For as long as I can remember, my maternal grandparents had at least one cat. What self respecting farm didn't have one good "mouser"?
One of my earliest farm cat memories is of a yellow cat named "Buttercup." I recall on one winter visit to the farm, Buttercup was allowed to spend the night in the back room rather than in the barn. My impression was that it was a female. After all, who would name a tom cat Buttercup but then again ... I was very little and known to have a vivid imagination.
Another favorite was Tabby, a beautiful black and white female that my grandmother received as a gift. Tabby was a long-haired cat and unlike Buttercup, lived most of her live indoors.
Tiger came to live with my grandparents following a visit to "the old farm" the homestead of Allen and Nancy Stone Space which my grandfather purchased from his siblings following his father's death. The house burned during the early 1940's while my grandparents and mom were off visiting friends leaving the stone foundation filled with wood, trees that had taken root along with a lifetime of memories.
I loved trips to the old farm to pick apples in the fall and plums for grandma's special plum jelly. On one of these visits I heard a kitten mewing in the garage - grandpa tried to convince me it was just a Catbird but I knew better. Tiger came home that afternoon and must have enjoyed special status to spend a large part of her day as an indoor cat.
"Tiger in the Sunshine." Digital Image. Undated. Original photograph privately held by
Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski. (c) 2013
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