August 2017

GINGER IS THE NEW SUNFLOWER

Caturday Art

As we do every week, we are entering Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s Caturday Art blog hop. A chunky ginger tabby volunteered to be the subject.

 

Ginger kitty, Cooper Murphy, embodies a sunflower.

 

To turn Cooper Murphy into this week’s art, I added the geometric art effect from LunaPic. Then I used PicMonkey to overlay that with the sunflower photo I used to make last Caturday’s art. If you look closely, you can see the petals. The small dots on and below Cooper’s face are the sunflower’s center. The green-edged yellow border is from Picasa, and the geometric corners from piZap.

Cooper before being turned into a sunflower.

If you missed last Caturday’s sunflower art, you can see it at Summer Sunflower Art.

On the right is the original photo, taken on the catio when Cooper Murphy was chilling atop a tarp.

To submit some of your own art and/or see that of your fellow bloggers, click on Athena’s badge.


Giveaways Still Open

Astrid and Lisbeth are having a giveaway, in honor of their birthday, of some swag from the BlogPaws Conference as well as The Cat on My Head exclusive items. If you’d like an opportunity to win this giveaway, please leave a comment on the girls’ birthday post, Astrid & Lisbeth Are Birthday Girls, prior to 5 p.m. ET on Monday, August 21. The winner will be selected using Random.org and announced the following day.

Our second giveaway is for the must have art book, The Book of The Cat: Cats in Art, by Angus Hyland and Caroline Roberts. For an opportunity to win a copy of The Book of the Cat, please leave a comment on our review post by clicking here. This giveaway also will end on Monday at the same time as the birthday giveaway. This giveaway is open to all readers worldwide. This winner also will be selected using Random.org and announced the following day.

Sunday Selfies

We need you! Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of our Sunday Selfies blog hop. Let’s make it the biggest and best hop yet. Invite all your blogging friends to join in the fun! Our largest hop had 67 selfies. Let’s try to break that record.

Sadly, we lost another dear friend this week. Critters in the Cottage‘s tiny dancer, Esme, received her wings on Wednesday. This is less than three weeks since their beautiful Mitalee HoneyBee departed for the Rainbow Bridge. The girls’ mum, Sophie (aka LP), as you might expect, is devastated as are we. She has been unable to post about this. So tomorrow we will remember and honor this most special kitty. Even if you don’t do selfies or hop, please come tomorrow and leave your condolences.

THANK YOU, FILL-INS & GIVEAWAYS

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #67

 

It’s Friday again. Funny how that continues to happen each week. The only way I can keep track of what day of the week we are on is by which post we have to write. Even then I occasionally get messed up. Anyhoo, if it is Friday, it must be time for fill-ins. Each week, Annie (McGuffy’s Reader) and Ellen (15 And Meowing) each select two sentences for us to complete.

Kitties Bue let me complete all of them this week, as they have never been to school, like the catio better than any room in the house, and have never visited any place in our area but the vet, and they surely wouldn’t recommend that to anyone.

This is a blog hop. To enter click on the fill-ins badge. You will be whisked away to Annie’s blog, where you can enter the link to your post.

My completions, as they are each week, are in teal italics.

1. If someone were visiting my area, I would recommend a visit to the Mill Mountain Star. You can read more about it on our posts, Sharkie & Blue Visit the Star and Come Fly with Me for Sammy.

 

Mill Mountain Star, Roanoke, VA.

 

2. My favorite room in my home is the kitchen. After waiting more than 25 years, we re-invented it about six years ago. It is where we all spend the most time.

3. Back-to-school time makes me think of how I always wanted to wear new school clothes for the first day of school, but it was always too hot. I would end up roasting in a wool skirt and sweater and regret my decision.

4. My favourite year of school was probably third grade, as that is when I discovered I liked to write. I have been doing it ever since.

Thank You from Astrid & Lisbeth

Astrid and Lisbeth would like to thank everyone who came by yesterday to wish them a happy birthday. They especially want to thank Lisbeth’s boyfriend Charles for the beautiful e-cards he sent (a separate one for each girl). He also sent a box of goodies. The girls will share about that tomorrow.

They received another gorgeous card as well. This one is from one of the Three Gingersnaps, Teddy (aka Butter Bean). It features their favorite colors.

 

 

Still Time to Enter our Two Giveaways

In honor of their birthday, Astrid and Lisbeth are having a giveaway to include some items of swag from the BlogPaws Conference as well as some The Cat on My Head goodies. If you’d like an opportunity to win this giveaway, please leave a comment on the girls’ birthday post, Astrid & Lisbeth Are Birthday Girls, prior to 5 p.m. ET on Monday, August 21. The winner will be selected using Random.org and announced the following day.

Our second giveaway is for the gorgeous art book, The Book of The Cat: Cats in Art, by Angus Hyland and Caroline Roberts. For an opportunity to win a copy of The Book of the Cat, please leave a comment on our review post by clicking here. This giveaway also will end on Monday at the same time as the birthday giveaway. This giveaway is open to all readers worldwide. This winner also will be selected using Random.org and announced the following day.

See everyone again tomorrow for Caturday Art.

 

ASTRID & LISBETH ARE BIRTHDAY GIRLS

Birthday Girls

Where does the time go? Astrid and Lisbeth were just kittens when this blog began. Though Astrid still looks like a kitten (compared to some of the bruisers among Kitties Blue) and can scream like a two-year-old, they are all grown up! Today, they celebrate their sixth birthday. The birthday card from me shows them then and now.

 

Birthday Cad for Astrid and Lisbeth.

 

Of course, our resident baker, Mauricio, has whipped up a birthday confection for his sisters. Please join us for a piece of cake in celebration.

 

Birthday cake for Astrid and Lisbeth.

 

The girls received this lovely birthday card from the always thoughtful and kind, Pipo, Angel Minko, Mr. Jack Freckles and Mom Ingrid. Both girls send kitty kisses of appreciation to each of them.

 

Birthday Card from Pipo, angel Minko & Mr. Jack Freckles.

 

As this is Thoroughly Poetic Thursday, I promised to write them a poem.

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

 

Birthday Poem for Astrid & Lisbeth

Nearly six years have come and gone,
Since you became part of Kitties Blue.
Two kittens so devoted to each other,
Side-by-side and stuck like glue.

To see you together now is a treat.
You’ve gone your separate ways—
Personalities divergent and unique.
Never getting together to snuggle or play.

When we see you near each other,
Lounging and snoozing on the cat tree,
We wonder if we are dreaming
Or if sisters again you will decide to be.

No matter what the future brings you,
We pledge our care and love forever.
As members of the Kitties Blue clan,
You are two of our special treasures.

© Janet Buickerood Blue 08/16/2003

Our poem is part of Angel Sammy and Teddy’s Thoroughly Poetic Thursday. Todays prompt letter is “J” and prompt words are 1) Juicy, 2) Jump, 3) Jungle and 4) Jealous. As you can see, we went our own way this week; though, writing about Astrid and Lisbeth, I could probably have selected jealous.

If you’d like to see what Sammy selected to write about this week as well as find links to other poems, click on his badge.

Thankful Thursday

For Dad Tom and I, we are grateful that we decided to adopt both Lisbeth and Astrid. I had seen Astrid on PetFinder. We met Lisbeth when we went to meet Astrid in her foster home. Most of you know that Astrid and her brother were abandoned kittens who were integrated with Lisbeth and her littermates. That does explain a lot about their differences. I know both girls are happy to have a forever home with lots of love, care, toys, treats and a catio.

With this, we are joining Brian’s Thankful Thursday Blog Hop. To participate, click on Brian’s badge.

Giveaways

Yes, you read that right! We currently have a giveaway in progress for the gorgeous art book, The Book of The Cat: Cats in Art, by Angus Hyland and Caroline Roberts. For an opportunity to win a copy of The Book of the Cat, please leave a comment on our review post by clicking here prior to 5 p.m. ET on Monday, August 21. The giveaway is open to all readers worldwide. The winner will be selected using Random.org and announced the following day.

Additionally, Astrid and Lisbeth asked if they could giveaway a few more items of swag from the BlogPaws Conference as well as some The Cat on My Head goodies. Of course, I could not turn them down on their birthday. If you’d like an opportunity to win this giveaway, please leave a comment on this post. We will end this giveaway at the same time as the other (5 p.m. ET on Monday, August 21). This winner also will be selected using Random.org and announced the following day.

Black Cat Appreciation Day

Today we give a shout out to all those gorgeous black kitties, especially those waiting in shelters for adoption. Black cats are not unlucky! They are beautiful creatures with all the same wonderful qualities of any cat of any other color. My very first heart cat was Thelma, an all-black, sweet and gentle cat. So, if you are thinking about adopting, please consider a black kitty. You won’t be sorry!

MAU REPORTS ABOUT CAT SCOUTS SUMMER CAMP

Cat Scouts Summer Camp

That’s right, we are not going wordless today; though, we will purrticipate in our furvarite blog hops. Cooper Murphy and I are taking over today so we can tell you a bit more about Cat Scouts Summer Camp and share some poems we wrote as well as photos of our two craft projects. Mom had originally thought we could do this tomorrow as Thursday is poetry day. But tomorrow is Astrid and Lisbeth’s sixth birthday, and she has promised to write a special poem just for them.

This is the first time Cat Scouts has held Summer Camp. We went to Yosemite and stayed at Camp Curry. I was excited to see Yosemite, as our mom and dad spent part of their honeymoon there. Cooper Murphy was a bit apprehensive about leaving home for an entire week, but it turned out he had a blast. He bunked with our Wolverine patrolmate, Ætheling, and his ginger tabby pals, Teddy and Chip. They are the Three Gingersnaps (named by Teddy’s mom [Two Spoiled Cats]).

We had several activities each day of camp. Some of those were a hike to the top of Half Dome, a cheerleading competition, poetry workshop, craft projects, s’mores recipe submissions, water safety class and a knowledge bowl.

Cheerleading Competition

I am already a cheerleader at Cat Scout Universaity, so I decided to cheer on the purrticipants instead of competing. Cooper has agreed, however, to share with you the cheer he wrote.

I’m proud to be a Cat Scout
Rah, Rah, Rah.
I’m proud to be a Cat Scout
Sis boom bah.
If you like Cat Scouts, holler
Rah, Rah, Rah.
If you like Cat Scouts, shout out
Sis boom bah.
Cat Scouts Summer Camp is a fun place to be.
Rah, Rah, Rah.
Cat Scouts is the place for you and me!
Sis boom bah!

The cheer was pretty simple, but Cooper Murphy decided to wear his Lorax costume while giving it, which was pretty cute and funny.

 

Cooper Murphy in Lorax costume at Cat Scouts.

 

Craft Projects

Our craft projects included making an infinity scarf for our mom from a t-shirt using spray paints. This is the finished scarf Cooper Murphy and I made for our mom.

 

Cat Scouts craft project: infinity scarf.

 

It was really easy to make. If you’d like the instructions, let us know in the comments.

Our second project was making Garrison caps for ourselves. Mom helped us with the sewing machine. My cap is on the right. Cooper’s cap is on the left with his Tenderpaw 1st Class patch. (He was purrmotted, along with his three bunkmates, at the conclusion of camp.)

 

Cat Scouts craft project: Garrison caps.

 

Making the caps was the easy part, and Mom says that it WASN’T easy. In order to get credit for the project, we also had to wear them. That was no easy feat. We both finally wore them just long enough to have our photos snapped.

 

Mauricio in his Cat Scouts Garrisonn cap.Cooper Murphy wearing his Cat Scouts Garrison cap.

Poetry Workshop

This truly has to be the wordiest Wednesday post ever, but we’d like to share a few more things with you. As part of our poetry workshop, we had to write at least three poems with a Cat Scout theme. I was able to submit two poems I’d written previously and shared here on our blog. If you’d like to read them, click on the titles: Even Runners-up Can Be Winners and For Sammy—A Totally Terrific Tabby.

This was my new poem. It is a limerick.

I’ve been a Scout for quite a while.
Thinking of it makes me smile.
Summer Camp has been great.
Spending time with my mates.
I love this camping lifestyle!

© Cat Scout Mauricio Blue

Cooper Murphy was able to use a poem he’d written previously as well. You can read it by clicking on the title: Nip and Ninja Moves. Here are his two new poems. The second is a limerick.

Camp’s a Blast

Mom told us we’d have lots of fun,
But I wasn’t sure I wanted to come.
As we packed our duffles for summer camp,
She assured me at camping I’d be a champ.
And she was right—camp’s a blast!
Yosemite has so many beautiful things,
Including birds I’d never seen.
And Half Dome is an amazing rock;
Though, I got a bit dizzy at the top.
But the very best thing about this trip
Are my bunkies, Teddy, Ætheling and Chip!
Teddy, Chip and I are the three gingersnaps.
Bet we’ll all look cool in our new Garrison caps.
Soon we’ll have to say good-bye to Camp Curry.
I can tell you now, “I’m in no hurry.”
For a week at summer camp, I’ll give a cheer.
I sure hope we come back again next year!

© Cat Scout Cooper Murphy Blue

I Love Camping

I love camping with Cat Scout pals.
Whether they are guy scouts or gals.
We’ve had fun painting scarves.
And we sure haven’t starved.
We’re bolstering Cat Scout morales!

© Cat Scout Cooper Murphy Blue

If these activities sound like something you’d enjoy, check out Cat Scouts. We have various activities happening regularly, and it’s a great opportunity to make new, lifetime friends.

Giveaway

Yesterday our mom reviewed a really great book, The Book of the Cat: Cats in Art. It is 160-pages of gorgeous art featuring cats. Not only does she highly recommend this book, but she also has one to giveaway. For the opportunity to win this book, leave a comment on yesterday’s post (link at the bottom of the page) prior to 5 p.m. ET on Monday, August 21. The giveaway is open to all readers worldwide. The winner will be selected using Random.org and announced the following day.

Though I have rambled on and on, we are still joining two Wordless Wednesday blog hops.

Ciao and meow, Mau

BP_Wordless_wed_Hop_Logo_2014
Wordless Wednesday at Create With Joy

 

 

THE BOOK OF THE CAT: CATS IN ART

The Book of the Cat Review

The Book of the Cat is a small art book (7 1/2 X 6 inches) with a huge presence. It belongs on the coffee table of every cat lover, to be picked up and admired again and again. Petting a cat and hearing it purr have been shown to lower stress in humans. This book did exactly that for me. As I paged through and viewed the most gorgeous art depicting cats, I found myself transported to a quiet, peaceful place.

Artists from around the world are featured in The Book of The Cat, including the likes of Steinlen, Warhol, Manet and many other well-known and lesser-known artists, past and present. All breeds, shapes, sizes, colors and patterns of cats are included. One cat even looks like our pals, Truffle and Brûlée. The art covers a variety of styles, including folk, caricatures and portraits.

The 160-page book is composed of 115 illustrations, accompanied by short biographies of some of the artists and their subjects. You also will find proverbs and famous cat quotes. Many you will recognize and others you may not.

This book itself is a work of art. It is printed on high-quality, heavy, matte paper as if it were one of those over-sized art books that would cost more than your weekly supply of food and litter. This gem will be only $15.99 in the U.S. when it is available on August 22 from lauranceking.com. It will be available on Amazon on August 29, but you can pre-order it now for $10.99

I am so impressed by the quality of this book, my first thought was that I want to purchase an additional copy. Why? So I can cut out some of the pages and frame them. And I might do just that!

The Book of the Cat is the third book in a series by Angus Hyland. The other two books are The Book of the Dog and The Book of the Bird. Text for the book is by Caroline Roberts, a journalist and author who writes mostly about the graphic arts.

Giveaway

I know every one of my readers will fall in love with this book, and one lucky reader can win one. For an opportunity to win a copy of The Book of the Cat, please leave a comment on this post prior to 5 p.m. ET on Monday, August 21. The giveaway is open to all readers worldwide. The winner will be selected using Random.org and announced the following day.

Disclaimer: I received one copy of The Book of the Cat from Laurence King Publishing for the purpose of review and one copy to give away. I received no other compensation. The opinions expressed are totally mine alone.

BLURRY SELFIES ARE BETTER THAN NO SELFIES

Sunday Selfies: Week #157

Mom said I had to make this short. She’s pooped (tee hee…that’s a funny word for tired) from more Cat Scout activities, and she doesn’t want to type a lot. She actually said that I could ramble on as long as I want, but she probably wouldn’t type everything I said. MOUSES!

I didn’t do a very good job with my selfie, so I took a second one. The second one wasn’t much better. They are both blurry. Please accept my apologies. Mom should have saved these for Caturday Art.

 

Lisbeth's blurry selfies.

 

Now that you have seen my sweet but out-of-focus selfies, it is time to share yours with us. The link is below. Remember: All anipals are welcome, so feel free to invite friends, even un-domesticated ones. You may also wish to have the hop post on your blog If so, the code for that is below as well. Mom said that I should ask you to link to The Cat on My Head and/or display our selfies badge. Now that I have completed by Sunday Selfies duties, I want to fill you in on what is going to be happening around here this upcoming week.

Future Posts

We have lots of excitement coming your way. Kitties Blue will be reviewing a new brush as well as a new cat book, of which we will be giving away a copy. We also will celebrate Astrid’s and my six birthday. Mau and Cooper Murphy will join in with photos of craft projects and poems from Cat Scouts Summer Camp. All of this will be in addition to Wordless Wednesday, Thoroughly Poetic Thursday, Thankful Thursday, Friendly-Fill-Ins and Caturday Art.

The most exciting post will come one week from today. That’s when we will celebrate the third anniversary of our Sunday Selfies blog hop. Our first selfies post was August 17, 2014, and we had seven purrticipants. Now we average about 50 entries each week. Our very best week saw 67 selfies. All the Kitties Blue hope you’ll be here next Sunday as well as today.

Wowzers, I’m exhausted from just listing all of that! No wonder Mom wanted me to cut it short today! I fear, however, that I didn’t. Sorry, Mom!

Purrs and paw-pats, Lisbeth




SUMMER SUNFLOWER ART

Caturday Art

Today’s art is a bit different…no cats were disturbed or photographed in its creation.

 

Summer sunflower art.

 

We have had a total of five sunflowers this summer, and all have been in flower boxes. The groundhogs have munched all those that have tried to grow in the garden. And the squirrels have been mowing down the ones in the flower boxes. Consequently, I was excited to have Dad Tom get a couple of photos of the two we have now.

Here’s the photo that is the basis for today’s art. I normally like to tell you how I created the arty version, but I didn’t really keep track this week. I can tell you that I began by converting the photo to a pencil sketch using Picasa. The remainder of the creation was accomplished using PicMonkey. I think it is interesting, and I like it. What do you think? Was it okay to do something that didn’t involve any of the Kitties Blue?

This is our entry in Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s Caturday Art blog hop. To show off your creativity and/or see that of other bloggers, click on her badge.

p.s. We just found out that Athena is on vacation, so no blog hop this week. We hope you enjoy our art anyway!

Cat Scouts Summer Camp

Cooper Murphy and Mau have been super busy at Summer Camp in Yosemite. They’ve been doing craft projects, writing poetry and sharing s’mores recipes. They also hiked to the top of Half Dome.

Both boys have promised to share some of their poetry later in the week as well as photos of their craft projects.

It’s been a long week. Both boys and I are exhausted. Summer Camp ends Sunday, and we’ll be glad to get back to a regular schedule of visiting and finding out what you all have been doing.

Sunday Selfies Reminder

After a post with no cats, I can assure you one of the Kitties Blue will be here tomorrow. No volunteers yet, so I may need to use some form of bribery to secure a subject. Don’t forget to recruit someone at your house to join in the fun tomorrow. All of us look forward to seeing you then.

 

LOVE, MARRIAGE & OLYMPICS

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #66

 

It’s time for Friendly Fill-Ins again. The weeks just keep speeding by like a runaway train. I’m afraid to blink for fear when I open my eyes, it will be Christmas.

This is a blog hop hosted by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Annie (McGuffy’s Reader). Each select two incomplete sentences, and participants fill-in the blanks. It’s a terrific way to get to know your fellow bloggers. To join the blog hop, click on the Fill-Ins badge.

I found this week’s sentences to be particularly challenging. Sometimes one or more of Kitties Blue will do the fill-ins, but I have done them all this week. My completions are in teal italics.

1. Blind dates led to the marriage of Astrid to Sampson (Kitty Cat Chronicles). It all started with my post, Match.Cat, on January 30, 2014. All the girls were looking for dates for the upcoming Valentine’s Day Dance, so I posted their bios on-line with the hope of getting dates for them. (Mau didn’t need to advertise. He and Allie already were boyfriend and girlfriend.)

Here are Astrid and Sampson on that first blind date.

 

Blind date led to marriage.

 

2.  Twenty-one years ago, I was a scorekeeper for indoor volleyball at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Dad Tom was a referee.

 

marriage

 

3. I admire Kevin (meowmeowmans) and Tracey Hatori (Animal Shelter Volunteer Lifewho give so generously of their time as volunteers at PAWS of Connecticut because the job requires more than just playing with kittens. Not all animals in shelters are friendly and loving nor are all jobs fun; cages and litter boxes require cleaning after all. I know Kevin and Tracey would agree the thanks that come in the way of head butts, kisses, purrs and kneading make it all worthwhile.

4. When I see the divorce rate, it makes me think how fortunate I am to have a great husband and to have been married for 44 years.

See you tomorrow for Caturday Art and then it is time for selfies again.

IMAGINE A WORLD WITH NO HOMELESS CATS

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

Our “poem” today for angel Sammy and Teddy’s Thoroughly Poetic Thursday is more of a dream and a plea than a poem. I did use one of the prompt words for this week, which features the letter “I.” Those words are (1 Imagine, (2 Idiot, (3 Iron and (4 Icky.

Imagine

Imagine a world with no homeless cats.
Imagine a world with no hungry cats.
Imagine a world where cats are not euthanized.
Imagine a world where shelters are unnecessary.
Imagine a world where every cat has a loving home.

Now stop imagining and do something!
Rescue, TNR, sponsor, foster, adopt, volunteer.
Together we can end the cycle
Of too many cats and not enough homes.
It’s not impossible.
It just takes time, dedication and effort.

© Janet Buickerood Blue 08/09/2017

Kitties Blue and I know those of you who read our blog feel the same way as we do and that most of you are doing what you can toward making this dream a reality. Maybe it won’t happen in my lifetime, but I pray this will become a reality in the not very distant future.

To see angel Sammy’s poem and find links to other poems, click on the badge below.

 

Comment-a-thon Winner

It’s taken a little longer than Mau and Allie would have liked to let you know the winner of their Anniversary Comment-a-thon. The first person selected by Random.org did not respond to our e-mails, so we moved on to the second name.

The winner is Linda Arthur Tejera from Living With My Ancestors. She selected Florida Poodle Rescue to receive the donation of $80. We are making the donation in memory of her Maltese, Emmy, who was adopted from Florida Poodle Rescue in 2000. Emmy got her wings in July, 2014.  She certainly was a cutie.

 

ImagineImagine

 

 

Thankful Thursday

Finally, as we do each Thursday, we are joining Brian’s blog hop. This week we kitties are ever so thankful that the heat wave has ended. Our temps are in the 80s during the day. That’s hotter than Mom likes, but it is purrfect catio weather.

We also are thankful for the new screen doors on the catio. The old ones had solid panels at the bottom, but the new ones have screen all the way to the bottom (with mesh in between). Now we can lie on our bellies and watch the birdies land on the unscreened part of the deck and then scare them! So much fun. Calista Jo and Cooper Murphy joined up yesterday afternoon for this new game. Sorry, we don’t have photos.

To join the hop, click on Brian’s badge.

Hope your Thursday is a thankful one as well.