Photos: John Simmons and Pitch

John Simmons had a cat, Wylie, but he died in the fall of 2008. I missed having cat energy around the house so Tim and Sandi generously gave me a cat from their extensive collection. This cat fit right in beautifully. We had a great time figuring out what to call him. Eventually we settled on "Pitch", because he is mostly black. John calls him "El Gato Negro" because he came from a shelter in Española. John wrote a song about Pitch, it's funny and cute and wordy, as a lot of John's songs are.

John Simmons at 2710 San Joaquin

I regularly had people over for dinner and John played music at a lot of these parties

Pitch

Pitch joined me in the sunroom for a cup of pomegranate juice

Funny Times in the sunroom and a cup of cocoa -- it doesn't get any better than this

Out of Town Events

From April to June, I lived and studied at the Tensho Kotai Jingu Kyo headquarters in Tabuse, Japan

In October, I attended the National Equality March in Washington, DC

Matthew and Kelly

John Rosner bought his own house and moved on, so I got two new housemates, Kelly Hutton and Matthew Valdiviez.

Kelly hanging out with Pitch in the T.V. room

Matthew was one of the easiest-to-live-with people I've ever known. Here he is checking papers in the back yard

Here is Pitch again, snoozing on the sofa. There is nothing like a contented cat for infusing a house with a sense of well-being