watashi no dobutsu -- kitties!

here is a recent pic of Leamh (pronounced LAY-uhv) below--who ran away for 15 days when we first got Archimedes and the kitten. when he came back he was fatter. that is he had actually filled out, he's never been fat. we figure he was dining on baby bunnies, 'cause he sure won't go anywhere near strangers. he hardly comes near us! he is a very skittish cat....gets more so as time goes by....but he has the handsomest shining coat I've ever seen! he is a tough fighting tom that prefers to be out in the woods. I was surprised to see him inside eating when I took this photo. he's 2 years old.

on the top-left is Rumpelteazer! she's a sweetheart, as old as the pups, and cute!!! the hind leg you can't see in the photo is yellow & orange striped. I think of T. S. Eliot--"I have a Gumbie cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots. Her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes & leopard spots." but her name came from another poem in his Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. ("Mungojerrie & Rumpelteazer were a notorious couple of cats...") she likes to pounce on the dogs & they like to chase her. Rumpelteazer is dancing for David in this pic. I made the curtains you see in the background!

I've been trying to say "my animals" in various languages here.....but japanese plurality is a little hard to master at quick-glance, even with all my books, so technically the title says merely "my animal". oh well.