Let me tell you about the first time I saw her. It was the Saturday nearest Valentine's Day, 1994 (I can't remember if it actually was Valentine's day or not) and I told Doug that his gift from me was whatever furry critter that caught his heart at the Humane Society. We went there, looking over both cats and dogs, and found a nice calico kitty that appealed to him. He couldn't quite decide, though, and I noticed in the cage next to her, a scared-looking tortie-tabby, cowering in the rear of her cage. I reached in and petted her, and she rubbed into my hand a bit, but was still not comfortable enough to come to me. Meanwhile, the calico (named Kali, according to the cage card) was very friendly and purry, and quite captivating. So we went home, trying to decide if she should become our next kitty. Doug debated it over Sunday and Monday, and then decided yes, he wanted the calico. So I went down the next day to adopt her, only to find she'd been adopted already. Hmmm. That tortie was still there, though, and now she was much friendlier, coming to the cage door for lovins and head-rubs, and PURRING!!! My Gosh! Her purr reverberated off the walls of the cage, filling the little room with this enormous sound that made me think of pigeons roosting in the eaves of the cathedral in Bourges,France. I called Doug at work, telling him the situation and asking what to do; he'd seen her and liked her well enough, so he said okay, I could get her. I read the cage card, and it said (to my eyes) Tarli. Only later did I realize that was describing her coloring, as Torti. No matter, we liked Tarli for the name, so Voila! There was our Tarli girl.

So, what to name her for the remaining three names? Well, immediately I thought of Belle, meaning beautiful in French; Tarli's coloring and cute pixie-face were just beautiful to our eyes. Hmm... what else? After we had brought her home, it took a while for her to be comfortable with her new home and house-mate cats, so she tended to stay in our bedroom, alone. I was reminded of Greta Garbo, who was famous for "just wanting to be alone", so Greta became the third of Tarli's names. And, if you have read this far, you certainly have come to know of our penchant for making up names, so Purgle was our creation, denoting the combination purr/gurgle that was her signature.

Tarli took a while to settle in to the household and get comfortable with Kalice, Luke and Marlena (who we had also just adopted, but that's another story...). As she became more comfortable and trusting of us, we discovered how goofy she could be, such as chasing a laser light dot around the house! She was hilarious, "bunny-hopping" after it in short bursts, then spinning round and round to catch it, purgling all the while.

Another of her interesting characteristics was her penchant for eating unusual foods. She was quite the junk food kitty, happily munching on potato chips, tortilla chips, corn chips, popcorn, and french fries. Just to add some variety, she also would eat lettuce, carrot peels, and just about anything else I offered her. She would perch on the arm of whatever chair I was sitting in, waiting patiently and purgling, until she got her taste of the goodies, which I could never resist giving her!