Here Kitty Kitty

This post is for my art collectors who have repeatedly asked why I don't paint cats. The answer has always been that I don't have cats. All that is about to change.

Welcome, Violet the Porch Kitty.


Some background here: My sweet cozy home is a 100+ year old cottage out in the country on a gravel road surrounded by horse farms.Charming - yes. Built well - absolutely not.

Horse farms have barns, barns have mice and (shudder) rats. When it gets cold in Georgia guess where the mice like to go? The cozy cottage next door that has the heat on. I have heard them in the walls, unfortunately seen them race across the hardwood floors and found their droppings everywhere. I'm on a first name basis with the exterminator. I even have big black anti-mice boxes under the house. And I still get mice with the first frost.

Enter a feral cat who wandered into my yard. I had an Oprah-esque Aha! moment and ran into the house for some milk and tuna. I propped open the shed door, laid down an old quilt, bought a cat food dish and some catnip toys, just in case the food and bed weren't enough. I'm half Italian and we tend to be generous hostesses.

Fast forward a couple of months. My new best friend is Violet. I'm not sure she's female but she's so sweet I can't imagine she's a male.(Yeah. I know that sounds sooo "I Am Woman Hear Me Roar"...) Anyway, she has graduated to living under the old iron bed on my front porch. She has a comfy nest there and dines on the vintage farm table so I can make sure she eats. It's now November and I hear nothing in the walls and haven't found one tiny mouse dropping!! Some things are best done the old fashioned way.

Plus I have a new friend who purrs and meows when she sees me. On sunny days I'll sit on the porch with her til she rubs up against my leg and we talk. It's a lovely thing.Look for the Cat Art here.