Alfred, entwined in the plant, is going on six; he and his sister Bea are shelter kitties my wife Gail and I adopted both very young. When he arrived at the house two months after his sister, he immediately came out of the carrier and took charge -- by pulling a toy rope which Bea followed as if it was meant to be.

Alfred (we sometimes think he could be named Earnest, since he takes everything very seriously) is the sort of "kid" all the other kids want to play with.

"Hey, can Alfred come out to play," we can picture his friends calling, if he were a human kid. "You got him on your team last time, it's our turn." He's game for anything. He loves to ride around on my shoulders and chase a ball down the hall then slide to a halt when he reaches the wall. He sleeps behind Gail's pillow. Sometimes, he'll rattle our Venetian blinds to get us up to feed him. Oh, and quite often (especially if he thinks we are leaving the house to travel) he will pull one of his decorative rope pull-toys to the door, as if to say, "Okay, here's my stuff too."
© Robert B. Koach

How could anyone resist either this stunning photo or the word picture Robert paints with Alfred's story? I sure couldn't. My cat pictures of the week are selected from general photo submittals which observe the Photo Submittal Guidelines. Your own photos are welcome too.