Formerly Feral

I will close out my first week of blogging by doing what all good bloggers do on Friday, i.e. posting a cat photo. In this case, it's a pic of my beloved three-year-old plus formerly feral cat, Kuro (which means "black" in Japanese). To the best of my knowledge, he is the sole survivor of a mommy cat and a litter of four ferals who suddenly appeared on our back porch in the summer of 2001. And he was the only one of the lot who would allow for any serious interfacing with humans. One thing led to another, and here we are, more than three years later, thick as thieves. It was very hard for me to draw the "strictly indoors" line, but I just couldn't bear to lose another indoors-outdoors cat, like our beloved "Charles Walters" who succombed, not to a speeding car, but instead to some deadly outdoor fungus known as cryptococcus.

While I was vacationing in Japan last year, I received word that Kuro had escaped/gone on a lark/wandered off/disappeared, or....? I was devasted. But four days later, while still in Japan, I was told that he had returned, seemingly no worse for the wear. Now, just last week, the back door accidentally popped open and I entered the kitchen to discover Kuro poised twixt the great in and outdoors. Riveted to the spot, without moving so much as a muscle, I began to calmly try and lure him back in, and all that it took was a simple "Here Baby Sweetie Kurokins," for him to turn tail on our forrest of a backyard and saunter back into the kitchen.

Kuro's favorites. Food: bonito; singers: Nina Simone, Irene Bordoni; film: Gus Van Sant's Gerry; pastime: vogueing.