Ah!  My very first blog.  And who am I, you ask?

I am McTavish, the official Newkirk College Library Cat.  Yes, I’m a feline.  I mostly snooze on the reference desk.  And snack.  And zing out brilliant one-liners.

You can already tell that I’m wonderful.  My fur is full and luxurious, and my eyes shine like the morning dew.  Not that I’m overly moist.

I am also a brilliant artist, just one of my many talents.  See self-portrait off to the left.  Though … hmm. In retrospect, I’m not sure that I managed to capture my sensitive intelligence.  Might have to revisit this later.  But enough about me.  For now.

My head librarian is a Munro.  They’re everywhere.

See, Newkirk was founded a hundred and fifty years ago by Captain Cosmo Munro, who parked his ship in the Fraser River and made himself comfortable.  First he built a big house, then he sent for his zillions of relatives from ye olde Scotland.  They cleared the forest from the steep hills and made themselves a town.

Off to the right you’ll see a picture that I did NOT draw.  Really.  I  just pulled it out of the College Archives.  It’s an early example of colour photography (apparently they could only do blue) showing Captain Munro dropping anchor in the river for the very first time.  Is it just me, or did he forget something … ?

Newkirk has tons of weird Scottish stuff.  Like the Klassy Kilt Shop, Tasteful Tartan Trainers, and Loch Ness Lingerie for Ladies of Leisure.  Sheesh.  There are a lot of fairs and music (bagpipes).  With dancing and whisky and poetry.  And even more (bagpipe) music.  I asked for earmuffs for my birthday.

We also have a small community of Swedish.  No one knows why. They wander around saying things like “Do you want some gravlax with your raggmunk?  No?”

Newkirk is actually kind of a pretty town, full of historic buildings and parks.  My favourite park has a good selection of benches for napping and a pond full of ducks who seem to enjoy my verbal playfulness.  And there’s other wildlife, too.  Like people.

Anyhow, writing this blog is starting to feel like work, so I’ll talk to you just a bit later.

McTavish, Library Cat Extraordinaire