Saturday, Corinne and I drove to New Jersey to pick up a new - and better yet, free - kitten for our cattery, Elpis Birmans. Her name, believe it or not, is "Xweet Xionda".

Birman Breeders have a bizarre custom when naming cats. All of the Birmans born in a given year are given names beginning with the same letter. Last year (2000) was the X year, this year is Y. Xweet-Xionda was born last year, thus the odd name.

Pronounce it "Sweet Shanda", or risk severe hemorrhaging when various parts of your brain collide during atttempts to pronounce it as it's spelled.

I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll try to shoot a few today.