Hi All,

These events happened a long time ago when Sausalito (Sasa) lived at
my mother's house and so did I.  We always sat down to a Sunday dinner
which was a relaxing meal where the family could talk over  the events
of the week.  Occasionally, my sister and I would get into a row over
something inconsequential and make a tense and unpleasant time of it,
but fortunately, my memories of those dinners are mostly good ones.

My father, having passed away when I was four years old, there were
four of us, Mom, Alvina my sister, my grandfather, and me.  And, of
course, the cat.  He was an inveterate beggar and while we didn't
encourage him, we did little to discourage him either.  The only
question with four chairs and four place settings was where was the
cat going to sit.  Obviously he couldn't sit on the table, and the
thought of setting out a separate chair for him to join us socially
wasn't really an option either.  Sasa found a solution though.  My
grandfather was a slender, spare man and there was just room on a
dining room chair to seat one man and one cat.  It's not as if Sasa
was invited, in fact he had to squeeze in and then appropriate as much
room on the chair as he could.  My granddad would make the same game
of this every week, at first refusing the cat any room, then letting
him have just enough to balance on the chair, then a little more room,
and finally letting Mr. Sasa have all the room he wanted.

The same game went on with the little tidbits of people food.  First
came the meowing, then the head butting -- finally, the first treat.
Then some more from me where I was seated next to  my granddad.  It
was my grandpa's pleasure to feed the cat, even while he complained
about it.  He'd always been a cat person, having started in his youth
in Sweden where there had been barn cats on the little island where
his family lived on one of the harbor islands in Karlskrona, Sweden.

It's so long ago, but I can still picture that old man and that pushy
old cat.  It must be the coming holidays that are making me nostalgic.

Regards and Purrs,
O J