Baby Wry can count on Martigny to walk by his side

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Baby Wry can count on Martigny to walk by his side

I have been neglecting the contemporary Kracker Cats lately. I will soon return to the history, after I take a little break here to share with you one Kracker Cat item from this day, a series.

It began right here, when little baby Wry came crawling towards me through an obstacle course of three stationary Kracker Cats - namely, Muzzy, the huge, odd-looking, cat at left, Martigny and Jim, who can barely be seen at the right hand edge of the image.

As baby Wry passed Martigny, she took note of the action of his paws upon the floor.

Martigny begins to step alongside baby Wry.

She matches his stride, her left front paw to his right.

Side by side, they keep coming.

Next thing you know, I will have to put the camera down and do some holding and petting.

11 comments:

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...: What a lovely set of photos. It seems baby Wry has a good protector in Martigny.; December 12, 2008 at 2:20 AM
Parker said...: I can't think of a better reason to set a camera down!; December 12, 2008 at 3:14 AM
Cats~Goats~Quotes said...: These photos tell such a sweet story!
This is our first visit here, saw your comment at Daisy's.
Nice to meet you!
~ Timothy and The Bunch; December 12, 2008 at 6:22 AM
The Activist said...: These pictures are beautiful! Cat and dog side by side. Purrfect!; December 12, 2008 at 6:45 AM
Cafe Cats said...: Such precision! You'll have to enter them in synchronized crawling.; December 12, 2008 at 7:15 AM
Taddie Tales said...: OMG what awesome photos!!!! I love that the calico is right there by his side - must not be afraid of him at all. That is so awesome.

Still wanna smooch on those cheeks!!!!

Taddie; December 12, 2008 at 7:21 AM
Daisy said...: Synchonized Crawling could soon be an Olympic event! And any game that ends in holding and petting is my kind of event.; December 12, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Black Cat said...: Oh, SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! That is so cute! I think Baby Wry and Martigny will be life-long friends. I just love this set of photos and I'd lay odds there was a lot of cuddling, holding and petting when you put the camera down!

The Cat Blogosphere is a wonderful community isn't it? As you say, people from all over the world mourning the loss of three cats. They all seem as close as just a purr heard across the room:) xxx; December 12, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...: Your grandson is adorable...so are the cats, even Muzzy.; December 12, 2008 at 5:35 PM
Rahel Jaskow said...: There is nothing like a cat, unless it's a cat beside a great, big, lovely dog and a cute kid on a quest to discover his world!; December 15, 2008 at 4:36 AM
KC and the Giggleman Kitties said...: Cute pictures.; December 19, 2008 at 12:33 PM

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Due to an unfortunate series of events that beset me as a child, I grew up believing myself to be a despiser of cats. After I married, five children came to Sunflower and I, and when my two youngest, both daughters, would see someone giving away kittens in the parking lot of the local grocery store, they would beg, "Please, Daddy! Let us take home a kitten!"

With a smile, a tilt of the head and the bat of an eye, Tryskuit and Nabysko could charm just about anything they wanted out of me, but towards cats, my heart was hard. "No!" I would deny them, "Dogs are fine, dogs are good, but let just one thing be understood: in my house, there are no cats allowed!"

And then on a hot July day in Alaska, in the year 1991, a skinny kitten stepped out of the woods behind our house - quite literally, he stepped out of a dream and came to me, to beg for my ham. He relished the ham, but he did not care for the pickle, nor the mustard.

That cat stayed, and more followed. These are the Kracker Cats, and in this blog, the stories of all will be told. These will be happy stories, humourous stories, frustrating stories, sad stories, tragic stories. Readers - you who love cats - you will laugh, and you will cry!

To see all the Kracker Cats, both the original and contemporary, scroll down.

I travel a great deal, mostly in Alaska, but I wander into many other places as well. As my children grew, I was gone from home as much as not, sometimes more. When I was home, I would tell my children bedtime stories. By the time Kaboodle appeared at our house, the boys had outgrown these stories but my daughters still thrived on them.

Now, they insisted that every story that I tell be about a cat. So I made up some wonderful ones, right on the spot, and I was always as curious as they were to see how these stories would turn out.

Then one day as I was about to climb into my airplane and fly off to a village in the Alaska bush, Nabysko, the youngest, looked up at me and said, "Daddy! Write us a cat story while you are gone!"

So I did. Not long after, I happened upon a cat. I took its picture. I inquired about its history. When I returned home, I showed the picture to the girls, and told them what I had learned about the cat's history.

Ever since, wherever I go, I try to find and photograph a cat, and learn what I can about its history.

Hence, "Cats Met Along The Way." And always I keep in mind the wise admonition of Persimon Munk:

"Every cat has a story."

Charlie Chaplain, above, chosen at random, is just one of the hundreds of cats that I have met along the way, in every region of Alaska, 24 states, DC, four Canadian provinces, England, Russia and India.

And I will be meeting more, in many other places.

As my children grew, Sunflower was forever scolding me about all these lies that I told them. "You should write these stories down!" she insisted. I ignored this advice, but then, one summer, I decided to write down a few of the tails about cats that I had told to Tryskuit and Nabysko.

These are the stories that will appear in this section of the blog.

Above is an image, created by my talented niece, Amber Swallow, when she was still in high school, to help illustrate a story about Art, a cat who tried to fly his Catabria airplane over Denali.

If any of you southerners are confused by this word, "Denali," it is the name of the mountain that so many well-intentioned folk who don't know any better mistakenly call "Mt. Mc... Mt. McK... Mt. Mck... in... in.. le.." Oh, hell! I can't even say it! I'm not talking about a hamburger here! I'm talking about the highest mountain in North America, the mountain that rises higher vertically over the surrounding terrain than does any other mountain in the world.

I'm talking about Denali.