A BIOGRAPHY
My earliest recollection of being a cat lover was in kindergarten
when I found a kitten on the playground and smuggled it into the coatroom.
Most of my young adult years were spent rescuing street cats. Then, one fateful
day in 1984, I encountered a seal point Himalayan who belonged to a new neighbor.
It was love at first sight! Since one of my housecats had recently passed
on and there was a "vacancy" in the house, I asked my neighbor where
she had acquired this fantastic creature. She told me she was getting two
more kittens from the breeder and that I could go with her to pick out one
for myself. That Saturday, we drove to Mahwah to the home of Peg Thornhill,
Judy Sandy and Honalee Cattery. While I had every intention of acquiring a
seal point female, I immediately fell in love with a tortoiseshell "hybrid".
Since my kitten was too young to take home, we visited the cattery each weekend
to check on her, becoming friendly with Peg and Judy in the process. A few
visits to local cat shows told me that my kitten was truly a "pet"
and she was spayed in due course. A year later, another of our elderly household
pets passed on, and I decided to get a pointed cat, preferably a tortie point.
The only one Peg and Judy had available was a "breeder" quality.
And, so , I acquired Honalee's
Sheer Puffery (so named because, while she didn't have great type, she
was dripping in coat). I took Puff to a number of shows - she never won anything,
but I was making a few friends and having a good time. It was decided that
she would be bred back to her sire,
GC Thesaurus Yosemite Sam of Honalee
(Sam was the light of Judy's eyes and very obviously king of the castle
at home).
By this time, Judy was dying from a malignant brain tumor. I very much regret never having gotten to know her as well as I would have liked as she was a marvelous person. I began to spend more and more time helping Peg with the cats - especially bathing which she was unable to do. There is no way I could ever repay her for the lessons she taught me. I will always treasure the time we spent together and the stories she told. I had determined to have a very small breeding program and, to this end, had decided not to keep a stud male for a while, but rather to avail myself of stud service to bring in different lines and not get boxed in. I was very fortunate in having made friends at shows and through Peg who were willing to share their lines and open their homes to me. I'm especially grateful to Lynn Aubrey-Cooke and Jody Detato for their help in this regard. The first Dragonfyre litter arrived in spring of 1987. There was one female kitten, a tortie point who was named Sweet Judy Blueyes after Judy Sandy. I was so every excited and took her everywhere. Alas, while very cute, Judy was not a showstopper! I had made a few friends while showing and, when Judy was 18 months old, I bred her to Timbercrest Houdini. The resulting litter gave me my first "show" kitten and my first stud cat - CH Dragonfyre's Strawberry Moose. Judy's next litter, bred to Myshadows Mesmer-Eyes of Callyn, produced our first grand, GC Dragonfyre Eyes-Cream of Kelmark.
By breeding Puff to a different outcross male
and keeping a daughter (Dragonfyre's Gypsy Rose) and then taking that daughter
to yet another outcross male, I now had another stud, CH
Dragonfyre Talk A Blue Streak ("Spock"). Spock wasn't much to
look at - longish nose, no "doming", etc., but he did have very
small ears, a short cobby body, and lovely white coat. Very early on, I had
fallen in love with a lynx point at a show and had determined that once my
breeding program was satisfactory, I would direct my attention to this beautiful
pattern. By 1992, I was ready! Alas, I couldn't find quite what I was looking
for-everything I looked at seemed to have huge ears by my estimation. About
this time, my friend, Kelley Bradder, called to tell me about a litter that
had been born go GC, RW Red Sky Wooden Ships and GC, NW Oakheaven Pretty Woman.
The third pick tabby female was available - was I interested? You bet! Kelley
drove to Minnesota and acquired my kitten, Oakheaven Galley Cat. It was early
winter and I didn't want her shipped, so she stayed with Kelley, eventually
coming into season. She was bred to "Scoop" (Eyes-Cream) and produced
GC Dragonfyre Miracles Still Happen. I had Galley home for her next litter
(some 15 months later) and bred her to Spock in an effort to get the smallest
ears possible. She finally went into labor and, one by one, produced three
BLACK kittens. I got down on my knees and pleaded "please, Galley, I've
waited so long for a lynx point, just give me one and I'll keep it, no matter
what it looks like." Well, out popped a pointed female - ugly, but there
was hope! Three weeks later, I determined that it was indeed a seal lynx point.
A couple of weeks later, she began to type up. By the time
Dateline reached four months, I knew I had something very, very special.
Alas, having been born in mid-November, her kitten career was all too short.
She managed to attain a regional win despite the low count in May and June
and granded in just four rings at the Garden State show that summer - talk
about a thrill! People still tell me that she is the standard by which they
judge lynx points. A repeat breeding produced five males - two were sold as
pets, one remained at home (CH Dragonfyre's Tiger Woods, brown mackerel tabby
CPC), one went to Moscow (Dragonfyre's Astrologer) and one went to Dea Jumper
(CH Dragonfyre Mi Vida Loca) - all three are producing wonderful kittens.
Meanwhile, Spock had sired another outstanding kitten when bred to Callyn's
Soleil named
Dragonfyre Something to Talk About. I was cautioned not to give him a
name he might not live up to, but I just knew he was a very special baby.
"Buddy" was sent out to Kelley Bradder to show in the midwest so
as not to compete with his half-sister. What an exciting year when he became
that
region's best Himalayan and 16th Best Cat! This past year marked my first
foray into premiership. GP,
RW Dragonfyre's Mudslide was a darling little kitten, slightly undersized
and not exactly dripping in coat, but with a wonderful head and a true love
of the showring. Sadly, he had to be neutered as he was monorchid. It was
decided to try to grand him in premiership. I figured it would take most of
the summer to do so. Imagine my surprise when, as an open, he took breed over
two grands and finaled in three rings. He got 67 points at his first show
as a premier and granded in the first ring of his next show. I decided to
see how far he could go. We had a wonderful year and, although he did not
make a national win, the< friends we made and the fun we had more than make
up for that.
Dragonfyre always has been and always will be a small cattery - limited to two siring males in residence and about five females. While most of the breeding cats are retired young and placed in pet homes, several very special ones will remain here for life. All kittens are raised "underfoot" and get lots of attention. We rarely have more than one or two litters at any given time
