1,2,3

In a month where one is trying to blog all 31 days, there is bound to be a day (or several) when a person just doesn't have much to say. Today, alas, that person is me. My day went as follows: morning meeting, followed by extensive secret planning for boss's retirement gift (interspersed with bits of actual work), followed by 1 1/2 hours in the gym, followed by retirement event #3 (of 4) for same boss, followed by my usual Wednesday pad thai date with Alex. None of that individually was particularly tiring, but taken all together, it was a 12 hour day, which I am out of practice at.

So, what there is today is cats. My first exclusive cat photo post in my year + of blogging. So be it.

One:

That is Chaya (also occasionally known as Mr. Fattypants), who makes it his mission not to let any plastic bag in the house go un-inspected. He takes his task very seriously, clearly.

Two:
Occasionally I feel like I need to send proof to my little nieces that I do actually have two cats, so I need documentation of that. Chaya is very friendly with visitors and serves as the greeting committee, but Kalu (more frequently called Little Balloo) refuses to come out if there is a person under four feet tall in the house and especially if there are several. He had vanished before the girls arrived on Monday, and he didn't re-emerge until they'd been gone for a full 2 hours. (He was quite nonchalant in his reappearance, but he totally smelled like the basement.) This photo is unusual because more often what happens is that Chaya decides that wherever Kalu is sitting is the most desirable place to be, and in his alpha cat way, he goes and usurps it. That day, however, he chose only to sit on top of his brother rather than evict him entirely.

Three:

A favorite photo from several years ago, when the cats were just four or five months old. Alex had gone away for a few days, and Lino had come to stay with me. At the time, I called this photo, "Why brushing my teeth is a challenge when the kittens have a sleepover." Now, I look back in amazement that all three of them fit in/on the sink at the same time, as they now weigh in the neighborhood of 35 pounds among them (divided something like 14 for Chaya and 10.5 for both Kalu and Lino).

And that's all I have. I'm hoping to be somewhat more coherent tomorrow.