7 205 2004-12-03T15:25:34-05:00 $Date: 2005-09-11 10:27:02 -0400 (Sun, 11 Sep 2005) $ NormanWalsh 2004Norman Walsh No, not the musical. And not in Las Vegas, actually. A title misleading in almost every respect, in fact. Nevermind. Here are pictures of our cat and I'm going to be in Las Vegas next week. R. W.Emerson Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes, you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic an comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate. It has recently become clear to me that I'm failing as a blogger. I have not held up my part of the unspoken contract that says pictures of pet cats must be published. Perhaps on Fridays. I don't know where the contract came from and I don't remember signing it, but like most poor souls, I am not immune to peer pressure. If TimBray and DorotheaSalo say it's so, it must be true. Our cat is Tatters. She is called Tatters because on the very first night this sweet little kitten entered our home, she broke just about every fragile object not locked behind closed doors. It is even possible she broke some that were locked away, the tests were inconclusive. Cats, it is well known, can walk through walls. Especially black ones. It's a good thing kittens are cute. These are not great photographs. Obviously, I will have to post more. It is remarkably difficult to take a photograph of a black cat. Automatic focus and exposure is not easy to achieve on a fuzzy object that absorbs nearly all the light that falls on it. Now, lest you think I am playing favorites, here we have Poppycock and Ralphie. Ralphie, on the right, is our little dog. The poor dear is a little shy and not too bright, but has an inexhaustible supply of unconditional love, which more than compensates. Poppy, brighter and more extroverted, is not (yet) ours. She does not play well with others, specifically, with cats. We're going to try one more time when we get back from Vegas, but if she can't leave Tatters alone, she can't stay. Oh yes, Vegas. On the off chance that publishing my itineraries is a tiny bit subtle, let me just say that I'll be in Las Vegas next week. If any locals would like to have coffee or lunch and a chat or something, drop me a line. For the first time ever, I am the spouse tagging along. Deb is the one going to a conference and I'm going to go sight seeing. It should generate some travel photographs, if nothing else. I wonder if I can parlay six months of bottle returns and a years worth of loose change into a fortune?