Picture of the day-Monday

The summer of '71 - Corona California. It was the summer my mom bleached my hair platinum blonde (I was 11 years old), It was the summer I learned how to milk a cow and it was the summer I went to Arkansas and back TWICE. But those are stories for another time. On July 4, 1971 our cat had kittens. I was in Arkansas - my mom called and told me that the cat had kittens but not to expect them to still be there by the time I got home. I freaked and asked if I could come home. Let me back up a little. My Aunt Lois and Aunt Mae decided to take a road trip to Arkansas that summer and it was decided that Ricky & I would go with them, along with my cousins Danny, Jeannie, Larry & Vernie. 6 kids and two wonderful ladies. The cars were packed and Ricky's motorcycle was on the bumper of aunt Lois's car. We made it to Arkansas and all kind of went different ways. Midway through the summer, Aunt Mae was going home. Vernie, Danny & I went with her. That was the wildest road trip I have ever been on (but again, a story for another time). When I got home the kittens were still there but soon after the momma disappeared. I fed the kittens baby food and they survived. There were 4 kittens, 2 girls and 2 boys. The only one that made it as a pet was the one pictured above. The cat with no name. He was beautiful, dark gray, long hair and he loved to play rough. He loved my daddy. He knew when dad was supposed to get home from work and he waited in the driveway for him almost every day. He moved from Corona to Fullerton with us. He was a fighter and loved to get into it with the neighbor cats (my daddy would actually run outside in the middle of the night in his underwear to stop the fights).

My mom got the idea to have his "portrait" painted by a friend of hers. So we went to the store and got the brandy snifter and the goldfish, put them on the coffee table and waited with camera in hand. We took 36 pictures of the cat checking out the fish, had them developed then sent them to mom's friend. This is what she painted from those pictures. It hangs in my dads living room. The cat made the move from California to Arkansas - mom & dad shipped him ahead and Ricky took care of him til mom & dad got here. I know he was still around when Nina was a year old (1986) but at some point after that, he just got old and took himself off to the woods never to be seen from again.

Thanks for letting me share and reminisce. See you tomorrow...........