My Stormy Valentine

If you think my title is dumb, I'll agree with you. It was the theme/title of the international cat show Nate and I visited on Valentime's Day. It wasn't a stormy day, so I'm wondering if it is supposed to be referencing the complex dispositions of cats, thereby only letting a choice few in on the clever title? You tell me; we just went to the show.

To start the weekend off right, I got myself an allergy induced cold. I'm now averaging one every 2 months, so I'm an expert in colds and cold management. Saturday morning I canceled my trip to the YMCA for running and yoga (try doing yoga with a head cold). I did the next best thing and stayed in bed and watched Gilmore Girls until about noon. Nate was at a baptism, so he was spared. He arrived home around 12:30 with some Valentime treats for me as well as a call to action. It was time for me to change out of my pajamas. Fine. Soon we were out the door and on our way to the cat show. Thanks to Google maps, we were once again routed across the wrong part of town, but eventually made our way to the cat filled rec center. $3 is a small price to pay for such entertainment, and we gladly forked over the cash.

One of the judges with a kitty stuffed in his vest

One of the leopardy kitties being judged

Sometimes I would rather avoid a large crowd, but a convention of any type carries a special "Star Trek"-like quality, so it was worth it on Saturday. Included in the show were booths of cat products, cats in waiting, and cats being judged in the rings. I honestly imagined herds of well trained cats being paraded around a large ring...the stations of cages brought me back to a more realistic situation. Nate and I visited most of the stations and stopped for a bit to watch some of the kitty inspection. To further my theory of Star-Trekkieness, here is an excerpt of a conversation we overheard:
cat owner: "we want to know if she'll come in red or cream."

cat judge: "what were her parents."

cat owner: "one was blue, the other was a flame; I mean red. She was red."

cat judge: (silent, but kept looking over the fluffy cat in question)

Turns out, it was just a conversation on the cat's coloring, but...flame? I was getting hungry enough to consider cat show nachos; Nate took that as a sign that we should leave, so we made our last rounds to see some leopard kitties and buy a furry mouse for our girls at home and we were out.

Tiny cat that was casting a spell on the audience

As we left, we discussed our own cats' chances in competition. The conversation wasn't long because they wouldn't hack it and we don't own enough animal print clothing/cat sweatshirts to fit in. Maybe next year.

Nate judging in the "cats that cost $25 from the Humane Society" division

Liz judging in the "these cats are too overweight too win anything else" division