Confessions of the Cat Lady (6) - The Benign Weirdo

I definitely was a Benign Weirdo. I always admitted that I was a Crazy Cat Lady. I even have a nightshirt that says Crazy Cat Lady on it. I never minded it. There's worse things in the world. It is sort of like being a weed. I had a cartoon of my fridge that shows a guy riding a horse that said, "You don't know what lonesome is until you try herding cats."

I came to Halibut Point in 1953. I was young but I wasn't a kid. Twenty-four? What did I want to be when I grow up? I don't know. I lived with my parents. It was not a good idea. After a while I did buy the little house next door. It wasn't perfect but it was a place that was mine.

Phyllis as Sandy, sister Jane as Dusty c. 1950

The little cottage had been the studio of Jack Callahan. He also owned the house my parents bought, but the little house didn't go with it. I nice woman named Olga Hartwell had bought it and spent the summers there. She asked me if I wanted to buy it. It was a long time ago and it didn't cost that much. I had saved up $1,000. For a $4,000 house, that was enough for a down payment on it. Then I went to the Granite Savings Bank, got a mortgage, figured out how to pay the taxes. It took about twenty-five years. I paid it off and it was my house. It had knotty pine paneling and a cathedral ceiling. That's flattering it. It had a pointy ceiling and beams going across.

Pets were my dependents. I like them. We were all in it together. I'd go to the store to buy food for them. It was money I had, not money I didn't have.  People would laugh at all that cat food. Young men who were bagging groceries would say "Meow, meow." You just have to shrug that off. I planned carefully so all the time we had something to eat, both me and the animals. We were all so warm in the big house with a good oil burner.

Phyllis and Jane with The Melody Ramblers

I had a big strong, sturdy tiger cat named Merle. If he was a human he may have been a wrestler. If he was a dog he may have been a Rottweiler. A big tough cat with no neck. He was a very sweet, sweet cat. I was pointing him out one time to someone I worked for who brought me home. I was telling her about the feral cats. I said, "Look, there's one now." Merle--the guy's name was Merle--walked across the street. She said, "Oh, the poor skinny thing. How awful." He was the size of a house! She had it so much in her mind that they're all scrawny, ratty-looking that she just thought he would be.

Merle. He was named after Merle Haggard. I always tell people he's a tough cat because he's named after a guy that did hard time for armed robbery, don't mess with him. I play the guitar myself. I connected the two interests anyway. There's a song, "What's Your Mamma's Name, Child, What's Your Mamma's Name?" A woman sings about a man who comes looking for his kid in New Orleans. It turns out he's looking for his little girl. His girlfriend said, "You have a daughter and her eyes are Wilson green." Well I named all the cats so their last name was Wilson. My mother kept saying, "What's this one's name. What's this one's name?" I always said, "It's something about a Wilson." I named them after weeds like Tansy Wilson, Mugwort Wilson. Some cats have funny little faces.

The Halibut Point moors, November, 1983
Family photo.

I never drove. I walked a lot. Took the bus. Walked miles and miles in all kinds of weather. Got a cab once in a while. Backpack, sports bag over my shoulder. There were all different ways I did it. Some were better than others. I worked at housekeeping. Walked the dog. Took care of the chickens. Sometimes walked to Land's End. A tough old single lady and cats get along very well. We're a match made in heaven.

Ruth Spoor was one of the Cape Ann "old maids." She was a tough old girl. Wouldn't put up with any foolishness from anybody. There were several old maids. People would say snotty things to them. They had to give as good as they got. I was sort of in training for it. I never minded the life, the choices I made. Stayed single. I would have been a terrible parent. I did okay with the pets. I don't regret the weird things I did. I probably should, but I don't.

I tell everybody I was the Cat Lady. I was wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt and a red bandana and boots.



Phyllis, 1943

***If you would like to thank Phyllis for these stories, please reply by return email, and I will bundle them off to her at Seacoast Nursing home.***

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