Well, this blog post was inevitable! Students who have taken courses with me here at Maria College know that I can be a bit of a cat fanatic, especially when it comes to my own cat Livvy (see photo above: Isn’t she just lovely? She is so smart and clever and… Oh dear, I sound just like a proud boastful parent.). Actually, Livvy came into my life through one of my students here at Maria who was moving into a place where she could not bring a cat, and I am so glad that I was there to help out.
What brought cats to my mind this particular week is not just my Livvy (although she is always on my mind; what a precious fur baby! Oh, no. There I go again. Believe me, I do not live in a house with 500 cats. I just have one, and I do still pay attention to my husband — sometimes.). I just learned that this past Saturday, October 29, was National Cat Day dedicated to celebrating cats and encouraging people to adopt cats from shelters. Additionally, PBS’s show Nature has started a two-part series this week on cats from their earliest existence to the present.
And then, of course, there are all of those absolutely hilarious, adorable cat videos on YouTube. I think just about every person on earth has taken a peek at one or more (maybe many more) cat videos. As a matter of fact, there are over 2 million cat videos posted on YouTube with 26 billion — yes, billion — views. These numbers and some possible explanations for the attraction people have to cat videos are provided by the British Broadcasting Corporation in a fun and informative article with a video clip.
I do have to say that Livvy and I were probably destined to be in each other’s lives since she has a special feature that fits my profession as an English instructor at Maria College. Livvy is a Hemingway cat — and yes, the Hemingway refers to the Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway of novels such as The Old Man and the Sea. Physically, Livvy has extra toes, or as I call them, “adorable little thumbs.” Ernest Hemingway had a particular fondness for a cat he had when he lived on Key West in Florida that was also polydactyl — and had many polydactyl descendants who still roam the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West.
I will thank you in advance for letting me indulge my cat fanaticism in this blog and tell you that I’m “purrfectly” delighted to have been able to share with you.
Until next time…
-Anne