Bluebell was out of CH Sand n’ Sea Dandy Lion of Petmark and CH Felitan Cheetah. But before any of that meant anything to me, she was the cat at the end of a cold drive.
The VW bus
One early, cold spring night, we all piled into our VW bus and drove from New York City to near Sleepy Hollow.
I was eight. I had no clue what a show cat would look like, why you would spend $400 on a cat, or what kind of person would sell one. My mental model came largely from The Aristocats.
We met Barbara and Dick Levitan. They became friends, mentors, and show-benching partners. We came home with Bluebell.
The first cat came home in a VW bus.
The cowlick
Bluebell’s show career was modest. Her cowlick was not.
Someone attempted to improve matters by trimming it. The result was a bald spot, which did not improve matters.
None of this impeded her larger career as an absolute hell-raiser who would beat up our Springer Spaniel.
Bluebell was an absolute hell-raiser. She was also the first cat I ever put in a ring.
What continued
Bluebell was bred to Schuyler Sterling and produced two Grand Champions in her first litter. She became the granddam of a Distinguished Merit cat.
With Felitan in the pedigree, Bluebell still appears somewhere in the recesses of the cats who followed.
That is what “a cattery with a memory” means. Not a decorative date in a footer. A child, a cold road, a VW bus, the first ring, mentors who became family friends, and a troublesome little cat whose descendants kept going.