Life with Lucy Cat

Orlando Diary

It's been two years since Lucy (a.k.a. Gertrude) walked through our front door and settled into the place. Since then Lucy has grown quite comfortable sharing a house with three adult humans (sometimes swelling to four), two Labs, and two other cats. She has, in particular, grown fond of me, a situation that based on my past experiences with cats I thought would never ever happen. But then here she is.

She who must be obeyed.

Lucy has all sorts of spots around the house where she likes to hang out, during various times, and depending on her whims. One habit she's developed is coming up to me in the evening and stretching out on my chest as I'm sitting and watching TV or just reading. She looks up at me with those big eyes of hers until my hand, almost of its own accord, drops down on her head and gives her rubs. Then she purrs like a little motor and snuggles down further until I get up and head to bed.

Lucy sleeping on my overstuffed chair.

She knows where I sit, and when I'm not there in the evening, more often than not she'll crawl up into the corner of the big chair and sleep there for hours, usually through a good portion of the night.

Reaching out to touch Judy while she sleeps.

One thing she does, which she's been doing for some time, is reaching out to touch us while she's resting. I've been ill this weekend, so today while I was lying on the sofa, Lucy came up and settled above me on the back of the sofa, and then reached down with her paw to touch me. An example of her paw touching is above, where Lucy's touching Judy's foot while the two of them nap together.

I've read you're not supposed to anthropomorphize your pets, but I know affectionate loving behavior when I see it. Lucy's like every other creature living with us, and every other domesticated creature living in this world; all they want is to love and be loved. If we can't understand that and respond humanely, then we humans really are monsters.

Equipment Used

Olympus E-P2 with M.Zuiko 17mm, top two photos.
Olympus E-3 with Sigma 30mm, bottom photo.