vintage photo time

Another Ampersand bulk-bin find! I have no note on the back, no idea when or where. All I have is a smiling dog next to somebody's hedge.

the duke of mantua's best friend

Or one of them, anyway; the Duke, Federico II Gonzaga, loved dogs and owned over a hundred of them when Titian painted this portrait around 1525. This page makes the claim that this silky-looking fellow is a Havanese. Since the Havanese is said to be Cuba's only native breed, and Spain controlled Cuba at this time and had for a generation, I should think this Italian duke could have gotten a pup for a very special gift. Why not - giraffes and elephants have been gifts among the mighty as well, though I bet they don't cuddle as winsomely as Federico's friend.

This work is oil on canvas, and I am sure it's much more splendid in person than in reproduction (thanks anyway Wikipedia). You may see it if you are at the Prado in Madrid.

what's in a cat's name? or, the thatcher story

Last Friday the 13th of November, Toronto, Canada, at a formal dinner for a couple thousand Conservatives: the terrible news spreads, murmured in low voices.

Thatcher has died. Ceased to be. Joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-Thatcher.

Well, yes. It's awful. But no. Not that Thatcher. The Iron Lady was alive and kicking, or at least she was last weekend when somebody finally thought to call Buckingham Palace and check. But the Canadian transport minister's cat, also named Thatcher? Not so much.

The story from Guardian.co.uk here. And my sincere condolences to little gray Thatcher's family.

mischief again!

public domain

But this is not the least of what goes around and comes around for pup Floppy and Tinker, a kitten full of bad ideas. Their misadventures were recorded for our delight by Enid Blyton and photographer Paul Kay in Mischief Again! (New York: Roy Publishers, 1954). And if you think this photo is adorable, you should see the whole book. You can if you go to its Internet Archive record (look to the left for "View the book," and click "Read Online").

I'd be the first to admit I am not up on the fashions in children's books these days, but I seem to recall 40 years ago when I was small that kids still had and read photo-essay sorts of books like this, and they haven't now for decades. Remember Dare Wright's "Lonely Doll" series and her other books? Anybody? In recent years someone told me they thought those books were cute, but a little abandoned and creepy. I never thought that. They made perfect sense to me.

norman douglas on the cats of southern italy, 1915

We are in the south. One sees it in sundry small ways–in the behaviour of the cats, for instance. . . .
The Tarentines, they say, imported the cat into Europe. If those of south Italy still resemble their old Nubian ancestors, the beast would assuredly not have been worth the trouble of acclimatizing. On entering these regions, one of the first things that strikes me is the difference between the appearance of cats and dogs hereabouts, and in England or any northern country; and the difference in their temperaments. Our dogs are alert in their movements and of wideawake features; here they are drowsy and degraded mongrels, with expressionless eyes. Our cats are sleek and slumberous; here they prowl about haggard, shifty and careworn, their fur in patches and their ears a-tremble from nervous anxiety. That domestic animals such as these should be fed at home does not commend itself to the common people; they must forage for their food abroad. Dogs eat offal, while the others hunt for lizards in the fields. A lizard diet is supposed to reduce their weight (it would certainly reduce mine); but I suspect that southern cats are emaciated not only from this cause, but from systematic starvation. Many a kitten is born that never tastes a drop of cow’s milk from the cradle to the grave, and little enough of its own mother’s.

- Norman Douglas, Old Calabria (1915), chapter XVI. Reposing at Castrovillari, presented by Authorama.com Public Domain Books

Norman Douglas (1868 - 1952) was a British writer who wrote, among other things, well-crafted and insightful books of his travels.

cat quotes i've never read before

Because I stumbled upon goodreads.com and their exhaustive reader-voted quotes forum today, I am able (and very pleased) to bring you some cat quotes out of the ordinary. Try these on for size. . .


"They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, 'Can he name a kitten?'" - Samuel Butler (1835 - 1902)

"A kitten is infinitely more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in the world." — Lady Morgan (Sydney Owenson) (1776 - 1859)

"I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?" Death thought about it.
"Cats," he said eventually. "Cats are nice." - Terry Pratchett (1948 - , and an OBE to boot!) from Sourcery in the Discworld series. I think this is my new favorite quote.

"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat." - Confucius

"The only true animal is a cat, and the only true cat is a gray cat." - L. M. Montgomery (1874 - 1942, of Anne of Green Gables)

"What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing of the origin and destiny of cats?" - Henry David Thoreau

"Let us be honest: most of us rather like our cats to have a streak of wickedness. I should not feel quite easy in the company of any cat that walked around the house with a saintly expression. " - Beverley Nichols (1898-1983), who also wrote Beverley Nichols' Cats A.B.C. and Beverley Nichols' Cats X.Y.Z.

vintage photo time

Another find from Ampersand's photo bin: the print in the right margin says "May 71." Somebody's little gray poodle hopping round in the snow, and someone behind the lens thinking that was the cutest thing and oh look at the fun pup was having and we are happy.

a little cat mix

Today I have a few cat things from all over, starting with this perfect fall image of a black cat - a kuroki neko - in a tree, painted by Japanese artist Hishida Shunso in 1910. (Thanks, Wikimedia Commons.) Hishida died just shy of his 37th birthday, and had labored under kidney and retinal disease in his last years. So this golden painting, an "Important Cultural Property" in his native Japan, was done by a young man who knew he might well go blind soon. Here's a bit about his accomplishments.

Speaking of doing what you want despite everything, friend N. McGuire passed on this true story from another friend about an old cat who had her own plans for a good exit:

A co-worker of mine had a nineteen year old black & white cat named "Twisted Sister". She hadn't been doing well recently and her owner was about ready to take her to the vet for the inevitable and was pretty distraught even though Twisted Sister had lived a long, happy, rock & roll life. But Twisted had her own ideas on how it was going to end - during the night she attempted her last supper...and was found face down & smiling in her food dish the next morning. She did it her way.

Excellent.

And last but not least, I see this has gone all over the place but I hadn't seen it till this morning. Since I missed Friday's BlogBlast for Peace, it can't hurt to stick in a Sunday morning reminder of love and togetherness:

orange kitten, little fawn, Louis Armstrong, friendship.