Lea reclaiming me

It seems more than fitting to start this blip foto journal with a picture of my crazy kitten, Lea. I just came home from a 6-day trip to Cape Cod with a dear friend and her dog. Lea wasn't invited, since, contrary to C. the dog, she doesn't travel well. She therefore played her ritual, which consists in first ignoring me, then making it impossible for me to ignore her by very decidedly falling asleep on me.

The picture is not great, I'll admit, it's an iPhone picture, but try taking a great picture when you've got this purring sleeping cat installed on you as if she was claiming you in the name of the queen of France.

If I start this journal with Lea, it is because as a writer, I appreciate fully the pleasure and necessity of a furry friend. She has accompanied me through the past 5 years, moving from crazy kitten to purring madness. With her, I have finished a collection of short stories and written an entire novel, now both published. There is nothing like observing a cat sleeping on an open book to give one the courage to attack the next sentence.

Lea might not see 2012, though, as she has been not too well for the past few months. But even without the cat fighting for the control of the computer and papers, books will be written and conferences given. Though my desk will be desperately lonely