Posts categorized as Cats

I first encountered Obama perched on the rafters of my gutted third-floor attic nine years ago. He looked me over for a minute before leaping onto another beam and disappearing. My new house was his house apparently, except he didn’t have to pay the mortgage. Rumor on 91st is, that he was abandoned at one year old by a tenant who moved out, forcing him to fend for himself on the streets.  He had a rough start, but found his place as the official “watchdog” of 91st Street, patrolling the […]

  My cat Johny unexpectedly passed away last week. The whole ordeal has been quite traumatic for me. I heard a scuffle in the middle of the night. He was limp in the legs, yowling and breathing heavily. I knew immediately this was an emergency. I got him in a carrier, found my keys, and headed to VERG Animal Hospital at four something in the morning. I was f*!king frantic. I was exhausted, yet fired with adrenaline. I was driving dangerously through red lights. I pulled up and just left my car […]

Well, it finally happened. I got Covid. I’ve been very careful since the holidays in particular. I haven’t been out much at all but Omicron is so contagious. You can get it at the bodega or the supermarket. You can get Covid anywhere, even if you’re taking all measures of precaution, including being fully vaxed and getting your booster. The first two days were pretty bad honestly. I was in bed with a fever, chills, and the sweats. To put it in perspective, I’d wake up in the middle of […]

My family has always been savvy thrifters. After all, my father was one of New York’s Strongest for 35 years, and he was always looking for hidden treasures “on the job,” so it’s in my blood. As a kid, my dad would take me to various junk shops but our favorite, “upscale” place was St. Vincent De Paul. It’s close to our house, just a town over in Garden City Park. I don’t get there much any more, but my father still goes regularly in search of a great deal. […]

In August I wrote about Sweetie, a ”teenage” cat mom who appeared in my backyard with a batch of kittens. I wanted to follow up and share the rest of Sweetie’s journey with you. It’s been a long road. We rescued Sweetie and her three kittens July 6. It was difficult to get appointments for spay/neuter and vaccines due to Covid-19 delays. And it took some time to get the kittens adopted into good homes. Meanwhile, I grew very much attached to Sweetie. She’s a special cat – very friendly, […]

Typical morning: I wake up, put on a pot of coffee and feed my cats. And Instagram my cats while waiting for my coffee. Then I see a little fluffy head pop up at the glass window of the back kitchen door. It’s Sweetie. We named her Sweetie for her friendly disposition. She’s a black American long-haired, around 7 months old. She began visiting regularly two months ago. I’m able to pet her which means she may have been domesticated as a kitten. If you’ve been reading my column for […]

I had a plan for last Saturday – clean, then get a jump on some graphic design work, and later, I’d prune the serviceberry tree in my yard (which I was excited to do).  I’m on the porch shaking out the fourier rug when my neighbor calls me over. There was an injured cat. My stomach dropped. I texted my friend for some advice and she gave me a few numbers for emergency care. I passed them along. I continue cleaning but I couldn’t stop thinking about the cat, on […]

Here’s a recap of the best instagrams of last week. If you want the day to day follow me here! I saw my moms favorite group Home Free on Staten Island with her and my sister at the St. George Theater (beautiful architecture!) this week. I’m kinda obsessed with Staten Island  now (Shaolin!!), in particular the St. George area. There’s so much to say but I don’t want to give it all up because I’m planing on writing about it for my Wave Column, so stay tuned. I woke up one […]

Pickle havin’ a cup! Photo by Alex Tween Previously published in The Wave. We will truly never understand the mysterious minds of cats. Among the many enigmas of feline behavior is their apparent love of coffee. I first noticed this when my friend Alex started texting me pictures of his adorable football-shaped kitty Pickle (also known as Mrs. Tween) trying to get her big furry head into a paper coffee cup! Polliwog, the kitten I bottle fed and fostered and my cat Fivey have also licked the cup a few times. […]

Living in Rockaway means sharing our space with our feline friends. I didn’t make a conscious decision to get involved with cat rescue and fostering, It happened out of necessity. It all started with a tuxedo cat named Obama. Rumor on the block has it  that people moved out across the street about 4 years ago and left him behind. He made himself at home when our house was under renovation. We were residing, so there were plenty of openings for him to get inside. He’s a good cat and […]