A Photo Album of the Orlando Family




The woman of the house: Charlene Ann.
Crystal Lucille is Eugene and Charlene's daughter by adoption.
Charlene is a teacher of the mentally handicapped.
Crystal is mentally handicapped, living in her own
apartment, and holds a part time job as a greeter.




Andra Jane was our eldest feline daughter.
She was very shy and very much a papa's girl.
Andra was named for the black garnet "andradite."
She was the reigning Queen of the house,
but ran a very loose kingdom.
Andra was adopted from Humane Society of Tampa Bay in 1990.
R-I-P Andra Jane. Born April 6, 1990 she passed to the Heavyside Layer
5-31-05. We loved our first born. Know peace through eternity.





Camille Elizabeth is the second eldest and the omega cat.
The omega cat is at the bottom of the pecking order.
All the other cats rule her, and so she is the easiest going.
Camille is named for the famous French composer Camille Saint-Saens,
because she used to sit on the piano bench when Eugene played.
Camille was adopted from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay in 1992.





Cara Mary is the third oldest and another tort like Camille.
A tort is short for tortoise shell, and that's where she
gets her name. The carapace is part of a tortoise shell,
hence "Cara" for short.
Cara passed to the Heavyside Layer on August 13, 2008
due to complications with intestinal cancer. Born August 19,
1995, Cara was found abandoned in a park at six weeks of age.





Katina Kitty is named for a female character Eugene was
writing about at the time for an adult audience: Katina Beebe.
She is the friendliest cat to strangers we have.
When someone new comes to visit, Katina is always there
to check them out. She also likes to throw herself at
Eugene's feet and beg for a scratching.
Katina was found abandoned outside Charlene's teaching portable in 1999.




We like to kid about the two spots on Bubbles Lydia's head.
We say that they are her devil horns that have yet to grow.
It's not true as she is a sweet cat, though she's shy with strangers.
Her name is a long story, and comes from a joke we made
concerning another male cat we had named Peppi.
We joked that he was a ladies man and used to sneak out at
night to pick up his all-white girlfriend Bubbles.
When we got Bubbles Lydia, we named her after Peppi's make-believe girlfriend.
Peppi, bless his heart in Kitty Heaven, left us too early
dying at the age of 5 of cancer of the liver. We miss him dearly.
Bubbles was found abandoned in the streets of downtown Plant City in 2001,
and brought back to the school by a bus driver where Charlene rescued her.





This is Bubbles's baby picture.
Wasn't she a cute baby?





This is Mr. Darcy at about four months (born April, 2004).
In realizing that we had five female cat daughters,
like the Bennets of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice,
we decided to name him after the love interest of the story:
Mr. Darcy. And just like in the novel, they all hate him,
and he is arrogant too (big headed). But we love him anyway.
Darcy was abandoned at Charlene's school in 2004.






This is our latest addition: Molly Gibson-Orlando.
Molly was found up a tree after Hurricane Jeane
by Eugene's high school principal. Mr. Zartman
climbed a tree late at night to rescue her, and since
he said that she is the sweetest cat, and she has turned
out to be, she was named for the sweetest character in all
English literature: Molly Gibson of Elizabeth Gaskell's
Wives and Daughters. Molly appears to have been born
around August 4, 2004. Judging by the photo above, Molly's
favorite pastime is bird watching, however she is not yet
a member of the National Audubon Society.





Molly and Mr. Darcy have become the best of friends.
Molly was quoted as saying, "I dig my bro.
He's the coolest cat this side of the Big Cat Rescue
Sanctuary in Tampa."



All our cats are spayed or neutered (which we recommend highly
for dogs and cats to control their numbers), and they are
strictly indoor cats. That is the main reason Andra Jane
reached the ripe old age of 15.
Protect and love your animals, and good things will come to you.

Please write and tell us about your beloved pets.


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