Gyles

I ran across this picture yesterday on the internet and it rather reminded me of my old cat Gyles. His name was taken from the work “Farmer Giles of Ham,” written by J. R. R. Tolkien, and published in 1949. And oddly enough, it would not be the first time I’ve found a photo of Gyles in an “odd” place. I once found an entire photo shoot of him in a photo album at a party I attended with some friends although I did not at the time know the hostess. Long story short, she did know both my housemates and had been over to my house twice without bumping into me. Gyles on the other hand never meet a woman he didn’t like, particularly if they didn’t mind a twenty pound furball landing on their chest and than pretending it was a necklace. So photographers and cats being who they are, Gyles and she set out to chronicle his majesty’s ego. I on the other hand still find the incident a bit jarring. Perfectly understandable certainly, but one just doesn’t expect to pick-up a random photo album in the house of a stranger and find a study of one’s cat. And this snap might just as well be him too for all I know. The crummy curtains certainly seem familiar. If the lighting were a little less harsh on his right side and I could see his distinctive under-chin cow-lick I’d know for sure. But what’s life without a bit of mystery?