Lögberg-Heimskringla - 11.04.2003, Blaðsíða 2

page 2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday, 11 April 2003
Editorial • Ritstjórnargrein
Lillian Vilborg
Managing Editor
Winnipeg, MB
Idon’t think of myself as a cat
person. When I was a kid we
didn’t have a house cat. We had
bam cats. They lived in the
bam and the men gave them a
drink of milk at milking time.
My uncle Steini always let them
lick from his finger the dregs
when he cleaned the separator.
They never came near the
house.
The most famous house cat
I ever met was the first time I
visited Iceland in 1971. His
name was Guðmundur, and he
lived at Hellusund 6 in
Reykjavík. He was a really big
grey cat. In the one picture I
have of him, he is sprawled at
the centre of the dining room
table enjoying the sun. He truly
was the king of the house.
In the late nineties, when I
was in Iceland studying and
doing research, I lived at
Hellusund 6. Some people who
came to stay with me claimed
that Guðmundur still lives
there. You just can’t see him.
Because I married a person
who loves cats, I have in fact
lived with cats a big part of my
life. We have never gone look-
ing for any of these cats. They
have all found us.
Three of them were “torts”
— tortoise shell cats, their
colouration shades of brown
and black.
Torts talk a lot and have big
personalities. Our first came to
us via a friend in Seattle. They
had way too many cats. They
asked us to take one. I’m sure
she was their most obnoxious. '
Her name was
Nyonkochan. I think it was sup-
posed to be Japanese for “beau-
tiful little cat.” She was half
Manx and half Siamese. Manx
cats have no tail. She had half a
tail. Her Siamese came out in
her very loud insistent voice.
Nyonko was about seven years
old when she came to us, and
about twelve when she left.
There was never a dull moment
with her, as she dragged in half
dead mice and birds, which we
then had to rescue.
A neighbour found our next
tort in a garbage can and Erika
begged to have it. We had just
gone through a gut-wrenching
experience with “the most beau-
tiful cat in the world” — a
Chinchilla Persian with the
grand name Attila. He was
struck by a car and suflfered for
a few months before he died.
After that excruciating
experience, I said, “No More
Pets. No More Cats.”
But we ended up with this
seven-month-old cat that had
been cast in a garbage can. Our
son Ame was performing in a
production of Shakespeare’s Æv
You Like It, and we chose the
name Phoebe from that play for
our new addition.
The first night she spent in
our home, she did away with a
family of mice who had taken
up residence in the absence of a
live-in hunter. But she wasn’t
camivorous. Just a killer. They
were draped across the kitchen
floor when I got up the next
moming.
Phoebe was with us until
she was so old she was just a
bag of bones, with no killer
instinct left. She outlived two
dogs, and finally left us when
she was nineteen.
By then we had a big dog,
and I didn’t think we needed
another pet. But Parsley
appeared in our kitchen, despite
my thoughts. She wasn’t about
to leave. An alpha cat, she had
to be the boss, and not just over
our easy-going dog, but also
both of us. She woke us up in
the moming, and expected us to
get up immediately. The combi-
nation of her meows and eye
contact was so close to human
speech, I swear she could
explain whatever it was that she
wanted or needed.
Then last week, after exer-
cising her dominance over us
for two years, she suddenly
died. She was only five years
old. I couldn’t believe it. I fully
expected her to be with us until
she was twenty.
Our house feels very
strange without her. No one is at
the door to greet me when I
come home. We slept in the
first few days after she died, we
were so reliant on her waking us
up.
Her death reminded us of
the fragility of life. Apparently
well one day and gone the next.
When I missed her so much, I
wondered if I was tuming into
some kind of a cat person.
Whether I am or not, I have
no doubt that another will find
us. They always do.
Letters to the Editor • Bréf til ritstjóra
Dear Editor,
I particularly enjoy and
look forward to the editorials,
but really “the paper” and its
entire contents are always
something I look forward to
for information, which most of
us are not able to glean else-
where! Thank you for a job
well done!
Carol Nelson
Daughter of Sigfus Amfinson
Edmonton, AB
First Lutheran Church
Celebrating 125 years
(1878-2003)
580 Victor Street Winnipeg R3G IR2
204-772-7444
www.mts.net/~flcwin
Worship with us Sundays 10:30 a.m.
Pastor Michael Kurtz
Come Home!
Anniversary Weekend
October 17-19, 2003
Dear Editor,
I certainly appreciate the
“obits” as it keeps me connect-
ed to many people I would like
to know about. Perhaps,
births, marriages could also be
included. The Children’s
Comer is enjoyed by my stu-
dents. Last year my students
wrote to the lady whose letter
appeared in one of the March
or April issues. It would be
very informative and an excel-
lent exercise for learners to
have something as if written
for them, and we could try to
reply, especially if an address
were included.
Iris Torfason
Calgary, AB
This is certainly our aim.
There are times when space
constraints cause items to be
held. Sometimes we print them
even when we know the news is
Minnist
BETEL
í ERFÐASKRÁM YÐAR
old, because we think the
broader community will be
interested in the activity.
We appreciate all the mem-
bers of chapters who keep us
informed as to activities. A
full-fledged article, from 250 to
800 words, is always appreci-
ated, but a brief press release
does the trick as well. And we
love to get pictures. Ed.
Dear Editor,
You are doing very well
with the paper. It is interesting
that there are (will be) air-
planes flying from Winnipeg to
Iceland. In 1988 my husband
and I flew to Iceland - they had
brought out people from
Iceland and the Canadian
Icelanders flew back to Iceland
on the same plane. Enjoyed
every minute over there - took
a bus tour around the island.
I belong to the Jón
Sigurdsson Chapter IODE and
we are pleased with the pic-
tures and write up about the
scholarship students. I did it
for twelve years but others
have taken it over.
Both my parents were
Icelanders, lived in
Saskatchewan - I could write
stories about that area - Dad
was a Thorlacius. Mom was a
Laxdal.
Mrs. Rose Clyde
WlNNIPEG, MB
Dear Editor,
A prompt publishing of
local news items from chapters
before it is redundant would be
much appreciated!
Vatnabyggð Chapter
Icelandic National League
Elfros, SK
Dear Editor,
I enjoy the paper very much.
Love to read about Iceland.
Some day maybe I’ll travel
there to meet my relatives and
homeland.
Valerie Eyolfson
Evergreen Regional Library
Gimli, MB
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