Meet Sooterkin

You may have read about my "softy" friend who has been taking care of this poor stray kitty. Well, I immediately began having conversations with my friend after she posted these pictures, thinking this might be the ideal cat... for ME. 'Cause I love cats. Love my dog, too, but I am really, truly more of a cat person.

Anyway, seeing that we are getting ready to move and should have a little more room, I've been hinting to hubby for a while about cats. He knows I like cats. He knows I WANT another cat. But he's been pretty firm about keeping the critter number to a minimum. When I brought up this little stray -- he vetoed it in the biggest, baddest way (unusual for him, in fact, but I thought he was really trying to play the tough guy).

I figured I'd let him meet the kitty first, as we had plans to visit our friends on Memorial Day weekend, and then I would begin my cat negotiations in earnest.

When we arrived, however, we found my friend's daughter waiting:


Note the yellow ribbon round the kitty's neck.

Honestly, it took me a while to clue in to what was happening. I was a bit anxious, in fact, thinking that my friend had taken my interest in the cat as a sure thing that we would take the cat.

Little did I know that my dear hubby had emailed her the very next day and told her he wanted the cat for my birthday. See how sweet he is?

I named her Sooterkin, even though I've since learned that there is a Dutch word sooterkin, meaning a kind of false birth, fabled to be produced by Dutch women from sitting over their stoves. I prefer the English (though derived from Dutch)meaning, however. It's still a cool word and, yes, I'm going to call my cat Sooterkin.

Here she is with my daughter:


Bubba Hubby says it's rare to hit such a homerun with a birthday gift that EVERY member of the family is as thrilled as the recipient.

So, starting early, but year 36 isn't looking too shabby, so far.