…when I wasn’t looking, Spring finally sprung!!  Here’s the evidence: Buddha in the garden and tulips near by!

Ahhhhhhh; the sweet sights and sounds of Spring are here…warm sunny days, periodic showers of nourishing rain and the Cardinal family nesting in our front tree.  It seems we’ve waited a long time for this.  I can finally admit that it really was well worth the wait!  Perhaps now, I’ll finally be able to get warm!

BIG <3 Joanne Bartone Photographer | www.joannebartone.com

…my Pooh, my kitty with many names, including, Pud, Puddy, Pudding, Puddels, no.1, Wash, Mushdapuddapudpie, Kiki, Monkey-kitty and her original name, Cleo. She’s was a doll and would have been twenty years old this coming June (’09), but she got a bit tired, sick and weak and so today was her last day with me. Nearly twenty years together…she was a big part of my life; she was my “family”…an angel and an all-around great cat. She was a blessing and a gift and a source of great comfort and joy. I remember every moment with her from the beginning until just a little bit ago at Dr. Bebko’s Cat Clinic in Bloomfield (love the people there; so compassionate, kind and knowledgeable) and I will cherish each memory always.

Pooh is pictured here with her best friend (besides her momma) Eeyore, whom she has had since she was smaller than Eeyore was! Eeyore has been Puddy’s baby from the early weeks of her life, and every night since Pooh was a baby, she would pick Eeyore up in her mouth and carry him around the house meowing the whole time; it was priceless to see and hear!

She loved to eat because she was deprived of food in the early weeks of her life, so at one point her weight equaled her age - I think that was around age 16! And, as you can see, despite the many cushy beds she had, she preferred to cuddle up in the tops of or in actual boxes. She was a free thinker, unlike many people!

In her youth she was mischievous and full of energy, but sleeping was always a favorite pastime. Up until about two weeks ago she still loved to go on “adventures” with her momma even if they were supervised and only onto the porch. She was a great mouser, a cuddle-bug, easy-going and always happy! She had the most beautiful peacock-feather-looking green eyes and she was an angel; my heart aches right now and I miss her already.

Notice the “M” on her forehead. Legend has it that the “M” was placed on Tabby cat’s heads by The Madonna when a Tabby cat climbed into the manger to keep the Christ-child warm. The mark of the “M” was Mary’s way of blessing kitties for their service to her child. Sweet, huh.

I love her dearly; there are so many things about her I will miss always, but I will keep her safe and close in my heart always remembering her, and I will trust that she is in a better place with all the food, warm beds and catnip a kitty might want. Perhaps each of you might offer a tender thought today for my Puddy…she was an angel. Thanks.

Whose the bigcat, bigcat, bigcat?! Puddy is, that’s who and always will be!

June 1989 to November 2008.

BIG love for my BIG cat, Joanne Bartone, Photographer | www.joannebartone.com