Sophie Amelia Sidman, Samantha Sirover, Lilly Sirover
Introduction
Among other things, I'm an artist, an independent curator, a web site designer, an art collector and especially a lifelong lover of cats - both wild and domestic.
I am passionate about sketching and drawing from life - especially people. I enjoy printmaking, and painting; gardening, pruning, sailing, biking, walking and cooking ethnic foods; reading, especially literature and poetry, and viewing foreign and classic films - among other things. I'm not fond of people who are haughty, hypocritical, dishonest and/or mean-spirited.
Like many domestic cats I prefer living a solitary life but occasionally crave some human attention and affection. I enjoy working with people and am loyal and loving with those I trust. I have not had much success in domestic relationships.
I've lived most of my life with cats. I don't remember ever paying for any of them; they were either gifts of the breeder or adult felines that needed a home. Many had been abused or abandoned by their former guardians. As a survivor of parental abduction, maybe I identified with these cats. All of my feline friends were "fixed" - meaning if they were females they were spayed or if they were males they were neutered.
"All cats (except the lion and some feral domestic cat colonies) are solitary animals that hunt and fend for themselves. They only come into contact with members of the opposite sex during mating periods... Cats are also very territorial and mark out the perimeter of their "homeland" with their urine. In urban areas our domesticated cats still exhibit these behavioral traits, creating serious problems for male tom cats who inevitably fight with each other as they cross each others territories in search of on-heat females. Neutering can help to reduce the nuisance caused by calling and fighting cats, as well as reducing the number of unwanted litters." ~ provet petfacts
Before my abduction at age 21/2 my cousin and I had a small dog at our home on Long Island, NY.
When I was six and living with my father's stepsister on Cape Cod I had a very large black male cat I named "Blackie." He was not afraid of dogs and was once seen 'riding' on the back of a ferocious Boxer.
That annoying dog never came near our house or neighborhood again after suffering such a painful and humiliating experience. A few years later, when we were forced to sell and leave our family home for a newer and smaller house in a mid-Cape housing development, Blackie kept returning to our original homestead on Main Street, Bass River, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
During my teenage years, I had a Border Collie, called 'Jackie' who herded young neighborhood cats to our doorstep on Geneva Road in South Yarmouth, MA.
In the early 1960s, while attending the Swain School of Design, an art school in New Bedford, I had a number of stray cats; including a feral cat which nearly destroyed my one-room garret - I had this cat removed to South Dartmouth where it lived in the woods of Little River Farm.
I had a few feline pets while attending Boston University's School of Fine Arts (that's me on the far left!!) during the 1960s. The one I remember most is "Mykonos," who lived with me on Hemingway Street in Boston, near the Fenway. It was not the best of times for either of us - we'll leave it at that!
While a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati your grandmother and I had two male Siamese kittens that were a gift from our landlady on Mt Adams - she had been an artist's model and an art teacher at The Art Academy of Cincinnati. We named the kittens "Grunts" and "Little" - they were from the last litter of their 18+ year old mother - whose vet had been the famous doctor, animal rights advocate, and Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Albert Schweitzer.
"Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things,
man will not himself find peace." - Albert Schweitzer
Grunts had little coordination and once jumped - for no apparent reason - out of our three-story apartment window, landing - unhurt but shocked and bloated with adrenaline - on the cement walk below. Highly intelligent and lots of fun, these Siamese cats from Mt. Adams, Cincinnati, Ohio were a special part of our life for many years.
In the 1970's, during the childhood of your mothers and while your grandmother and I were teaching art at a private girl's school in Wellesley, MA, there were a number of pets, including another Siamese (from a breeder on Wellesley College campus) whose resting place is on the north side of our Frenwood apartment and "Molly" the Irish Setter - who spent many summers with us at our summer cabin on White Point, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Sadly Molly was stolen one evening in Wellesley during her daily run along Fuller Brook. We also had many African (Dwarf) Swimming Frogs and Siamese "Betta" Fighting Fish, a few Gerbils, a Myna Bird - who gave catcalls early each morning to Miss Post, an English teacher, walking past our apartment - and even a Giant Checkered Rabbit - from the Franklin Park Zoo - with a black "racing" stripe on it's back. Ask your mothers if there were other pets I've forgotten . . .
In the 1980s, after your grandmother asked me for a divorce, I moved into a studio at Artists West Association in Waltham and accepted responsibility for a huge male Maine Coon Cat who had been abused by his former owners. It took him over a year to learn to trust me; but after that, he became one of the most friendly of all my feline friends. (see my self portrait drawing below) The Maine Coon Cat and I lived together for a number of years and most likely helped each other to heal from traumatic events in our lives.
Artist: Scattergood-Moore
Title: Me and My Maine Coon Cat c. 1985
Medium: Ebony pencil on paper
Size: 14" high x 12" wide
When I moved into an artists' condo at Claflin School Studios in Newtonville, Mass, and after the Maine Coon passed away, I had a long-haired domestic tiger cat named 'Chester' who came to me from a friend of mine whose friend was dying of HIV/AIDs. This handsome but shy cat died in my arms of stomach cancer after living with me for only a couple of years. I thought this would be the last of my feline friends, but my vet, JAKE TADALDI, D.V.M. of VETCALL had other intentions. . .
Today I share my living and studio space with a beautiful Calico Cat known only as 'The Studio Cat' because she spends most of her time in the art studio. She came to me from a cat hoarder in Boston who had 30-40 cats - more cats than I could count and more than she could cope with. Dr. Tadaldi recommended her to me because he had seen that the calico was not socializing with the other cats in the tiny apartment and that she spent most of her time alone on the window sill of the bathroom.
The Studio Cat seems very content today to be living a more solitary life in suburbia; spending most of her days in the studio and nights at the corners of my bed. As she has gotten older, she sometimes disappears under my goose-feather quilt during cold winter weather. During summer she and I spend time outside by our perennial and shade garden. She enjoys lying in my lap while I watch television and on my stomach early in the morning before I get out of bed. The Studio Cat is a bit jealous of the women in my life - but is cautiously sociable with most adults - especially artists!
Now that you have met me and my pets, I hope someday to meet you and yours. . .
As you can see, I have had many wonderful feline friends over the years. What I have learned from having pets is that if you are loyal and respectful of them, they will be the same with you. You need to make the most of your time together, as their life span is short and your time with them is limited and passes swiftly . . . if you want a pet that will last a lifetime, consider buying a parrot!
The cat says:
Even should you rise as high as eagles,
place your nest among the stars,
even from there I'll pluck you down,
declares The Cunning One.
Cats have captured the imagination of ordinary and extraordinary people worldwide ever since they were domesticated in pre-history. Following are a few examples of famous people who shared their lives with, and were inspired by, their feline companions. Of course there were many more...
Cats are mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of. ~ Sir Water Scott (1771-1883)
Calico cats are not a breed; they are a very specific color characteristic. They are tri-colored with colors in distinct patches, not mixed as in a tortoiseshell.
NEARLY ALL CALICO CATS ARE FEMALE...
"To better understand this mystery, lets have a brief, very basic, review of genetics. Each mother cat's offspring will carry a pair of sex chromosomes, XX or XY, the result of which will make the kitten either a girl or a boy. The mother passes an X chromosome down to it's creation and the father passes either an X or a Y. If the offspring receives the Y, it's genetic composition will be XY and it will be a male.
However, color and other physical calico kitten characteristics are tied specifically to the X or Y gene depending on the specific circumstance. For a kitten to be born a calico it takes two X genes, one carrying an orange characteristic and one carrying the non-orange characteristic (usually black). And, if a cat has the XX combination of genes it needs to be calico, then it would be a female, hence, why there is the perception that a calico cat has to be a female."
ALTHOUGH RARE,
THERE ARE MALE CALICO CATS...
"...a genetic anomaly can occur where an offspring ends up with an extra sex chromosome producing the combination XXY. The XX of the XXY meets the requirement of the two X chromosomes needed to produce the calico cat characteristic's color and the Y of the XXY produces the male sex. However, male calico cats are usually sterile and do not reproduce."
Charles River Alleycats (CRA) is dedicated to promoting and reducing the number of homeless and feral cats in the greater Boston Area through non-lethal means...
Rozzie May Animal Alliance
Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Clinics
a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable New Hampshire Corporation,
dedicated to reducing the number of homeless and unwanted animals.
Scattergood, Scattergoood-Moore, Emily, Dr Emily Scattergood, Emily D Scattergood, Emily Dronsfield Scattergood, Emily Sirover, William D. Sirover, William Daniel Sirover, Bill Sirover, Samantha, Samantha Sirover, Lilly, Lilly Sirover, Anna, Anna Scattergood, Anna Moore Scattergood, Sidman, Anna Sidman, Eric Sidman, Eric Lawarence Sidman, Sophie, Amelia, Sophie Amelia, Sophie Amelia Sidman, Sophie Sidman, Capelouto, Anna Capelouto, Carl Capelouto, Carl C Capelouto, Panthers, Jaguars, Leopards, Lions, Cheetahs, serval cats, cat, feline, felines,
Calico cats are not a breed; they are a very specific color characteristic. They are tri-colored with colors in distinct patches, not mixed as in a tortoiseshell.
mountain lion roar
