Pictured here is Dora at the age of about one month. On a whim, we decided one Saturday to go to the APL, just to look. Well, I should have known that you can't just go ogle at these precious little kittens and then just leave and pretend you didn't pine desperately to take them all home. It doesn't work that way.

While we were there, however, i met an older cat with orange stripes. I've forgotten her name by now, but it seemed important to remember it at the time. That's not the important part though. While i was visiting with this middle-aged kitty, I realized that I don't need an animal to be small and fluffy and precious to love it. I would have taken this one home had it not been for David (my younger brother) who was sure he didn't like old cats.

As we continued looking at the cats, we began to discuss which cat we would get, IF we were to take one home. The rhetorical questions always seem to be a safe bet, but it sure backfired this time. We ended up leaving the shelter with not one, but TWO kittens(One for David and one for myself). Mom had no idea.

My kitten is pictured above. She came into our family with the name Olivia, which was changed about ten different times before we settled on her present name. Isn't she cute??

New York, New York

Upstate New York is gorgeous in the fall, so I couldn't resist adding more
photos of this beautiful subject.

In this photo, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of color I was able to capture with my borrowed 'point-and-shoot' canon.

The shadows cast on the foreground offer a wonderful contrast to the sunny background of trees. This is truly one of nature's most beautiful rainbows.

This photo, pictured at right, makes me think of the clearing described in The Time Traveller's Wife. (It's an amazing book that I recommend to anyone who doesn't mind using their brain while reading. It's well worth your while, believe me.)

Well, anyway, back to the photo. The scattered sunshine seeping through this tree's branches gives the photo an eternally happy and warm feeling. I love that this tree is able to look so fresh and new among all the other trees slowly decaying to bare branches.

At a glance, one may mistake this picture for a spring scene instead of a tree in the middle of October.