Snuggles (who declined to be photographed) is the alpha of the kitten family. She's a domestic shorthaired tortie tabby, from the same litter as Maggie. She keeps herself in fairly decent physical condition (her gut, unlike the gut of the other 2 cats, doesn't sway back and forth as she runs). Snuggles is very affectionate, and the cool thing about her is she'll groom you...as in, lick you...when she wants attention. She's also smart as a whip. I don't think I've ever seen her misjudge a distance on a leap, or unable to catch a tasty looking low-flying insect. Her favorite places include the top of the glass coffee table in the upstairs great room, the shelf under the coffee table in the parlor, and this little bedside-type table we have in the living room. Snuggles was named by Erin's ex-wife, and we often call her Snugs for short.
Magnificat, aka Maggie, is a cat who revels in being feline. She's rather pudgy, and looks a lot like Snuggles although her tabby markings aren't as well-defined and she has a much rounder, softer face. I have taken to calling her the cream-puff kitty recently, 'cause she's so soft and sweet and round. Maggie occasionally emits lengthy monologues, but most of her vocalizations are limited to announcements upon her arrival on a bed or a couch. She's a little shy, and hides from new people...she HATES it when we throw parties...but she's the most likely cat of the three to come sit on your lap and knead you and purr loudly and fall asleep. If we're really lucky, we can watch her and Snuggles groom one another. When this happens, Maggie tends to get this porn-actress facial expression on her face that cracks us up. Unfortunately, if we laugh they stop. Oh well. Maggie enjoys hanging out in the cat bed on the floor of the upstairs great room, hiding in an empty cube of Erin's bookcase in the living room, and the underground beneath our bed. There is a "hiding" and "enclosure" theme going on here. Maggie is named after Bach's Magnificat.
Diana is the kitty newcomer, and the first pet I've really "owned" (can one really "own" a cat? I think they own us.) She's never been exposed to people who hate cats, and her default assumption is that a new human is a new friend. She's gorgeous...another domestic shorthaired tortie tabby, but she has some Asian kitty breeding in her background that give her short hair, a wedge-shaped head, and very skinny neck and limbs. This means all her weight is in her little kitty tummy. Between her adorability and her outgoing nature, she wins friends easily. She's not too bright, though. We started calling her "Gump" after she got locked into the closet of our old Dupont Circle apartment twice in one week. The first time we humans felt crappy, but the second time we knew it was her own fault. This is the cat with no sense of cause and effect. Diana was an early birthday gift the first year Erin and I were together, and she's the best present I've ever been given. She's been in my life longer than Erin and I have been living together, so she saw more of me than of Erin in her youth. Perhaps this is why she has such a close bond with me...I refer to her sometimes as my familiar, because she follows me from room to room and always likes to be close to me and involved in whatever I'm doing. Diana and I have a special parent-daughter relationship. Diana likes the big windows of the house, which we refer to as "kitty TV" due to the great bird watching out there. She also likes my massage chair, the bottom step, and the front door. Diana is named after four Dianas: the departed Princess, Wonder Woman's "human" persona, the goddess of the hunt, and Anne of Green Gables' best friend Diana Barry.
