Sorry, kitty - didn’t mean to disturb your reading

Working on The Punditty Project has led to several unexpected but pleasant discoveries. Take Flickr, for example.

After opening a Flickr account as an extension of the “That’s Not a Cluster of Berries, It’s a Whole Bunch of Ladybugs!” breaking news event filed in early October, it was time to explore the site.

One of the groups that caught my eye was a group called “Somebody else’s cat.”

Imagine that, Punditty thought, vacillating between Third and First Person, person and persona. We live in a world where people who so desire can take pictures of other people’s cats and share them on something called the World Wide Web, at innovative, interactive sites like allvoices and Flickr. For someone who has been spending entirely too much time mired the mudslinging, soul-draining world of presidential politics, this discovery came as very good news.

Allvoices viewers get to see Pirata, a 2-year-old female who lives in an upstairs apartment. She visits The Punditty Project’s not-so-corporate headquarters downstairs quite a bit, however. One afternoon, I heard papers rustling in the hallway between songs (“Vietnam Cowboys” and “You’re Asking Me” on Ray DaviesRay Davies’ excellent 2008 CD Working Man’s Café) so I went out to investigate. Pirata looked at me as if to ask, “Could you please keep it down? I’m trying to read.” Luckily, my trusty digital camera was nearby and I was able to snap this photo.

The other photo was taken one afternoon when Pirata had been making sporadic forays into the apartment as I was writing. I thought she had wandered out on the porch or around back, but then a noise from inside my closet told me otherwise. Rather than try to coax her out right away, I leaned inside and took several photos. In this closeup, she’s perched on top of a box in the most remote corner of the closet. “Could I just have a little privacy, please?” her eyes seem to be pleading. OK, I thought, why not. I left her alone after taking the pictures, and she moseyed out some 10 minutes later.

In the earlier incident, however, I did not turn down the volume so she could concentrate on her reading.

To see more pictures of other people’s cats taken by other cat people who may or may not have cats of their own, go to:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/notmycat/