In our tradition of recognizing everyone's birthday (except of course the author's) we celebrated the 8th birthday of our two cats, Gold Star (or Goldie) and Tai Tai, in January. For those of you not familiar with their heritage, Goldie and Tai Tai are sisters who were rescued from a parking garage in Hong Kong as kittens. We got them when they were about 8 weeks old. Since that time they have adopted our nomadic lifestyle -- they are living in their seventh home on their third continent. Not bad, except when you realize that the thing they hate most of all is travel. Getting them into their carriers is the most difficult part of any relocation. We usually sneak up on them while they're sleeping and throw them into the carriers before they know what's going on. It always makes me feel like I'm filming a National Geographic special.
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| Tai Tai as a kitten in Hong Kong. |
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| Tai Tai now. Since they are Chinese cats, they only weigh about 8 pounds. |
Tai Tai translates literally to "wife" in Chinese, but in Hong Kong it was used to denote a "pampered wife" of a rich businessman. Given Tai Tai's lifestyle, Kate named her well. Grant named Gold Star when he was three years old so there is no rational explanation for her name. The truth probably ranges somewhere between his favorite cartoon at the time and his battle cry while dueling with the neighbor boy. For their birthday I finally set up a heated bed where they happily spend the majority of every day and night. Even on birthdays, we don't give them any special food treats because that usually results in me cleaning up cat barf. Happy Birthday girls!
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| Goldie doing battle against Public Enemy Number 1 (Graber). The picture is blury because these encounters are always action-packed with lots of howling and hissing. After seven years of having the house to themselves, the girls were not happy when Graber arrived. Their feelings haven't changed in the past year. |
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| Blissful rest in heated bed. |
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