Shelter Cats and Redemption

Tyler resting on his favorite flannel blanket in my old living room in Searingtown, Long Island. 2001.

This being Sophie's birthday week, it's only natural that she should take over Tuesdays as well! Sophie has taken over for Tyler in every possible way, up to and including bathing in the bathroom sink!

This Friday is Sophie's 6th birthday.  Sophie .   My princess . To expect a cat to replace the one and only Tyler is ridiculous. To expect another cat to be another Tyler is also ridiculous. No cat can ever be Tyler, Tyler was one of a kind, a once in a lifetime cat that I am proud, honored, lucky to have spent the better part of fifteen years with.  Rarely a moment goes by that I do not think of him, and rarely a day goes by that I do not miss him and wish we had more time together. That being said, no cat could ever come closer than Sophie. I could not ask for a better successor to Tyler than Sophie.  She honors Tyler's old patrol duties with gusto, and she is an alpha female if ever there was one.  In a few short weeks since she came to live with me in late August, 2014, she took over my home and stole our hearts. She is a never ceasing source of amusement, as social a butterfly as Tyler was, if not more, and is simply the sweetes...

On this Tyler Tuesday I would like to honor Mikey, the beloved cat of my friend Adrienne who crossed the Rainbow Bridge this past weekend after complications from a stroke. Adrienne is a great friend, always positive, always upbeat.  Whatever photos of Jackson or Sophie I post, she is always the first to like and comment.  More people on this earth should be as positive a person as Adrienne.  Forgive the poor quality of the one photo Adrienne was able to share of Mikey, apparently he was not always a people person and was always hiding from cameras and the paparazzi. Run free sweet Mikey.  You are whole, you are healthy, you are out of pain forever.  I know my Tyler and Tiger were there to greet you when you crossed the Rainbow Bridge, and you are all happy, running, and playing.  After all, I am certain that wherever the Rainbow Bridge is, Tyler is the boss. Please join me in honoring Mikey.

My girlfriend, in her infinite wisdom, takes photos of the cats on weekends while I toil away at work. Actually, I don't toil, I work with a smile on my face, as I am finally at a job I love and am happy to be at.  I am truly the happiest in my profession, happier at work than I've been in two decades, if ever! Anyway, Ashley sends me photos of the cats and their antics while I am working, and yesterday was no exception.  What she sent me was an amusing photo of Jackson: Making love to a lampshade.  It got me thinking, I have long had a collection of felines that have loved lampshades.  As I've written before, when I was a kid visiting my great Uncle's lampshade store on Avenue U in Brooklyn, he had quite the collection of stray cats that lived in....and out.....of his store.  Whenever a customer would come in, or I would stop by, it was almost like a game at an amusement park.  A cat popping out of a lampshade here....a cat popping out of a la...

Best friends, snoozing on their favorite beds, 2010.