Sep 8, 2010

Catwalk Wednesday


Name Minna (short for Minnaloushe). I’m actually named after a cat in a poem by Yeats—not that I’m boasting, or anything *buffs her claws on the carpet and strikes a sinuous feline pose*

Favourite Pastime Sleeping.. Hunting for yummy things to eat that have been left out on the kitchen bench, like margarine containers (excellent to lick), cheese buns (gotta love those crunchy cheesy toppings), muffins (my favourite are banana choc-chip). Smooching my Feeder and acting all purry and adorable, and then, when that doesn’t work because she’s doing her homework or listening to the iPod, chomping on my Feeder’s ankles and yowling reeeeally loudly to remind her to feed me. Wondering when I’m going to get fed. Making a nuisance of myself so I will get fed—now! Wolfing down my food in 10 seconds flat. Conveniently forgetting I’ve been fed at all about 10 minutes after my last meal. Sleeping.

Human Slave My Feeder is a teenager and she likes to sleep in most mornings, which is just not on! I can’t tell you how often I’ve had to sneak into her room and remind her it’s time to get up and feed me. I like to do this by jumping on her pillow and yowling in her ear. Or, if I’m stuck outside, I’ve discovered I can wake her up in a biiiig hurry by scraping my claws down her bedroom windowpane. I’m determined that she will be fully trained to my exacting standards, but oh, it’s such a chore. I feel tired just thinking about it. Yawn. Must have a nap....

Favourite Toy My Feeder’s father is my favourite toy IN THE WORLD. He does an excellent imitation of a couch potato when he’s watching TV, and I’m training him not to wince when I jump onto his stomach with my claws extended. He’s perfected the art of drinking a glass of wine while lying down so he doesn’t disturb me any more than he absolutely has to. If he didn’t get home far too late at night to feed me, he might actually be the perfect human.

Most embarrassing moment When my Feeder’s sibling chose me as the subject for his school speech! I was flattered at first, until I realized it wasn’t a speech about my star-studded past as a feline cover-model and heroine of the bestselling book The Nine Emotional Lives Of Cats. No, it was a tell-all expose! All my little foibles—like the time I went hunting and brought home a delicious piece of stale Madeira cake from the neighbour’s front lawn—were revealed to a bunch of evil Year 7 children. I was a laughing stock! And he got a very good mark for delivering such an amusing speech. Oh, the shame.....


The Cat and the Moon

The cat went here and there

And the moon spun round like a top,

And the nearest kin of the moon,

The creeping cat, looked up.

Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,

For, wander and wail as he would,

The pure cold light in the sky

Troubled his animal blood.

Minnaloushe runs in the grass

Lifting his delicate feet.

Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?

When two close kindred meet,

What better than call a dance?

Maybe the moon may learn,

Tired of that courtly fashion,

A new dance turn.

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

From moonlit place to place,

The sacred moon overhead

Has taken a new phase.

Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils

Will pass from change to change,

And that from round to crescent,

From crescent to round they range?

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

Alone, important and wise,

And lifts to the changing moon

His changing eyes.

~By William Butler Yeats~


16 comments:

  1. Lovely to meet you Minnaloushe (gotta love that name!) -- you're an exceedingly handsome cat! Um ... just wondering, but have you put on a teensy bit of weight since you were a cover model?

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  2. Minna, you are not only beautiful and a most excellent hunter (who wouldn't prefer cake to a dead critter?), but you've shared a gorgeous poem with me! I hadn't read that one before and I love it.

    Hope you got your Feeder up nice and early today and have had several breakfasts already.

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  3. Maree Anderson on behalf of Minnaloushe:

    Emily, it's lovely to meet you, too! And just between you and me.... Erm, I have had some weight issues. And some rather hideous allergy issues of the "Eeek I'm itchy! Lick, lick, lick. OMG, now I've licked most of my fur off!" kind.

    But that's all in the past now my Feeder's mom cooks up a special recipe catfood just for me. I am now cover-model-worthy once more. If you don't count the saggy belly skin -- nothing that a little judicious PhotoShopping wouldn't fix, I'm sure.

    Rachel, thank you so much for your kind words. And golly-gee-willikittens, that Mr Yeats was extremely talented for a mere human.

    As for the subject of breakfasts -- I am trying to train another Feeder. But he is a most stubborn young creature! Instead of giving in, he merely puts me outside, shuts the sliding door, pulls the curtain shut, and turns on the xBox to drown out my howls. Somehow, I don't think he's going to work out.

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  4. What a gorgeous and *very* aristocratic cat you are Minna!
    I dare say my four moggies would be in awe of your famousness!!

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  5. Mel, Minna thanks you so much for the lovely compliment. We're all in awe of her.... Well, her prodigious appetite, and "hunting" abilities anyway. Last week she brought in a bone she'd dug up from somewhere. I think I preferred the cicadas.

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  6. Minna, sleeping and eating are two of my favourite things too -- and I think they are absolutely essential for a sophisticated cover model feline such as yourself.

    How very clever of Mr Yeats to write a poem about you!

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  7. Minna, you look 'zactly like my puss with spots instead of stripes, so I'm sure you are also a very noble cat (actually ours is a little snobby, but I'm sure you aren't like that at all).Have you pointed out to your feeders your star status? Maybe they don't realise a cat of your standing needs star treatment...

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  8. Our first cover model! Wow!

    Minna, you need a PA (personal assistant) with your star status not a generic Feeder!

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  9. Holy feck, your cat's a cover model! How'd that come about? But is she as emo as the book's title suggests? ;-)

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  10. Tez, "emo" does not even begin to cover what she was like when we first got her. Lots and lots of love and attention have now mellowed her into a cat with many quirks.

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  11. Maree Anderson for Minna writes:

    Michelle, would you like to come and stay awhile? I would love a discerning creature such as yourself, who fully understands my needs, to whip my Feeder and her family into shape ;-)

    Anita, I'm an ocicat, which is why I've got spots and stripes. What breed is your lovely puss? And thank you for your advice. I will point out -- yet again -- to my dimwitted house-owners that I need my every whim catered to forthwith!

    Kylie, you are a most clever human! A Personal Assistant of my very own. Why didn't I think of that? Mmm. Must find a way to suggest that to my humans.

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  12. Ours is a silver spotted devon rex (at least, that's what her paper say ).

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  13. Anita -- oh, what a pretty puss yours must be! Found a Google image of a Silver Spotted Devon Rex -- boy, they really do look quite similar. Though I bet your one didn't get rotund like ours before we sorted out her dietary problems. The Rexes don't strike me as overeaters. Mind you, Ocicats aren't supposed to have that problem either. We were just lucky, I guess. Sigh....

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  14. Lol Maree, actually devons are known to be overeaters. Ours is on a controlled diet, but she is a little 'curvy'!

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  15. Wow, what a cool cat you are, Minnaloushe! And so very handsome. Sounds like you're getting the family all trained up!

    You've added a extra dimension of elegance to the LoveCats with your visit today.
    :)
    Sharon

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  16. Hi Sharon,
    Minna appreciates your lovely comments very much indeed! In fact, she's sitting in a very elegant feline pose, staring at me intently as I type this. I'm sure she's trying to tell me something important because it couldn't possibly because I've got my cereal bowl on my desk with me ;-)

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