Favorite Summer Spots

. . . watching 12-year-old Nellie who stays outside almost 24 hours a day this summer unless I go out at night to bring her inside. She hangs out in the front yard, often underneath a vehicle in our garage or in the neighbor's driveway. She has always been aloof and touchy-- characteristics that seem to come with calicos. In early June, the vet removed most of a cancerous tumor, so we are waiting and watching daily to make sure she doesn't enter a painful stage. When I bring Nellie in at night, she purrs like crazy on my chest while I watch a show or knit and stays there until I go to bed. Or I put her on my daughter's bed, and she sleeps there until mid morning.

. . . loving 12-year-old Bailey who is always happy to be with people and especially loves having the children and me home every day for most of the day during the summer. He hangs out all over the house and likes to stay inside where it is cool unless it is time to go for a walk in the morning or evening. He follows me into our small bathroom and rests on the bathmat if I haven't taken him for a walk yet in the morning. During the day, he likes to look out the front windows. He follows me to bed at night, and sleeps for the first part of the night in front of my bedside table. If I get up at night, however, he may be found on the futon in the den-- his little secret.

. . . listening to 2-year-old Charlie purr as he reclines on sewing pattern instructions I was going to read while dinner cooked. He is an indoor cat by day and an outdoor cat by night. Lately, though, we have to put him outside at night because he seems reluctant to leave the safety of the house. We switch him with the other cat because they need to exist in separate spaces. If we left him inside, he would wake us up to play at 2:00 am and 5:00 am, and we are done with that kind of schedule in this house. He sleeps almost anywhere in the house-- any bed, any chair, any sunny spot. And he sleeps a lot. He purrs when you look at him-- even when he is sleeping and he hears someone approach but is too sleepy to open his eyes.