can see how small she is . . .

Meow!

Here are Alpha and Beta again, doing what they do best. Taking up space on the carpet.

Hope this travelogue hasn't bored you too much . . . but it just *might* be naptime!

purrrrrrrrrrrrr . . . .