The French Cat

Mr Strong Belief and I have a nice tradition of buying spur of the moment presents for each other. Not for any special day. And certainly not every week. But sometimes you see something that we know will make a great present. This was my Happy Thursday present last week. A perfect gift for the Francophile cat lover. 

I didn't think that I'd heard of Rachael McKenna before, but it turns out I had. She's had rather extraordinary success photographing cats and dogs. The author bio in the back of this book says that she has sold 2.8 million books! I'd even bought her most recent book for my son, Why Dogs are Better than Cats. Turns out Rachael McKenna is a New Zealand born photographer who has  moved to the south of France, and is now working with le Chat Francais. 

There are some lovely images in the book. It was however a bit disappointing that she used feathers on a stick to help bond with her feline subjects. Although I suppose the book is the better for it. And she puts in a few too many gratuitous shots of her baby. Her baby is cute, don't get me wrong, but the book is meant to be about French cats, not the photographers baby, no matter how photogenic it is. 

There are some lovely quotes by French personages of note about cats.

God made the cat in order that humankind might have the pleasure of caressing the tiger. Joseph Mery. 1797-1866. French author, poet and playwright. 

We actually have two dogs, but I still think of myself as much more of a cat person, and until I work out how to clone my last cat, I will have to settle for dog company. Turns out cats are wondrously the same the world over, 

it's just that French cats have nicer historical chateaux to lounge about in,

 and can survey the bounty of France from their vantage points. 

And in a week of perfect synchronicity I also came across this most perfect French cat video. J'aime beaucoup Henri.