COBY: Yes, I’m quite comfy. Now if you would be so kind as to bring myself and the big guy a beer. And, perhaps some lovely tuna treats. Please and thank you.

For more cat-bloggy goodness, visit the Friday Ark today and the Carnival of the Cats on Sunday.

** The editors would like to apologize for the quality of this picture, obviously not up to snuff for the subject in question. However, dire times require dire measures and a camera phone was used. Union talks have resumed.

*bimbles off*

My god. I’m not only sad, I’m almost sick.

Molly Ivins died today at 62, after fighting breast cancer since 1999. It had recurred twice since the intitial diagnosis and after being hospitalized recently, she was home under hospice care when it happened.

As more people become aware of the news, I’m sure there will be plenty written about her, most better than what I can say here. However, of my three biggest personal heroes – Molly, Ann Richards and Barbara Jordan – I actually met Molly Ivins, eons ago at a writing competition when I was a journalism student. I sat in rapt attention as this brash, funny, intelligent woman spoke to us honestly and amusingly about the journalism profession. Her description of Ross Perot as a “small man with the voice of a chihuahua” still makes me laugh to this day. However, what I remember most is she was the first person who made me really proud to be a writer, a journalist. She spoke of it being a noble profession and never stopped, even recently, calling on journalists to have a higher standard, to report only the facts, to find the truth. When I walked up to her afterward, I felt completely tongue-tied and almost turned around to leave, when she saw me next in line, grabbed my hand in both of hers and asked how I was doing. Although, it came out “Dahlin’, how yew duin’?” In the written word, she spun sentences so well written, Harvard graduates wept. In person, she was your neighbor.

I’ve read just about everything she’s written that I could get my hands on. And, she is one person my conservative mother and I can agree on. As my Mom said tonight, “I liked her because, even when I didn’t agree with her views, she was never mean in her writing. She was smart and argued that way.”

And, although it saddens me she gone, cancer runs in both sides of my family. I know the toil it takes on the person and those around them. Recent pictures of her made me wince. I know the look. She was still funny, but she looked profoundly sick.

She was only 62, younger than my Mom. She was proud to be female, a journalist and a Texan.

I wish her soul peace and the part of heaven with the largest margarita bar.

*bimbles off*

Update: Texas Observer’s website memorial for Molly.