Two of a Kind: A Full Year of Biscuit and Waffles
These goofballs, who came into my life one year ago today, have a knack for posing together.
The photo shown above was taken exactly one year ago today — Oct. 21, 2023 — at Sean Casey Animal Rescue in Brooklyn. It was my first look at the little goofballs now known as Biscuit (long, thin white nose stripe) and Waffles (short, wide white nose stripe), who have completely transformed my life over the past year. They were 10 weeks old back then, and the shelter was referring to them as Bonnie and Clyde. Those names were written on the red and blue collars that you can see in the photo.
I knew that I wanted my next pair of cats to have food-based names. Since these kittens were black and white, I figured I’d choose names that began with B and W — that’s how I arrived at Biscuit and Waffles. (I can’t really explain why one is singular and the other is plural. It just felt right.)
The most amazing thing about B&W is how much time they spend together. I’ve had sibling cats before, and they’ve always been buddies, but Biscuit and Waffles are practically inseparable. They’re not quite twins, but they’re close enough that the sight of the two of them side by side is particularly striking. It often seems like they’re posing together, waiting for me to take yet another photograph of them. I’m usually happy to oblige, and the result is the long string of photos that I’m about to show you, each of which shows the two of them together.
A few preliminary notes:
Photographing B&W can be challenging, because their eyeballs often disappear into the sea of surrounding black fur. In order for their eyes to be visible, I often have to fiddle with the photo settings (contrast, black point, etc.). This, combined with the generally terrible light in my apartment, occasionally results in some odd-looking background tones. Apologies in advance.
I have many hundreds of B&W pics. It was tempting to include almost all of them, but I managed to cull things down to about 65 shots. You’ll see certain tropes repeating — B&W on the sofa, B&W on the bed, B&W at the window sill, and so on — but I think each shot has its own distinct charms. (I’m biased, of course.)
I’m presenting these pics in chronological order (the first two were taken on their adoption day, the last one this morning), so you can see how they’ve grown.
Ready? Prepare for cuteness overload … GO!
And there we are. Happy adopt-iversary, Biscuit and Waffles!
T-Shirt Reminder
In case you missed it last Friday, Inconspicuous Consumption T-shirts are now available. Lots of different designs, colors, and styles. Full details here, or you can skip the details and go straight to the ordering page. Enjoy!
Paul Lukas has been obsessing over the inconspicuous for most of his life, and has been writing about those obsessions for more than 30 years. You can contact him here.
I love seeing all these pictures--thank you for sharing!
It's been especially meaningful to me over the past year or so; I started following the UniWatch blog around 2007, around the same time I adopted my big beloved cat, so I followed the journeys of Caitlin and Tucker alongside his all those years. Our guy got sick last year and passed away in December; I can't tell you how many times I went back to read your memorial post about Caitlin in those days where I was struggling so much emotionally--it was moving and inspiring and so much more.
To then follow Biscuit and Waffles as you brought them into your life was really meaningful as well, and, though my wife and I haven't yet taken the plunge to bring anyone else into our lives, your adoption of these two together--and their relationship with each other, which I love--has inspired me to want to adopt a bonded pair together this time. Thanks again for sharing!
Wow, aren't they the cutest things! And such wonderful photos of them, in their many poses. You and they are ll lucky to have found each other.