Clara and her kittens

Even though it starts with Clara, this is actually the story of Benjamin. I'd tell you what all happened and why it's so elating right now that he's on the bed, purring, with Tigger (well, Tigger might get a new name), snuggled up to David. But I'll save that for later.

This summer, not having many travel plans, we decided to have a summer of cats. Well, I did, really. Actually, I took over David's office and became a cat lady!

Bean, our dear old beloved kitty, died last year. We waited (well, sort of...a story for another day) till we had grieved. Now that Bean is a loving memory, we decided to go whole hog, and foster a mother cat.

Secretly, I wanted to get a girl kitten, let her grow up and have kittens. But, the shelter and rescue people got to me when I hinted coyly enough times, asking if there was a way I could get a kitten before she was spayed...they'd bark and growl at me and tell me it was mean to let a cat have kittens because so many would have to die so mine could live...

So I caved to the pressure. Instead of going the full natural route, I "adopted" well, fostered, a mother cat with five three-week old kittens, found on Craigslist.

The mother cat was Clara, and her kittens were: Violet, Daisy, Little Bear, Tigger and Sunny. Originally I had called up the lady, (Amy) and asked for just the girl siamese kitten. Part of my secret plan still trying to carry itself out. In the pictures it looked like she had white paws. Bean had white paws. I always had tuxedo cats. This time I'd try something different and exotic. A siamese with white paws.

After a couple of phone calls I ended up meeting her and taking the mother cat with all the kittens. ;)