Sipping the Sun

It's been a wonderful morning and Stepan seems to enjoy it!

First warming his fur from the chill of the night. Contrary to other cats though he doesn't seem to need it so much or want to lie down and have a nap there.

And why stay in the sun when there are so many more things to do?





Like tasting the grass (not even catnip)


...or simply showing how well he fits in this setting

"I'm the king of the balcony"

Sleeping until late

Perhaps it's the cold of the mornings and the coziness of his basket (right now under the bed to prevent the Little-one to play with it.) Stepan likes to sleep until late, even after the rest of the family is up.

It takes a lot of effort even to wake him up!

Finally he decides it. A good, long cat-stretch is always necessary after such a good night's sleep!

"Here I am, happy now?"
"BTW, anybody mentioned the word Breakfast?"

Perhaps if you comb your whiskers first?

"Emmm..."

...another case of toy exchanges...


"...That was perhaps mine...?"

Getting closer...

Little by little both Stepan and I-N start get used to each other and getting closer. Stepan cautiously has learned to accept the new family member, finds the child's toys interesting(!!!), and even knows when the Little-One is in the mood to chase him (and gets out of sight in a blink of an eye). And I-N has learned to be more calm when he wants to approach Stepan. He even tries to pet him some times...


To be at a vantage point always helps to feel more secure...

*(...don't misjudge Stepan's look, he was really calm and enjoying the attention he was getting at his safe place)

We're back and in playful mood!

"What's that moving over there?"

"Looks like a naughty piece of wood attached to some string. And it makes such an irresistible sound moving against the door case..."


"GOTCHA!"


The truth is, it was part of a little show we put up to convince the Little-one to eat some of his dinner. But if everyone is happy with that, ...why not?

Inconvenient moment

He was just having his morning toilet when the little one noticed him and made one of those enthusiastic voices. That moved Stepan's attention away from grooming, towards the source of the noise.

"Cannot a gentleman gentlecat enjoy his morning grooming undisturbed these days?"

Portrait

He was sitting so nice, a portrait was irresistible.

As he was born in Russia it was only fitting to have the Russian dictionary behind him (it also helps us when we need to understand the deeper meaning of his meows)

Update: A mistake in the HTML code prevented the photograph to be displayed full size. It's now fixed, please click for a full size portrait of Stepan.

Camouflaged

Even if his color doesn't exactly match the foliage, it takes some effort to spot him...

Undetected, he sits quietly and watches everything happening in the warm summer evening. The perfect commando (still, I'm not so sure about the hit-and-run part...)

"I'm also important"

"You can ask for an appointment any time..."

From a safe distance...

On one hand he wants to be part of the family life, on the other he's just not comfortable with the enthusiasm the little one shows every time he appears. So (as it is usual with British Shorthairs) he prefers to watch everything from a safe distance...