by

Orange Cats in My Life – Part II: A Grin without a Cat

 

For how it all started read Part I: Found and Lost

For years after moving to the US owning a cat was out of question for various reasons. But it was always somewhere in plans for future because both my vSO and I loved cats and wanted to have one. So for a while we had to figure out how to deal with that.

I don’t remember exactly how it happened but I think one morning my vSO found him at our door. And from this first comic strip (see below) through years of newspaper subscriptions, dozens of comic books and even membership in the Garfield Club (it doesn’t exist any longer) this fat well-fed, lazy, mischievous, sarcastic but still charming orange cat moved with us from one apartment to another.

Garfield-1997-10-13

Garfield became our virtual cat. We would use phrases from Garfield stories in appropriate situations.

Diet is ‘die’ with ‘t’.

Give me coffee and nobody will get hurt.

I’m not overweight—I’m undertall.

We had favorite comic strips that we would repeat to each other the way people relive real life memories.

How did you sleep?

Garfield-1988-05-02

I just had a thought…

Garfield-2000-1-6

Crumbs!

Garfield-1998-1-22

So even though we didn’t have a cat we had plenty of grins.

Garfield-1980-04-80

Images: All from garfield.com.

32 thoughts on “Orange Cats in My Life – Part II: A Grin without a Cat”

  4. oh I always loved Garfield! He was most definitely a part of my childhood! I believe there was even a TV cartoon!
    Also, Kliban cat (not sure if I spelled his name right). Do you remember that, Undina? There were all things Kliban and I even had a bed set with those cats all over it! (I was a cat fanatic in my youth). My mother saved one of my Kliban cat t-shirts and now my daughter wears it :) !!!!

    Like

    Reply

    • Yes, there were cartoons as well but since I started with comic strips it was like watching a movie after liking a book ;)

      Kliban’s cats were “before my time”. Well, I’m not saying I’m that young but I moved to the US much later after their popularity peak.

      Like

      Reply

  7. Lovely post. I was a big Garfield fan growing up but I had to google the name of his dog friend just now – Odie!

    Getting a big Garfield cuddly toy (stuffed animal?) was one of my best ever Christmas presents. Nice memories all round.

    Like

    Reply

  8. Awww, that’s so sweet, Undina. I never was into Garfield, yet have a small stuffed Garfield that sits on my bookshelf, gifted to me a long time ago by a boyfriend who knew I loved cats. And oddly enough, now there are no real cats in my life, but Garfield remains. I’ll give him your best next time I dust! ;)

    Like

    Reply

    • I think you should get a virtual cat as a step towards getting a real one (two? ;) ). It might be too soon to get a cat now but I think that a cat person shouldn’t be too long without a cat.

      Like

      Reply

  10. I loved Garfield myself growing up, but I’ll admit he came in second to my affection for Bill the Cat and the entire Bloom County cast.

    One of the great pleasures I’ve had as a parent is introducing my children to stuff I loved growing up and watching them love it too.(ie. “This is ‘A Wrinkle in Time,’ give it a read” or “I think you’re old enough now to appreciate the genius that is ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off'”) Frodo, my 13yo, is a huge fan of Garfield, and will often come up to me so I can read something he finds particularly funny.

    Like

    Reply

    • I’m really glad I wrote about Garfield: not only I found fellow-fans among my perfumista friends but also I learned about two more cat characters with which I wasn’t familiar before.

      Sharing thing you love with loved ones is a special treat. I’m glad your kids share your “likes” and “loves”.

      Like

      Reply

  11. “There’s a wounded donut around here somewhere” Hahahahaha. Thank you for the laugh. :)

    I like the idea of having a virtual cat too! Maybe I can find a slightly neglected neighborhood cat and turn it into a semi-virtual cat? Kind’ve like having a godchild instead of a real child.

    Like

    Reply

    • In our neighborhood there is a cat who adopts people from different houses for a while: he keeps coming, stays with them (on the front or back yard) for weeks at a time – and then returns to his owner’s house.

      Like

      Reply

  12. I’ve been meaning to reply to this but held off until I could find my own well-worn, dog-earred books of Garfield comics to share with you! Alas, I have over a thousand books in my library and many more in boxes in my garage, so I can’t seem to dig either one up at the moment. But I adored Garfield, growing up. Eventually, I got my own personal version of him, a giant smoky blue Persian called Pushkin. I swear, he had Garfield’s personality (and massive stomach) down pat — right down to slapping the dog. LOL.

    Like

    Reply

  13. Pingback: Orange Cats in My Life – Part III: Love from the First ‘Awww…’ | Undina's Looking Glass

  14. Pingback: Orange Cats in My Life – Part IV: Those that have just broken the flower vase… | Undina's Looking Glass

  15. Pingback: Orange Cats in My Life – Part V: The Ones That Got Away | Undina's Looking Glass

What's on your mind? (I encourage posting relating links to your posts)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.