Julian the Cat

Julian is the newest member of our family. She is almost

14 months old or so, and enjoys nothing more

than tearing around the house chasing real or imaginary intruders.

She seems to understand that we are her people, and

I believe she genuinely loves us. She has this cute way

of saying hello to us now. She'll come right up into your

face and touch her little black wet nose to yours. Of course,

the moment you try to pet her she's back at being

a kitten and trying to capture your hand with paws and teeth.

I chose Julian to give to Mike as his graduation present

when he earned his Master's degree. Suitably, he chose

her name from a very scholarly and histroical reference.

Julian is named for Dame Julian of Norwich, who was

a mystic in England in the middle ages. She was

enlightened concerning the nature of God's Love. So

you see, we really didn't give our female cat a boy's name.

It's just obscure.

Julian is solid black with only a few white hairs

in the middle of her chest, only noticable when

she's being really still. In the sunlight, you can see

patterns of light and dark in the black, but she's genuinely

one sleek, black cat. Her eyes are huge and amber, and

her ears make her look something like a bat when she

looks at you with that curious look cats have down so well.

This is not a picture of Julian, but it resembles her strongly.

One of the cutest things Julian has taken to doing is

watching television with us, especially at night when we

are in bed flipping through channels. She is fascinated

with the movements on the screen. I haven't decided yet

if I think she's seeing the images or the movement most.

But I have to say that when we had the discovery

channel on and the Lions and Cheetahs of Africa were on,

she was really watching!! She also seemed interested

in the underwater segment on Salmon we saw the other

night. There seems to be a strange black cat living in

the mirror who she can never seem to catch, either.

Watching Julian learn about her world has been a

joy and watching her continue to grow will

continue to be a source of humor and love.

Reset April 5, 1999