As of today - March 21, 2007 - this gallery will be a tribute to one fascinating creature who has given me joy for being such an excellent photographic subject. Garfield began as a stray kitten left by its mother at the front garden (his other siblings were left at other households!) one cold, rainy day - which also happened to be my B-day! He continuously let out such a pitiful cry that one can not help but shelter him from the elements ...

He grew up like the independent stray that he is alongside our dogs, eventually acting - to our amusement and to the dogs' initial confusion - like one of them! Garfield can be seen co-eating at their food bowls, sleeping beside them or at the dog house, running along with them to greet me at the gate when I come home ... :-)

The poor bugger never seemed to get along with other feline creatures which included two of his fellow siblings who eventually preferred to hang out (especially at mealtimes?!!) with us ... In fact, whenever he tried to seemingly befriend them, they lash out on him with claws-and-fur-a-flying! (maybe the others mistook his actions as if he was a, uh, dog?)

On February 27, 2007 he never showed up for his scheduled meals ... now and then he made his presence known by showing up, but never really managed to eat anything solid. For a while he was forced-fed a liquid mushy diet but eventually you can tell he was getting weaker by the day ...
By the time we decided to take him to the vet he rarely showed up ... If he did so, the people at home happened to be out at work or on an errand, or that he returned veeery late at night just to sleep with the dogs, as if to say his last goodbyes quietly ...

One fine Saturday on March 10, 2007 after an erratic presence, a very much emaciated Garfield showed himself one last time. I was sooo elated to see him back that I even managed to take pictures or this final return ... We immediately got ready to take him to the vet but by the time we got to the car, the ever-elusive cat was nowhere to be seen ... Eventually I saw him on a narrow canal - seemingly contemplating at first - but then decisively going towards a hole in the wall towards a huge empty backlot full of wild vegetation that we can't get over and into ... and with that he was gone forever - just as impromptu as he first came into our lives.

On the days that followed I looked for a sign that he has finally passed on to feline heaven ... then yesterday, March 20, 2007 - exactly 3 weeks to the day he first didn't show up to eat - while standing on a looong line (it was a payday for some workers) at check-out counter #14 at the grocers, a saleslady minding the DVD stand just 6 meters behind where I stood played a DVD of - what else! - "GARFIELD THE MOVIE". Those were probably the longest 20 minutes in line that i've ever experienced. And then I just knew .... :,-(

GARFIELD: R.I.P. July 2005 - March 14 (?), 2007.