According to Gunnie Moberg, George Mackay Brown was 'an awkward subject to work with'. Yet, being a close friend, she photographed him on numerous occasions over a twenty-two year period. This was one of Brown's preferred portraits of himself. Gypsy was not his own cat but he was in the habit of taking care of her on behalf of a friend who was often away. His book, 'Letters to Gypsy' came out in 1990. There the poet reassures Gypsy that during her stay with him 'two or three times a day, besides food and sleep' they 'will murmur poems to one another'.