My Buddy Lupe

I feel that the upstairs cats are often left out of my blog. Since they keep our company primarily in the upstairs environment of bathrooms and bedrooms there are fewer blog-worthy opportunities for things like stealing our Tofurky sandwiches. In some sense, though, they get the better end of the deal - the snuggley bed environment. Lupe, Layli, and Banu have their own rotation on the bed in terms of who gets which armpit and when.

Lupe is also my computer buddy. She frequently sits on the small space in front of my monitor and swipes at my fingers while I type. Sometimes she's too tired for all that and just spreads out to snooze, with her rear paws resting on the knuckles of my typing fingers. Then there's the tail chase. She is the tail-chasing-ist cat I've ever known. She twirls around after her tail on the bedroom floor in the morning while I get ready for work, in the bathtub while I scoop litter, and on my computer table while I'm (unsuccessfully) trying to view my monitor screen.

She has a beautiful face, strong white whiskers, and a full fat tail.

I've mentioned before the cute golden tufts of fur protruding between her toes. Her fur is thick and luxurious.

Notice Teddy in the background on my desktop. Lupe is sleepy.

Now alert, she's zeroing in on the wiggly tail.

Almost got it.

Got it! Holding it down with her left paw she happily licks the tip.

Sometimes Saeed and I think back to where Lupe and her sisters Chappu and Delila (Tita's kitty) came from. They were part of a litter (their brother Gus - renamed Duncan -  was adopted by my friend Linda) on some rural property owned by a grumpy old man who threatened his daughter that if he saw any cats or kittens he would shoot them. The daughter spoke to Shirin and together they removed the kittens from the land and the rest is history. Lupe and Chappu bring so much joy to our lives and it's mind-boggling that they could have been killed for no other reason than some guy didn't want them there. I then sadly think about all the other animals who aren't lucky enough to be saved from grumpy old men and get shot or burned or hanged or drowned or simply live a precarious life on their own. I pick up Lupe and nuzzle her warm soft fur to gain comfort and reflect on the eight precious creatures with whom we share our lives.