Saturday, July 27, 2013

J. Moonboots

"For to assemble the letters that make up the name of a thing, 
in the correct order, was precisely to effect a magic, 
to establish a new kind of influence over that entity, to summon it forth!" 
--David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous

I would have told you all sooner that we welcomed a new kitty

to our home, but every time I bust out my keyboard, she crawls
on top of it and starts purring, in the most inconvenient but
adorable way. Or chews on it.




And then, it took a while to find her name.

Her name at the shelter was Chloe. Her mom is Charlotte, her brothers are Cody 
and Chevy, her sister is Cupcake. It was a whole "C" theme!

But still, I knew that wasn't her name.
"That's not my name!"
She is feisty, stubborn, brave and rambunctious, curious and comical; continually 
tumbling over herself in somersaults, running full out with the hooked tail that 
means "Playtime!" in cat language, and stretching her little stripey self in huge leaps 
that usually end with her hanging on the edge for dear life, scrambling for purchase. 
Sometimes she falls. Mostly, though, she makes it.
She curls right up on my lap. I stroke her head. Just like that, we're an interspecies 
love story. I sing her the "Soft Kitty" song even though she is not sick.



Deena Metzger wrote, “In the Hebrew tradition, saying The Name, Calling The 
Name, Naming has enormous spiritual power; is, perhaps, the supreme ritual act.” 
(Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals).

We named her Juniper. Juniper seems to be the sound of her personality. Also, 
we brought her home in June, she is tiny, therefore she is our Junebug. 



Stazi Lu is not thrilled with this development. 









Juni follows Stazi around. She goes where she goes, does what she does, only all the while
she is trying to start a wrestling match or game of chase. Basically, she's like an annoying little
sister you can't shake off. You try to take a nap, and she jumps on you. Things like that make
you run for the basement, where you can have your food bowl to yourself and snooze in
uninterrupted peace.





Juni relaxed. Stazi, not so much.

But you never know, with cats. They could be snuggle buddies before the year is out. I, personally, have never had cats who actually snuggle with each other, but it could happen.
For now, it's irritated growling, displeased stares, heated pursuits and the occasional hiss. But really, I am encouraged. A couple of times, Stazi licked Juni's fur. This almost qualifies as
world peace, in cat terms. 


It is good to have a young one about, stirring us all up, playing the clown and the trickster. 
Today, she learned about the ways of the vacuum cleaner and how the cursor is not to be caught, no matter how quick one's paw.













p.s. Blogger was giving me a crazy hard time formatting this so I apologize for weird
line breaks, misalignments and other graphic tomfoolery. Maybe I should go to Wordpress.

7 comments:

  1. She is adorable!! I love her name. I did have two cats who hated each other like poison at first but became real snuggle buddies, it was a delight to watch their beautiful friendship develop. Good luck with your two!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I would love to see them become friends, we shall see what unfolds in cat-time.

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  2. Juniper is a wonderful name for her... is she a Maine Coon? She looks much like a miniature Pasha, the Maine Coon kitty love of my life! He's entering he most senior years, but still he's very playful. I've never had snuggling cats, either, and Pasha and Sophia (now gone) learned to tolerate each other, though there were spats, mostly initiated by Pasha who has SO MUCH ENERGY (or did) that he could never calm down if inside unless he collapsed of exhaustion and slept all night. He would use Sophia as a target to let me know he HAD to go out. He got put in time-outs a lot, and, believe it or not, 10 minutes locked in a room and he'd calm down.

    Good luck with inter-kitty relations!

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    1. Her mama was a stray who gave birth on some nice person's backyard deck and her daddy is unknown...but since her mother is short-haired and Juni already has longer, fluffier fur, papa could've been a Maine Coon on the loose! Love those Pasha tales, thanks for sharing! Timeouts usually work really well but once it backfired on us--we would put Roscoe on our 3-season porch when he was being bitey, so then he would bite deliberately when he wanted to go out on the porch...oops.

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  3. Oh my goodness, she is so sweet, cute, fuzzy! And Juniper is so fitting!
    *Name nerd alert* Juniper, for baby names, has been popular on the web and in hipster circles for a few years, but only last year broke through the top 1000 names in the US SSA list. *end alert*

    I hope they become snuggle bunnies soon. :)))

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    Replies
    1. I had no idea! I always liked it, though...Joon (in the movie "Bennie & Joon") was named Juniper, and I liked an urban fantasy by Pamela Dean called "Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary" about three sisters. It sounds sassy and stripey and just has a lot of personality, and that is her all over.

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