A Tale of Three Cats

Dear Diary,

Purrcilla was the first cat to come here.  She was just a tiny kitten when I discovered her under the front porch crying.  She led me on a merry chase but eventually I managed to catch her and bring her in.  She never left.  She was a great mouser and loved climbing the posts in the barn.  She liked being up high even in the house too and slept on top of the cupboard in the dining room.

Emerson showed up one day, a stray.  Purrcilla would have nothing to do with him and for a few months he lived in Harvey's barn across the street.  My friends eventually took him in even though they had three cats already.  The oldest cat Princess was nearing 20 so they though she would live much longer...wrong!  She lived to be 26!

Purrcilla died at 14 in 2010 just after I retired and Emerson came back to Maine to live with me.  He is the sweetest, most loving cat and a joy.  He's a great mouser as well but not a climber like Purrcilla.  All three cats loved sleeping on the table behind my reading chair in the sitting room, snuggled up to the antique Samovar I got in Russia.  So this place has become a little shrine for the kitties.  All three are precious to me.

Human beings are drawn to cats because they are all we are not - self-contained, elegant in everything they do, relaxed, assured, glad of company, yet still possessing secret lives.  - Pam Brown