The Gumbie Cat

As for Leia Rose these days, she is absolutely beside herself with excitement for the new "big girl" book Mamma is reading to her in the evenings: T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Anyone who knows Leia Rose knows that she's absolutely partial to kitties, and always has been (almost from birth). That partiality runs in the family, . . . in that I'm not particularly fond of cats at all (although they are growing on me partially because of the amazingly sweet temperament of Kevin's "Kitty Cat James.") I have no idea why it didn't occur to me before to read T.S. Eliot's Cats to her. She is adoring it.


In fact, I haven't seen her laugh with such glee since she watched the Hoops and Yo-Yo cards with Daddy on Father's Day. Those guffaws are quite rare in anyone's life, I suspect. I get such pleasure from reading/singing these poems to her that I actually get chills, . . . the same as when I enter Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. Anyway, Leia's absolute favorite cat is The Gumbie Cat. I just thought I would share the lines that never fail to produce laughter:

When she has got [mice] lined up on the matting,

She teaches them music, crocheting, and tatting. . . .

She makes them a mouse-cake of bread and dried peas,

And a beautiful fry of lean bacon and cheese. . . .

[The cockroaches have] a purpose in life and a good deed to do-

And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo!

And, yes, I absolutely can't wait to share the musical Cats with her as well, . . . but she'll have to wait until we finish the book and until Family Movie Night (Friday), to watch it. Hopefully, the actual musical will come to town someday. That would be a blast!