My cat costume -- a first for me -- is a cute hat from PetSmart I hope to get on my 16-year-old cat Sophie, with minimal damage to me!! She has renal failure, sadly, so this may be her last Halloween with us. I wanted to make it special.

When I got Sophie, I also got a male kitten I named HobieCat. One Halloween he waived with his paw at the Trick-or-Treaters as they passed by. I lived in a traditional Baltimore row house then, and sat on my marble stoop (also traditional in Baltimore) to give out treats. One of my tricksters let me know about HobieCat's greetings! A fun memory of a much beloved cat, who died in 2000,