This picture taken the other night in our home in Longoio shows our oldest cat, Corniglia, age fifteen, nestling in with our newest cat, Archie, age one. 

(I just love the way their tails are touching each other.) Both are wild, rescue cats. For most of her life Corniglia, who was born in a wood pile, refused to allow herself to be touched. Age and the benefits of our free board and lodging have changed all that for her and she has become very friendly. Archie joined our household shortly before last Christmas to help fill the gap left by our (and Corniglia’s) much missed Napoleon. He has fitted well into our feline family and there are few scratches between him and the queens, which also include Carlotta and Cheeky. I do wish, however, that Archie would be less clumsy about knocking things over like our bedroom table lamps. He also needs to improve his jumping skills: the other morning Archie leaped off our bedroom cupboard and landed on sleeping Sandra’s face grazing her cheek. As for Corniglia, named after one of the Cinque Terre villages and the last survivor of the the original batch of five, she is still very active and good at landing correctly. She has, unfortunately, become very thin although we make every effort to feed her well and she still has a good appetite.

Anyway, we are so glad that two generations over seventy cat years apart are getting on well with each other and that Archie is showing love and respect towards Corniglia, the oldest member of our family.