Kathleen McGivney

A happy cat

Tinkerbell, originally uploaded by kmcgivney.

Meet Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell is one of my dad's two cats. Since he's been sick, I have been spending a lot of time at his house, and of course the cats are always around to make things interesting.

Of the two cats, Tinkerbell is the more independent one. Her buddy, Melvin, is a rotund black cat with a cauliflower ear who merits his own follow-up post. Melvin is much more social than Tinkerbell and will greet anyone who has hands (because hands are for petting him). Tinkerbell, on the other hand, prefers to do her own thing and will hang out in the basement most of the day, or find a pile of soft-looking blankets and burrow into them. When she decides to be social, strictly on her own time schedule and terms, she will climb right up into your lap, provided that you are worthy. She has very high standards.

This photo was taken by my awesome husband while Tinkerbell was lounging on my dad's bed, awaiting his return from the hospital. We had just been lavishing her with attention. She was very pleased.

More Tinkerbell, and other cute animals, in my animals set at Flickr.

Mia, the mighty Boston terrier

Mia strikes a pose, originally uploaded by kmcgivney.

This is Mia. Atom's friend and groomsman Steve and his wife Joline are Mia's owners. During a recent trip to Boston, we took a nice walk from our hotel in the Back Bay through the Fenway and over to their apartment, and spent a little bit of time lounging and chatting, but of course, Mia was incredibly photogenic and charming, so we spent a lot of time taking photos of her.

Boston terriers are usually small, but Mia is smaller than most. She's very active and wiggly. Those who are lick-averse would do well to avoid her, as she is very prone to licking humans. This shot was taken after she had worn herself out a little bit. Being a hostess can be quite exhausting.

On a personal note, though things are not entirely back to normal, I will be resuming a fairly regular blogging schedule. I have a lot of photos and information to overshare with the internet!