A whiff of sparrow at the window, late-night nuzzles, camping in the redwoods: here is the early life of Scotty (a Scottish Fold) and Athena (the beauty of the family), told in unforgettable prose. Have you ever gone bejabbers at the bugs, fallen into scritchy bliss, played paw-ball at dawn? Ever cavorted with slippery lightbeams and delectable fuzzies, made unexpected discoveries in your own house, thrilled to the coo of a Scottish Fold? This book will transport you to kitty paradise - and you may not want to come back! Above all, it is the tender and touching expression of love between a man and his wife, and their growing devotion to the two kittens who comprise their family.
It starts simply enough. "In the summer of 1992, my wife and I decided to bring cats into our quiet home. We had no idea how much our lives would change." Before David and his wife knew it, they were caught up in the bouncing energy, daily discoveries, and experiments in parenthood. "That first year we were such absorbed parents of Scotty and Athena that we talked and thought about them all the time, so when I sat down to write this book, it just came out in a rush." Hutchinson balances humor, adventure, inspiration and love in this delightfulstory of mishaps, exploits, and growth as a family.
The tale is absolutely fascinating in the things they thought of doing with their cats. In one amusing chapter, Hutchinson describes Scotty's love of music, and in the next he muses on their fascination with spaces. There is a moving, poetic chapter describing how Athena falls asleep in a lap. After listening to them talk to each other late at night about dogs or seeing a redwood forest from a cat's-eye perspective, or planning ingenious ways to bug their sleeping humans, we get a real sense of who Scotty and Athena are. They certainly had a singular upbringing, getting their teeth brushed, going on walks with leashes, camping out. The book climaxes with a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.