This is QGM Merlin. He has been with me the longest, since 1991. He is truly a Magic Black Cat. He is calculating, and a terrific problem sovler. Once he understands something, he never forgets. He has learned to pee in the toilet, and uses it regularly. He has made 4 Trans-Atlantic flights, and many 8 hour drives between Los Angeles and San Francisco. He's very easy to travel with. While we were living in LA, we lived on a boat in Marina del Rey. He enjoyed having the run of the docks and watching the fish and the ducks. He even learned to 'knock' on the hatch over my bed in order to get back in after I'd gone to bed. He would jump from the upper deck onto the lower deck, landing on the hatch with a distinctive 'thump'. He also learned to climb the ladder that went from the state room out the aft hatch onto the upper sun deck.
Although it is hard to tell from these pictures, Merlin has marvelous green eyes.
This was our Christmas picture from 1995. Unfortunately, Santa wasn't very good with cats and we only got one shot. Poor Jazz looks like such a schlumpf. My family has grown too large and chaotic to make group Christmas pictures feasible.