introducing: Goose and Frankie,

These two young gentlemen (who will be four months old tomorrow) entered our household last Saturday afternoon. We'd been pondering new cats for a while, our young ladies preferring one each, in part so they wouldn't fight over a single one, and so the kittens could entertain each other during school-days. After the loss of our Lemonade more than a year ago [see my obituary for him here], the household was finally ready to be able to move forward (there was talk at one point of attempting to get Lemonade "a friend," but we never quite got there). Again, the kitten-proofing (lots of stuff getting knocked over) and the sunroom door closed (until potentially poisonous plants can be re-housed). Again, the attention to litter and water and brushing and food.

These "chaos gremlins" (as Christine refers to them) are a curious Highland Lynx/Siamese blend, and lap-cats (at least so far), very different than our skittish and moody Lemonade. As well, as Lemonade, both kittens are polydactyl, with multiple extra toes (and accompanying claws) all over their wee padded feet. It took longer than I would have thought for the young ladies to land on names (and refusing any of the ridiculous names I offered: "Captain Marzipan!" "Peaches!" "President Eisenhower!" etc). Aoife finally chose "Goose" for her kitten, after our recent Captain Marvel (2019) watch [Aoife and I have been doing an entire MCU watch, having watched twenty-five movies-to-date in order of their release, as well as the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Ms. Marvel (which I knew she'd really like) and WandaVision, with more to come]. Rose has landed on "Frankie," a name she claims she "just likes," but it makes me think of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, of course. "Frankie says Relax," I tell them, and the boy agrees. Although Rose had earlier attempted "My Melody," a Hello Kitty reference we weren't convinced by (when naming pets or children, one has to be able to land on a name one can yell), but made me think of this song from my youth (one I was actually surprised Christine didn't know), which I hadn't realized was by a Toronto band. Are all my references from 1980s pop? Possibly.