this is a post about my cat

my Francis Bacon triptych

boredom? irritation? its the way she looks every day

she's a jumper

a favorite sleeping position

stubborn

I think of this as her "token booth clerk" expression

First: I'm sorry. I vowed never to post about personal problems or about my cat. But, after quite a few years of blogging about Civil War dead, Picturesque ruins, the Eugenics Archive, word aversion, ephemera and punk music I listened to when I was 13, among other topics, I think its time I talked about Winkle. She's a handful and maybe some of you out there might have some insights.

Her face has a scrappy, street quality to it, sort of Eliza Doolittle before she becomes a Lady. Her typical demeanor is somewhere between mild contempt and complete uninterest. If I didnt know she was a she, I'd call her Bluto. She knows and (usually) answers to "Winkle" but her sense of self  does not seem to encompass any interest in the creature she sees in the large floor-length mirror. (However, I might be several feet behind her in the room and catch her eye in the mirror. I wave and she invariably turns around to look at me. Does this mean she understands the spatial-reflection concept of a mirror? What's in front of her is really behind her?)

She's no talker—I dont think I've ever heard anything approaching "meow". Its more like a little bemused or surprised trill, "brrrrip?" She often makes a sound if she jumps up onto anything, "prrreeeep!

I got her as a month-old kitten or thereabouts, so I thought by hand-raising her surely she would become incredibly docile, and extra-loving— a lap cat. Not so much. If you hit her she will hit you back. She is also very vehement about her likes and dislikes:

-- She does not like to be picked up. 
-- She does not like nail clippers, collars, carrying cases, doctors or certain food dishes.
-- Do not touch the feet!
-- She does not evince even passing interest in most food products produced for cats.
-- She understands the word "No" and does not like it. If she hears it repeated with some force, as when it obstructs her from going out and roaming the hallway, she will hiss and sometimes take a swipe at my feet as she runs away. (I don't mind letting her roam the hallway except that she sometimes parks herself on welcome mats and darts into unsuspecting neighbors' apartments.) When she hisses by the way it's with such robust full-throated deliberateness you can feel the tiny gust of air.

She DOES like

-- salmon sushi (but not tuna) (Counter intuitively, she likes tuna casserole.)
-- chewing wool
-- playing with rubber bands (flinging them into the air frisbee-like)
-- being brushed. Especially while eating.
-- the sight and sound of emery boards. If I hold one up and swipe it across my nail she will come over to sit on my lap and purr.
-- to lie between me and my book.
-- to sit on top of me and purr when I go to sleep. That's proven difficult for me and we're still working that out.