Laowai

Things are different around here – it’s just going to be Claire and I most of the time – it’s quiet. To fill the quiet Claire and I have been fostering cats. I can hardly believe it. It started as sort of a joke when Brian was just thinking of moving to Switzerland. We laughed and said we would replace him with a cat. But then I came across the nicest cat shelter in Evanston and everything was so easy and so we brought home two cats the day after we returned from Zurich.

There’s Claire when we first picked them up. And on the way home we passed Foster Street!

The kitties were named Froddo and Samwise but since we are not huge Lord of the Ring fans we have been calling them Fred and Sam. They are probably brothers. The shelter takes in cats from all over the Midwest and puts lots of them in foster homes while they get healthy and wait to be adopted. They say the cats can never really relax at the shelter like they can in a home so the fostering process is really helpful in getting the cats ready for adoption.

I am so pleased with how it’s going with Fred and Sam. It’s made this transition easier and happier. And I’m happy to give Claire the experience of being close to a cat – something we just couldn’t do since Brian is allergic to cats. I will note that Brian has been very supportive from afar.

The cats are so fun and sweet. They follow us around and give little squeaky meows now and then. They are only about 8 months old so they are very playful and we laugh all the time at their antics. That’s Sam above “helping” me put Christmas decorations away. And below Fred thinks he is helping me with a sewing project.

They even help Claire with her homework.

On Saturday I got a bittersweet message from the shelter saying they were ready to take the cats back to live at the shelter and get adopted. They said they have lots of people coming in to adopt and they are sure Fred and Sam will get snatched right up.

Sniff.

Hopefully we will bring home another cat or two right away.