Cats Survive NYC's Hurricane Irene in Evacuation Zone C, Unaccompanied by Humans....

When the Powers That Be closed NYC airports at noon on Saturday (for almost 48 hours!) and thereby stranded JoJo and I in Norway, little did they know that they were condemning these poor kitties to a long, lonely weekend in a depopulated evacuation zone. A classic case of cat vs. storm. Although the membrane of the apartment was not pierced and on the surface, there was no physical damage to property or cat, what were the horrors that they experienced? Do deep psychological scars remain from the howling winds and rain lashing at their windows as it never had before? Did the fantastically low barometric pressure disrupt their physiological equilibrium and sense of well-being? So far, they are not exactly opening up about their experiences. When asked about the storm, XingXing emitted several sharp and insistent meows and promptly rolled on his back, demanding a belly rub. FuFu remains as enigmatic and unresponsive to questioning as ever. One gets the sense that the cats have forgiven mother nature for her excesses, and their humans for vacationing during the first hurricane to hit NYC in decades. They want to move on. And most importantly, they want to know if the birds who had been nesting on the ledge above their favorite window are coming back....

Macro FuFu Looms Over Mere Mortals

There are birds nesting above our windowsill, which the cats find endlessly fascinating. The also stand very, very still while observing, which makes my task as a photographer of felines a bit easier!

Cat Combat Caputred....With a Macro Lens

You would be hard pressed to find a feline photographer who would argue that a 100mm macro lens is suitable for photographing cat wrestling. But when the fangs come out and the fur starts flying (timing and motivation for "altercation" always unpredictable......), I had to use what was already mounted, narrow depth of field and unsteady focus not withstanding. One of the interesting things about this wrestling is that except for the thump of them slamming their cat bodies into each other and rolling around on the floor, it is virtually silent. No meowing, growling, hissing, etc. I guess it means that they are "playing". With XingXing and FuFu's 2nd birthday fast approaching, I do wonder when this wrestle-play will peter out. You don't really see 50 year old men wrestling, and probably not 10 year old cats either!