Hello, Kitty.

(Sara)

Last weekend Lila and I took a trip across town to visit our friend Katy, and to visit Katy's two cats, Sara and Prudence. Katy had been telling us that Sara, particularly, was child-friendly, and since Lila hasn't really met any cats, it seemed like a perfect introduction. Also, I'm very afraid of cats; the result of growing up next door to Nippy and Suki, two mischevious Siamese kitties (actually one of them was perfectly nice, but I couldn't tell them apart). I wanted to see evidence of a charming cat myself, because if a dog doesn't work space-wise as a pet in our future, I wouldn't want to rule out a cat as a pet on account of a 35 year old unsubstantiated phobia.

When we arrived, Katy was out in front of her building with Sara. Upon first glance at her fluffy coat, coquettish eyes, and lissom posture, Sara was so perfectly feline that it seemed almost like she was created in a laboratory.

Here's another shot Katy emailed me later, that nearly made me swoon:


(Doesn't she look like a perfect combination of Marilyn Monroe, The Cowardly Lion, and Bumble, the abominable snowman from "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" CBS christmas special?*)

Anyway, it turns out Sara really doesn't go outside her apartment much, and meeting us out front really threw her off her game. She immediately retreated to the kitchen and hid under the stove, and no amount of cajoling could coax her out. But there were other things to entertain Lila, including Prudence, who came out for a brief hello:


(Prudence)

But things really got cooking for Lila when Katy pulled out a fabulous crocheted cape that she had picked up at a sale for another little girl she knows. Lila, who can be a little persnickity about wardrobe, fell in love with it immediately, and wore it for a walk around the block in 90+ degree heat:



Katy took this picture too, which has vaulted to the top tier of my all-time favorite Lila pictures, because the lighting makes it seem more like a John Singer Sargent painting than a photo:



When we returned from our walk, Sara still had not emerged, but Katy lured her out with some catnip. Lila was definitely beguiled by her passive cuddliness. Since we visited a week ago there has been a lot of chitchat about kitties...and capes.

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