No, I am not hanging from the ceiling and taking a photo. Our house here is set up a little like the one at home...we have one room that extends from floor to ceiling. I am standing on our landing upstairs, where the doorways to our 3 bedrooms are. This was taken this morning at about 6 am, just before everyone got their teeth brush and went to school. Notice the green shirts...Friday is theme day, and this year's theme is FAITH. Excellent choice for our first year here, I think.

This kitty photo has a sad little story behind it, but before I tell you, please know that cats are just as welcome as rats around here. Most of them are feral and those that aren't get mistaken for ones that are. Typically they experience the same fate, which I imagine has something to do with the "Animal Control" van that drives around the tamans, where people with nets/boxes jump out of the van at the first sign of 'cat trouble' and somehow scoop the cat up. I haven't seen it first hand, but the vans remind me of the cartoons we used to see as kids, where the animal control guy chases the cat/dog with a huge net over his shoulder.

The story of this psycho kitty (what else can you call him? Apparently Seamus has spread his genes all the way across the world) is that he and his mom were walking on the wall that divides us and the university students' house behind us. The mom jumped up onto the next ledge and baby was unable to follow. We watched this, expecting mom would come back and pick him up in her mouth, because isn't that what cats do? At least that is what we've seen in documentaries. In the middle of the night we heard mewing and more mewing, right into the morning. The little kitty was still sitting on the ledge and mommy was back and forth, coming and checking him out now and then. Eventually we brought out a teeny bowl of water for him (typically a no no here but even I can find compassion for a little kitty who is thirsty). I think there was a great sermon in the making because I put this bowl of water in front of him and what did he do? He hissed and glared at me and shrunk back like I was there to harm him. Never once did he look into the bowl to see if it was something good in there.

Finally, Tris donned rubber gloves just before work and pulled the little guy down. We set him in the front yard and he meowed while his mom meowed from some distant spot. The garage door was left open so that his mom could find him. I took this photo as he hid next to my flower pot. He was NOT happy with me and he kept hissing and glaring and I thought that he would attack my feet if I got any closer to him. I had to head out, and the sad story is that when I returned, I found out that the satpams had come along and taken him away in a box. I never inquired as to what happened to this little guy because I'm afraid of the answer. All I know is that my mother's heart ached because soon after his mom came back, meowing for her baby. Ironically, after all the hours she had spent staring at him from above, just after he was taken away mommy found a new route to where he had been sitting for over 12 hours.

This would make a great movie if it was revised a bit. I know that I have so many cat-loving friends and family out there (why do Scott and Naomi come to mind so quickly??). I hope that there is some sort of lesson or story that can be gleaned from this.

Just a note: WE GOT A PACKAGE!!! Thanks, TJ, Tan, Lucy and Eli.

Thanks for reading.