Izumi Tanaka

When my cats are together sleeping like this, there’s nothing more I can ask for.  It’s an ultimate joy….  how simple is that?!

My kitties, Nicola (the black), and Riley (the stripes) are litter mates, which means they have been together since conception.  It always, always, makes me smile to find them together like this.

The summer is here.  My cats are busy doing precisely what they’re supposed to do:  being catatonic…..

The summer is finally here – it’s a late arrival.  If the sun is out in the morning, it comes through our dining window giving my kitties a short while of sunbathing opportunity.  

When I’m stuck in the house and don’t have a chance to go shoot something interesting, my default is obviously the cats.  In fact, Riley hasn’t made his appearance for a while.  I’m sure he’s happy to see you.

Beauty is an old lady kitty, and she was hugging a heater today.  It’s still unseasonably cold around here in Southern Cal…  even though it’s already late May.  It’s not just the kitty hugging the heater, but us, too!

Riley likes upside down.  I think it’s almost his Pavlovian response when he sees me as I would invariably rub his tummy.  When I pick him up (which incidentally I’m the only one with such privilege to do), he always flips over.  (Incidentally, when I don’t find any other subject to shoot for the day, there he is — he’s always ready for my camera and never lets me down. )

The cats always know the warmest spot in the house.  This time of the year we have some nice morning sun coming into our bedroom and dining room.  Because it’s finally warming up, the window was open a little and there she was!

The sun was pouring into the bedroom this morning, and Nicola was basking on the bed.  Resistible….  I picked up my camera, and ta-ta!  She posed!  May be she realized she needs to emulate her brother being a super model.  Pretty… but not quite flirty enough, kitty cat.

Lately Nicola got rather quick in sneaking out the door.  I don’t let my cats out unless I can watch them (I call it “supervised outing”) just because I think we have too much traffic around here.  The truth, though, is they do enjoy being outdoor, especially now it’s getting warm out.  They don’t go too far and hang around within the property anyway.  Oh, but I still have a hard time letting them go out freely…..  Such is the selfish and over protective kitty lover I am.