Here's another painting...

of my friend, my cat.


Bow with reverence. This acrylic on canvas rendering of a cat is a picture of none other than Flintlock himself. Yes, Flintlock the cat, who adopted me ten years ago by hanging out around my old apartment, lying quietly on the edge of the inflatable pool we had on the porch (claws respectfully tucked in), and finding his way back to said apartment in a rainstorm after we moved to our new house over twelve miles away. At our old place, he used to wander down to the fire house and bum cheese steaks off of the volunteer firemen. They'd later call us when he'd had his fill of steaks using the phone number on his tag.

I thank him for being a friend, for lying still behind my infant son while he was learning to sit upright (to catch his fall - no, really - he did), for licking my face on those occasions when only tuna-scented wet sandpaper would do, for getting into the hot shower with me (for reasons still not yet apparent), and for the occasional long white whisker dropped on the floor. Flint's quite old and temperamental now, and I suspect he only has a year or so left with us (let's just say that he was not a kitten when he adopted me).