seanan_mcguire @ 2008-08-11T17:30:00

2008-08-12T00:43:45Z

I am assured that the single best thing an author can do for raising awareness of their blog -- no matter how awesome or insightful or filled with chocolate as it may chance to be -- is to, well, post pictures of their cats. I'm somewhat dubious about this theory, but hey, I always have pictures of my cats to share. And that means?

Time for cat pictures.

As a hopefully-unnecessary reminder, this is Lilly -- short for Lillian Kane Moscowitz Munster Cavanaugh Sawyer McGuire. Lilly is a purebred Siamese of the Classic variety, which means she's neither as pointy as a Modern Siamese nor as round as a Traditional Siamese. If you don't know Siamese cats, this is the part where you may want to smile and nod.

Because Lilly isn't looking directly at the camera in this shot, you can see that her eyes are actually blue, rather than being seventh-circle-of-Hell orange. This is sometimes disappointing to people who have only seen pictures, but trust me, she makes up for it with her behavior.

Lilly has the elegant, aquiline profile characteristic of the Siamese cat, and she's grown into her adult mask, which explains the overall blue-gray of her face. Or, in layman's terms, KITTY!

Being an elegant example of an ancient breed does nothing to keep Lilly off the kitty crazy train. She seems to think I'll forget to pay the gravity bill.

DEMON KITTY RIDES AGAIN!

Lilly is clearly losing patience with my paparazzi ways.

...and that's why she's planning to eat my soul. One night, while I sleep, she will come from the abyss and end this indignity. Unless I distract her with scritches.

I just like the fact that you can really see the shape of Lilly's head in this picture. She spends a lot of time following me around and peering up to see what I'm doing. This is because she's a) curious and b) a pest.

And here is Nyssa, having one of her good days, and looking pleasantly alert for the camera. Nyssa is a part-Siamese, part-God-knows, which means she has the Siamese voice and the coat of an angry mudslide. She purrs gloriously, though.

Nyssa has just spotted Lilly. She doesn't trust Lilly much.

...and that would be why Nyssa is summoning all the demons of the darkest hells to carry Lilly away to the abyss. Sadly, this never works for long. Sad for Nyssa, anyway; I'm attached to having Lilly around the house.

Mission accomplished, Nyssa looks elegant and innocent. She really is a lovely cat, and amazingly cheerful for being as old as she is.

I leave you with a picture of Lilly from January of 2005, when she was barely a scrap of blue and cream fluff, and had ears the size of New Hampshire. She was a wonderful kitten who grew into a wonderful cat. But look at those EARS...!

And that's all for today.

Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls

seanan_mcguire @ 2008-08-11T17:30:00