Poof, you're gone.

"Poof"  Oil on linen panel  6" x 8"

I was visiting friends this weekend in Hampstead, Maryland who live on a llama farm.  To say llama farm is a misnomer as they also have donkeys, sheep, goats, a pot-bellied pig and a kangaroo.  Oh, and cats - lots and lots of cats.  When I first visited them, I felt like I was on the set of a remake of the feline version of 101 Dalmatians. Not that they chose to have that many cats. They are very conscientious owners, spaying and neutering every one of them.  Sadly, people seem to think that since they live on a farm that it is OK to drop a pregnant female or a box of kittens over their fence in the dark of night. At present they are trying to round up and spay or neuter seventeen new additions that have been deposited on their doorstep. When a cat gets too sick or feeble to reside in the barn, it makes its way into the main house.  It is an interesting collection of old and blind cats, along with a few that were special enough to be brought in on the merits of their scintillating personalities.  They all have names, even the barn cats.  There's Poof and Puff, the Olies - Roly and Poly, Dot and Spot, not the mention Gucci, Channel and Spencer, to name but a few.  The painting is of Poof who sadly had to be euthanized this week.  He had been blind for some time and got around quite well, although you had to be aware of him so as not to step on him. At 18, age finally caught up with him.  Goodbye, Poof.  Tell my Sammy in kitty heaven that I miss him.