Cats are mystical creatures, part wild animals, part pets, independent beings with a mystical streak. Flo is a barn cat come to live inside on the coldest nights, she is part housecat, part barn cat still, when she gazes out the window or sits by the night lamp, I see the mystical part of cats, part of their evocative mystique. I don’t think Flo knows here name, or would ever respond to it. Dogs give themselves to us, they surrender much of their dignity to please us, I think Flo would rather die. I am thinking of changing her name to Cleopatra, because she seems to think she is the leader of the farmhouse.

Barn cats are not pets, they retain a sense of the wild, of freedom, of choice and they are like other strong women, they can take care of themselves.