We have a bird perch in the shower – Simon showers with me, Kazoo showers with GC, and Oboe is versatile. Anyway, yesterday, after Simon and I finished our shower, we saw that Duncan was crouched in the doorway looking profoundly disturbed.
A few weeks ago, a hinge for one of the mirrored panels on the medicine cabinet broke. GC fixed it a couple of days ago and leaned it against a bathroom wall where it was drying before being re-installed. I guess Duncan had never seen himself in a mirror before, so he didn’t recognize himself. All he knew was that some huge, magnificent stranger was in his bathroom, staring at him with a look of sheer horror on his face.
I tried to distract him, but he was focused too intensely for that. I got dressed, took Simon downstairs and came back with GC. Neither Duncan nor the stranger had backed down.
Poor Duncan. We got him away from the mirror, but he still looked very, very worried and unhappy. GC turned the mirror around so that it faced the wall, and we showed Duncan that the other cat was gone. Then GC took him downstairs and gave him some chicken and extra affection. Duncan’s a very mellow cat, but sometimes when he feels anxious he pees on our stuff. It has only happened three times in five years, but that’s more than enough to motivate us to try to minimize any anxiety he might be feeling.
So weird that he has no idea what he looks like. Maybe he doesn’t even know he’s a cat.
In other news, I’m flying to Vancouver for a meeting on Wednesday. I’ll be back on Friday. I haven’t been to Vancouver since I was about 20. It usually took me five days to hitchhike from Ottawa to Vancouver, maybe a little less if I caught a ride with a trucker, or if I was hitchhiking with another woman. Once I took the train, which seemed like the lap of luxury compared to hitchhiking. This will be my first time flying out there!
In other other news, we’ve picked a wedding date: July 13, 2013. And we’ve picked an officiant. There are all these people out there who are licensed to perform weddings, but how are you supposed to pick one?? Well, I say you pick the one with the best name. Our wedding will be officiated by Floralove Katz.
Oh boy! A July wedding! I had that too: we were supposed to be wed on 7/7/77, but had to postpone by two days. It took him about 10 years to stop giving me my anniversary gift on the 7th. Duncan will need a bowtie; will you make it? I swear cat brains are partly in Dimension X; this is why they are such weird little critters.
yayayayayay!! Congratulations you two!
Poor Duncan. Mine have all seen themselves in the mirror, we have a couple of full-length ones. But I can see how it would be disconcerting to have never seen yourself, then all of a sudden… bam!
That is the best officiant name ever!
Maybe Duncan was raised by dogs and thought that he should look like one, in the face at least, even if the paws and tail don’t match.
Congrats on the wedding planning. That’s a great name.
Cool you are getting married on my daughter’s 30th birthday which is also Maria Hawkins’ birthday
our orange cat would probably need serious naptime if he saw himself. He seems to think he is small
That ma’am, is a truly awesome< name…
Some cats, when they see themselves in a mirror, while go round and try to look behind the mirror thinking that it’s a window and there’s a cat behind the window pane!
That’s a most appropriate name for someone to marry you two!
So cute.
Oh this is wonderful! Where are having the wedding?