Tortola

HAPPINESS TAG

A couple of weeks ago our friends, The Canadian Cats Shoko and Kali nominated us for the Happiness Tag. We are happy to accept and sincerely thank Kali and Shoko for selecting us as a blog that makes them happy. In accepting we have some responsibilities.

List five things that make us happy:

1. Vacationing on the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands

Tortola -  Happiness Tag

 

2. Family: Tom and kitties
3. Cycling and Swimming
4. Friends: both personal and blogging
5. Catio (Kitties Blue choice)

 

Happiness Tag - catio

 

Name five favorite songs that make us happy:

This was very difficult. So many songs make me happy, and some of my favorite make me melancholy and nostalgic. I love some of those just as much, but these five always make me happy.

California Girls – Beach Boys

In Your Arms – Quito Rymer

 

Happiness Tag - Quito

 

Young Turks – Rod Stewart

Whenever God Shines His Light – Van Morrison

You Never Can Tell – Aaron Neville

 

Admit to adoring five bloggers who make us happy and notify those bloggers:

All the blogs we read and follow make us happy, which made it particularly difficult to select just five. But it should be evident why we have selected these five.

happiness tag - Allie

Friends Furever – The blog of Mauricio’s wife, Allie, (and housemates Ellie and Raz)

Happiness Tag -   SampsonKitty Cat Chronicles – The blog of Astrid’s husband, Sampson, (as well as five other kitties, dog Lucy and the Sugar Gliders)

onespoiledcat– Best pal Sammy’s blog (home of the Tuesday Teaser and Thoroughly Poetic Thursday)

McGuffy’s Reader  – Annie is an amazingly talented writer and poet who has become a great friend. (As a bonus her household includes two woofies and four kitties.)

Bailey Boat Cat – Bailey is an honorary Kitty Blue

We are tagging these five blogs to complete the Happiness Tag challenge and hope each will accept and complete the task of naming those things which make them happy.

Once again, the kitties and I want to express our gratitude to Kali and Shoko for selecting us for the Happiness Tag!

CHICKEN CHARLIE’S SELFIES

We were curious if last week’s guest host, Lizzie Lizard, tasted like chicken. This week, we are sure our guest does. Back off Ashton and Waffles! This guy isn’t your dinner.

Chickens wander everywhere on Tortola, including the beach. Who knew that kitten season is also baby chick season? All over the island, hens could be seen with flocks of minuscule chicks following along behind them.

Several chickens befriended us at the beach and would gather around each day. Charlie, who is our featured host today, had the most glorious tail feathers when we met him. One morning he greeted us sans feathers but one. He had a couple rival roosters on the beach, and we don’t know if it happened in a squabble or if a dog might have gotten him.

Here are Charlie’s selfies.

 

chicken selfies

 

Bet you are wondering how our humans convinced Charlie to take those selfies. Let’s just say, Mom had him eating out of her hand. And we have the photographic proof.

 

chicken feeding

 

The humans were not surprised that the chickens liked corn nuts. That they liked Cheerios was a big shock. Charlie liked them so much and ate them so quickly, Mom noticed him belching.

Cat4-001We are looking forward to seeing everyone’s selfies this week. We did get around to visit all of our entrants last Sunday, and we promise to do so again this week. Please understand that it may take us a few days. We are so appreciative of those who participate in and promote our blog hop. You are the best friends Kitties Blue could ever hope to have!

We encourage you to get the link below and post the hop on your blog. We only ask that you include a link to The Cat on My Head and/or display our badge.

Have a terrific Easy Sunday and a happy Memorial Day.

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

P.S. with regard to our Comment-a-thons:

 

red nose dayKitties Blue are currently holding two comment-a-thons. For each one, Mom will donate 50 cents per comment (no maximum) to these very good causes. The first is for the Red Nose Day campaign.

Don't Fry DayThe second is for Don’t Fry Day. That contribution will be going to Animal Cancer Foundation. We are excited to let you know that Mom Linda (Savannah’s Paw Tracks) has offered to match our donation to Animal Cancer Foundation in honor of Harvey Button (Dash Kitten). Harvey recently had to have his ear tips surgically removed due to squamous cell carcinoma. Thank you Mom Linda, Savvy and TKS.

Once posted, you will be able to see Harvey’s selfie here, but please visit his blog through the link above and give him your purrs and prayers.

Click the links in the above paragraphs if you haven’t yet left comments.



TORTOLA SUNSET CATURDAY ART

After looking through my recent photos of Kitties Blue, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t have anything I could turn into interesting art. So I have selected another photo from our recent trip to Tortola, BVI. The original sunset photo (shown below) was taken from Bananakeet above Cane Garden Bay.

 

sunset

 

To turn the sunset into art, I used Boost and HDR in Picasa and then added a Cloud overlay and frame using PicMonkey.

sunsetHere’s the original sunset photo. I am entering Athena and Marie’s Caturday Art Blog Hop. To see the other submissions or enter one of your own, click on their badge.

Comment-a-thons

Kitties Blue are currently holding two comment-a-thons. For each one, I will donate 50 cents per comment (no maximum) to these very good causes. The first is for the Red Nose Day campaign. The second is for Don’t Fry Day. That contribution will be going to Animal Cancer Foundation. Click the links in this paragraph if you haven’t yet left comments.

Cat4-001Sunday Selfies Blog Hop 

It’s that time again. Time for you all to take your paws and snap a selfie for our blog hop. Tomorrow The Cat on My Head will feature another guest host. Kitties Blue are not overly happy about this, but at the same time, they don’t mind being left alone to have an easy Sunday. As usual, we’ll go live at 12:01 a.m.

We really hope to see some new participants so tell all your friends to snap some selfies and join us. All anipals are welcome not just those of the feline persuasion.

 

TORTOLA VACATION SLIDESHOW

Kitties Blue finally have given me permission to share a slideshow featuring a few vacation photos from Tortola, BVI. Tom was the official photographer. I know vacation photos can be boring, but if you take a few moments to watch, you might even see a couple of kitties. Just don’t let my gang know about those photos.

Do not cursor over the photos as this will add dots that obscure the descriptions.

 

[slideshow_deploy id=’15168′]

 

This is our favorite vacation spot for complete R & R. It truly is paradise. We have only one rule when visiting Tortola: We must be on the balcony for sunset. Every sunset is unique, and we cannot allow ourselves to miss even one.

While watching the sunset we listen to the sound of the waves bathing the shore of Long Bay. Actually we can hear this soothing sound at all times, and it lulls me to sleep each night. This is one of my favorite sounds. I would really miss it at home if I didn’t have my second favorite sound (Calista Jo’s purr) to lull me to sleep.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse of paradise on earth.

LEAPING LIZARD, WHO IS THIS DUDE?

Have you been wondering all week who would host this week’s Sunday Selfies? It was a tough decision as to who was going to get this honor as we have a backlog of volunteers.

In the end, Lizzie got a paws up from all of us.

 

lizards

 

Mom says that it was super difficult to decide which lizard to feature. They are one of her favorite critters from Tortola. She thinks they are super cute, and she and dad always take lots of lizard photos. For a very long time, the wallpaper on her desktop computer was a Tortola lizard.

None of us have ever seen a lizard. We don’t have any in our yard. Mom says she and dad see them occasionally when they are riding the tandem. We know some of you see lizards all the time, have caught them and even tasted them. Do they taste like chick-hen?

Cat4-001Anyway…We are looking forward to seeing everyone’s selfies this week. And we promise to visit each of your blogs, even if it takes us all week. We are so appreciative of those who participate in and promote our blog hop. You are the best friends Kitties Blue could ever hope to have!

We encourage you to get the link below and post the hop on your blog. We only ask that you include a link to The Cat on My Hand and/or display our badge.

Have a terrific Easy Sunday.

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth & Calista Jo

p.s. If you are curious as to the actual size of Lizzie, that is a corn nut in the photo with him/her.



VACATION CATURDAY ART

I wanted to use one of the photos from our recent vacation in Tortola for today’s art creation. This is the photo I selected.

 

vacation

 

The photo (taken by Tom) didn’t need any embellishment to be beautiful. That made the process of turning it into something “arty” very difficult. I tinkered with the photo in several different editing programs mostly using the HDR effect. The final step was adding the blurred border using LunaPic.

 

vacation

 

I do not like the art version as well as the original photograph, but I do think it is interesting. So, I’m entering it in Athena and Marie’s Caturday Art Blog Hop. To see all the submissions and/or enter one of your own, click on their badge.

Another week has sped by making tomorrow the time for our Sunday Selfies Blog Hop. We will have a guest host tomorrow, and you’ll have to come by to find out who it is. Hope to see you here and that you will decide to submit your own selfie. #SundaySelfies

 

KITTIES BLUE ARE BACK!

Okay…so Kitties Blue really weren’t away but Humans Blue were. That’s right, those pesky humans, who think they can do whatever they want whenever they want, abandoned us for 15 days—an entire one-half of the month. We bet you are wondering what could take them away from our sweet and adorable selves. Well here it is:

 

tortola

 

TortolaMom calls this place paradise*. We don’t see it. Looks like one big litter box to us. Sitting around all day in a litter box is not our idea of fun.

Besides sitting around in the sand, we heard the humans, formerly known as Mom and Dad, were eating gourmet food and imbibing in rum-based, secret concoctions. Worst of all…wait for it…they were fraternizing with a whole slew of other critters. And some of those critters were C-A-T-S!

Word around the house is that a total of 1,398 photos exist attesting to this beyond-belief betrayal. Absolutely no way they are going to wiggle their way out of this purrfectly pawful perfidy.

With all those photos, we guarantee you will see more evidence of how little they care about our well-being. We know for a fact that the male human has already posted a tall tale about their abduction as well as oodles of photos on FaceBook. The female is planning a slideshow next week on our blog.

Don’t get us wrong. We were not neglected or mistreated during their absence. Kitty care-giver and housekeeper extraorinaire, Chris, came twice each day to feed and look after us. As usual, treats and catnip were in plentiful supply, and we even got to go out on the catio on nice days. That doesn’t mean we have not petitioned the commonwealth to cite them for cat abandonment. We’ll keep you posted on how that works out.

And finally, one last photo to torture tease tantalize you.

 

Tortola

 

Purrs and paw-pats (with hisses for our humans), Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

*Tortola, British Virgin islands

 

CATURDAY ART: WHERE’S THE CAT?

I think the pain, Benadryl and pain medication are starting to make me stupid. I decided to select a photo for Athena Cat Goddess’ Caturday Art Blog Hop without a feline presence. Just call me crazy!

DSC01916

The original photo is below. It was taken on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands at a beach called Smuggler’s Cove. Visitors to the beach had taken large pieces of coral that had washed ashore and placed them in the tree like ornaments.

I created the above version of the photo in Picasa by first using the Pencil Sketch function. I still wanted it to have a beachy feel and used Vignette to add the color around the edges. Finally, to try to bring out the intricate lines of the tree and coral, I applied the Film Grain filter. I am not 100 percent happy with the outcome but satisfied enough to share.

DSC01916 copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see the other submissions or enter your own special creation, click on the badge below.

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone for their well wishes with regard to the scorpion sting.  Healing is very slow. Some of the swelling has gone down so that my lower leg looks less like a tree truck and more like a leg. The pain has abated enough for me to hobble around but not stand for any length of time. I have been advised to expect a minimum of two weeks for my reaction to the sting to disappear. I expect, with my already impaired circulation, I may be looking at a longer recovery period. I’ll keep everyone advised periodically on my progress. Thanks for caring.

WHAT HAPPENED TO LILY OLIVIA’S NATURALLY SNOTTY PERSONALITY?

Allergic to Humans?

Lily Olivia has been sneezing since our return from Tortola, BVI. I have been wondering if she’s allergic to the new kitten, Calista Jo, or if she developed an allergy to her humans while we were away.

Anyway, the two of us made a visit to the vet, who said that it is unlikely she has developed allergies at age 13.

I have absolutely no explanation for Lily Olivia’s behavior while we were at the vet.

 

Calico cat lying on her back with legs akimbo while sleeping.

Lily Olivia at her most relaxed!

 

Lily sat in her PTU totally unperturbed by the large dog thwacking the carrier with its tail. She allowed both the tech and the vet to touch and hold here—no scratching, gouging, biting, belly-aching or struggling to get away. Lily didn’t even give us the stink-eye! She allowed her temperature to be taken, heart listened to, mouth examined and a shot administered without even a snarl or growl.

Lily Olivia did not make one peep until we were in the car on the way home. And then she was not complaining, just talking.

Whose Cat Was This?

When Vet Jeanmarie was still a vet tech, she would put on elbow-length, padded gloves, that looked like oven-mitts on steroids, prior to even getting near Lily Olivia. Of course, that was a very, very long time ago. As Jeanmarie has spent lots of time caring for and feeding Lily when we’ve been away, the two no longer do battle.

 

Calico cat looking grumpy and sitting in a wooden dough bowl in front of stained glass window.

Lily Olivia displaying her usual grumpy look.

 

But Lily can still be a stinker. On Saturday night when she was sleeping on my pillow and Misty May wanted to take her rightful place on my head, a disagreement ensued. Unfortunately, I was the one who got the worst of it. Lily Olivia put a claw into my face above my upper lip and caught another claw on the inside of my lower lip. By the time she got that one free, the blood was gushing!

Those of you who have kitties are now saying to yourselves that Lily was behaving herself because she wasn’t feeling well. Always a possibility, of course, but that usually doesn’t stop her from being her normal grumpy self!