carbonel

I think they were actually born a couple of days later, but February 1 is the observed birthday of Morwen and Random, the left-hand kittens in the photo above, who are now one year old.

Random is the one with incipient Siamese markings, and Morwen is the small black one. The ones on the right are Gir and Serendipity, who stayed with

trochai and went with

daedala, respectively -- though I can't tell which is which of those two.

Random has turned into a thumping large Siamese cat with slight tabby markings who has a propensity for sitting on my chest, kneading my carotid artery, and drooling happily. He failed to inherit the Siamese voice, and in fact has almost no voice at all, just a little peep. It's very unnerving to have dinnertime roll around and not have cats meowing at my feet -- they just swarm, like a small warm-blooded school of piranhas.

Morwen is the SBC (small black cat) who has no bones most of the time. She sleeps next to me on the bed and purrs thunderously when I pet her. (Random sleeps on or next to my feet, which is very useful for someone who suffers from cold feet.) She's the acrobatic cat (acrocat?) who can jump from the stereo speaker to the mantelpiece to the ceiling beams to the cat tree on the other side of the room. It alarmed me when she first started doing that, but now I'm inured.

While I still miss Gandalf and Pyewacket (I knew them 17 times as long!), these two are a fine houseful of cats.