Shortstop
This is one of my favorite pictures of Templeton, taken sometime in the 90’s while we were still living in Virginia. Unfortunately It’s an old scan from when my computer couldn’t handle a large file, so the size is rather small, but it will be a while before I can re-scan it. While I generally have a strong preference for images in color, I also like the sepia treatment for this picture.
I tried getting a similar picture in later years with my digital cameras, but Templeton didn’t like to look at the camera so this early picture remains my favorite.
Shortstop is one of the games that quickly won Templeton to my side when we first met. I’d put him at the top of a bookcase and he’d peer over the edge and wait for me to toss his little furry mice up to him. He’d either catch them and eat their tails or he’d smack them back down at me and I’d try to catch them. When he was really feeling it, I had to be careful as those furry fastballs whizzed by my head at high speed.
We use one of the mice as an ornament on the Christmas tree in memory of the little gray cat who so blessed our lives.