Shannon did not really do the eerie story of Phantom's empathy justice... Yesterday, a downtrodden and depressed Shannon came over after her doctor's appointment. She splat herself down on the bed in a depressed heap (an all too familiar sight in my apartment...) Phantom, shaking off her phenobarbital haze, waddled over, struggled up on the bed, and flopped down next to Shannon. Then, she reached out to pat Shannon with her paw several times before resting her it lightly on Shannon's arm in a comforting gesture. It was so extremely cute. As with the saintly late Princess Diana, suffering has apparently heightened Phantom' compassion.

Not that I am bitter, but I was lying in a depressed heap for hours that morning with no noticeable reaction from Phantom...

Guess what!? I am the inaugural president of Spinsters with Cats! I am not sure whether I am up to the responsibility, but greatness was thrust upon me in a unanimous vote. For my leadership mantra, I call to mind the wise words of Stanislaw Lem - "Cannibals prefer those who have no spines."

The Spinsters with Cats website and blog are coming soon, as soon as our inaugural webmaster gets off her spinsterish butt and makes them. We are working on SWC t-shirts and I am going to propose that we wear the shirts and pants with stretchy waistlines to every meeting. But, the president only has so much power... I suspect that the other members do not embrace their spinsterhood enough to start wear stretch pants. I tried on a rather dashing pair today at J.C. Penny's...