Here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for-- pictures of the kitties taken with my new camera! Wooo! (To see them all thus far, go here. 20 new pictures in that set, Project-Cat 2009.)I've discovered that I am overprotective of the kitties. Several times now in the week I've been back, I've been leaving my flat only to find people talking about the cats. I tend to stand around and talk to them (or at least listen and watch and make sure they're not doing anything a bad to the cats...) In this way I've met one very nice neighbor who was walking her 7 week old labrador puppy (even the cats-- who were universally bigger than this puppy-- were not afraid of her), and one, um, ignorant fellow who was trying to convince a cat who had followed him from the other side of the complex (I haven't decided if this is a stray or a cat with a home but who is allowed to roam) to go inside the tunnels and meet the feral cats.
The cats were well cared for while I was gone, but they seemed, in their own feral ways, to be sort of glad to see me upon my return. (Perhaps I give them more food than my house-sitter did? Heh.) And, for a feral, Little Grey has become almost friendly, meowing at me once in a while, and letting me get about 4 feet away with my camera.Also, while I haven't any photographs to prove it, I've seen Gandolf twice, and he's looking better. Anyone who didn't know him would still see him and think, Great Bast, that's a skinny cat! but I can tell he's put on some weight. Just as importantly, he just seems better somehow, more energetic, brighter. I hope it's not just wishful thinking. I haven't seen AzMum since right before I left, but she's obviously been taking very good care of Meester Gandolf.
And a quick update on the no-longer-wild-kittens-- Miss Beatrice flew to Tennessee with her mom, but will be returning in a few days. Her flight out was uneventful-- turns out she's a champion traveler. And she has won hearts-- despite a fierce no-pets-in-the-house rule, Miss Bea had full run of the house in roughly 24 hours of her arrival (she'd originally been consigned to a breezeway area, but this exile could not last in the face of such cuteness.) Zoe should be on her way to CA very soon, and her family sent me some adorable pictures, one of which you can see here. Looks like Arwen will also be missing Zoe when she goes!