Seeing The Signs

Caterina, Charlie (I), Candice, Charlie (II), Max and Marlee.

I have loved them all.  I miss Caterina, both Charlies and Candice.  At least I have Max and Marlee.

They all did, and gave, everything I ever could have wanted from the likes of them.  Well, all except one thing.

I never could get any of them to do this:

For that matter, I've never been able to persuade any cat to ride with me.  

A few years ago, on New Years' morning, I stopped for a cat I saw and who looked almost pleadingly at me.  As soon as I got off my bike, he darted to my ankles and rubbed himself against me.  I picked him up.  For a moment, he curled on my shoulder and I tried getting on my bike, figuring I could start off the new year by rescuing a feline friend.  But he was having none of it:  As soon as I lifted my leg over the bike, he dropped himself off my chest and landed on his feet.

I tried a similar rescue about a year ago, on another cat who greeted me.  It ended much like the first one I tried:  When I got on the bike, the cat decided to go airborne.

Perhaps those felines--and my own--saw this sign:

Well, now I know what they're doing while I'm riding!  Hmm...Maybe that's the reason they won't ride with me. 

Hey! Don't Forget About Me!

A few days ago, I “blamed” Max when I didn’t get out of the house earlier than I did for a ride. 

Of course, I wasn’t upset with him.  How could I be?  When he’s not impeding progress I probably wouldn’t have made anyway, he climbs on me and purrs.  

Marlee does that, too.  However, she’s a bit more possessive of everything—including my lap and the spotlight—than Max is.  So she wasn’t content to see Max get all of the attention.

So she’s been posing in front of me whenever I sit, stand, take down one of my bikes, read, eat, talk on the telephone, write—or do just about anything else.  She wants me to take her picture because she knows, just knows, that she’s so photogenic and every picture I take of her is going to be better than the last.  Of course, neither the camera nor the photographer has anything to do with that!

Max can make orange the new black or whatever just because…well, because he’s orange and he’s Max.  But Marlee knows how to work her stripes:

Who, me?  Yeah, you!