from The Anglican Digest, MICHAELMASTIDE 2000
That was brought home to me forcefully recently as I looked out a window of the Farm House and saw Gray Cat nonchalantly cornering around the Old Residence while Minie Cat, in the foreground, was solemnly watching her while perched on a raised flower bed between the two houses. Only a few minutes before I had met them both out on the trails in the course of my morning walk with Godfrey Dog. I had also seen Ptolemy Cat observing nature in general (and a robin in particular) as we started our walk.
Only Mocat (accent on the first syllable, please) eschews the wandering life, dividing her daylight hours between a rafter in the upper reaches of the Wash House and my easy chair in the Farm House. At night she tends to spend most of her time at the foot of my bed, occasionally demanding that she be stroked under her chin or scratched behind her ears (usually at three in the morning).
While Mocat is guarding the washing machine and dryer during the day, the other three, most days, stay in the Twin Barns to lazily greet visitors or to officiously preside over our secretary's desk to "help" check in books for Operation Pass Along. Every new carton of books is carefully inspected to be sure it contains no contraband, or better yet, in the hope that there is something edible in it.
All four are worthy successors to the original Hillspeak cats -- Bandit (from North Carolina) and her litter (born in the pantry of the Old Residence) of Matthew, Mark, Lucy, and John. Mark and John were adopted. Matthew disappeared early on (the victim of an owl perhaps), but Bandit (at 18) and Lucy (at 17) lived out their lives here on Grindstone Mountain.
The current Hillspeak cats could do no better.
805 CR 102 - EUREKA SPRINGS AR 72632-9705
PHONE: 501-253-9701 FAX: 501-253-1277 E-MAIL:speak@speakinc.org
