November 2019

SPARK OF FRIENDSHIP

Sparks

Today’s Spark is being presented by special friends, Periwinkle and Stinky.

 

 

Periwinkle and Stinky are thankful to be friends, and I am super grateful to have a few good friends, some of them other bloggers.

Baltasar Gracián y Morales, the author of today’s Spark, was a 17th century Spanish Jesuit priest, baroque prose writer and philosopher. His writings were lauded by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.

Sparks began as a blog hop, created by our friend, Annie (McGuffy’s Reader). Annie has been taking a “break” from blogging, so there is no hop. Unfortunately, during this break, Annie has been the victim of a hacker. This has continued to keep her off-line and caused her much distress. Please continue to send prayers to Annie and her family as they work to get their lives back to normal.

Many of us believe in Annie’s vision: “If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world!”

Awww Mondays

 

These two cutie pies are joining the blog hop at Comedy Plus, as they are both super awww-dorable.

And while they are here, they want to remind you to join them for their next adventure tomorrow at Friends Furever.

 

C.J.’S UNETHUSIASTIC, SLEEPY SELFIE

Sunday Selfies: Week #275

None of the Kitties Blue came rushing forward when I asked who wanted to do the selfie this week. So I volunteered the first of the gang I came upon—Calista Jo. As you can see she was more interested in snoozing than smiling.

 

 

Though C.J. is showing no enthusiasm for today’s hop, I know all our friends are looking forward to seeing everyones’ selfies.

No hopping tips this week. We think you all know the drill. Simply link up below so we can admire you.

 



TUXEDO CAT DAY OR NOT?

Caturday Art

Yesterday C.K. told us on her blog, Stunning Keisha, that today is National Tuxedo Cat Day. With that expectation, three of us asked Mom to use photos of us for Caturday Art. Being fairly accommodating, she agreed.

So here we are. After creating this art, however, Mom discovered that National Tuxedo Cat Day is not until November 29. It seems we are a couple of weeks early. With any luck she’ll write a post for us again then.

 

 

So here is the information about our art. Mom used three different effects in Painnt to create it. Mau’s effect is Bendis. Lisbeth’s effect is Broken Reality and Misty May’s is Console. Mom attempted to change the coloration so we all had a shade of pink. She then put us into a collage using piZap and added a border from Picasa.

Three pink tuxies for your viewing pleasure. All three of us are joining Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty on her Caturday Art blog hop. If you’d like to do the same, click on her badge.

Purrs and paw-pats, Mau, Lisbeth & Misty May

Sunday Selfies Reminder

Brush up those furs, scales or feathers and put on your best smile, as tomorrow is our Sunday Selfies blog hop. All anipals are welcome regardless of species, so we will be looking for you right here tomorrow. Until then, stay warm!

 

SAWYER HOPS AROUND

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #183

Friendly Fill-Ins is a weekly blog hop hosted by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Lorianne (Four-Legged Furballs). Each week Ellen and Lorianne select two sentences to be completed by participants. They post these are their blogs on Thursday, and we hop on Friday. The hop is at Four-Legged Furballs. You can get there by clicking the badge at the left.

This week Kitties Blue allowed me to do all the filling in. My completions are in teal italics. Any explanatory information is in parentheses.

1. I have been writing for 61 years. (I discovered I enjoyed it in fourth grade.)

2. Have you ever wished you had not started blogging? (I love writing and blogging and all the friends I have made as a result of the latter, but some days it is a chore, especially when I’d rather be doing something else.)

3. I always wish time would slow down this time of year. (As Christmas approaches, I never seem to have enough time for decorating, shopping, wrapping gifts, writing cards and spending time with friends.)

4. The world could use more compassion.

Feline Friday & Friendship Friday

 

 

Sawyer wriggled his way under a pillow to have a snooze and, in his sleepy state, is joining the Feline Friday blog hop at Comedy Plus and the Friendship Friday blog hop at Create With Joy. To join him on either or both of these hops, click on the badges below.


THE PANTLESS SHOVELER

Thankful Thursday

A strange thing happened this week. Our mom was the First Right Guesser on the Tuesday Teaser at Two Spoiled Cats. Now that is pretty amazing on it’s own. But…she also was the only one to guess correctly! She won this cool badge. 

We are always grateful for all our friends and supporters, but especially those who join us for Sunday Selfies. A great group participanted this week, and we thank each of you.

We are particularly thankful for the few of you following “The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky.” These two tabbies are having so much fun, and we know you will too if you follow them. Mom is working on getting all their adventures under one tab for anyone who wants to catch up. Until that is complete, you can pop over to Friends Furever and click on their “The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky” tab.

Thankful Thursday is a blog hop hosted by Brian. To join, post on your blog for what you are thankful, and then click on Brian’s badge to hop over to Brian’s and enter your link.

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

As with most Thursday’s, we are here with a poem for the Two Spoiled Cats’, Teddy and Angel Sammy, weekly poetry challenge. They present us with a photo to act as inspiration and this week’s is a doozy.

Sammy writes a poem and transmits it to Teddy from the Rainbow Bridge. And those inspired by the photo do the same. It’s really quite fun and gets us to use our imaginations. If you haven’t tried it, why not?

Even if you don’t have the desire to participate, click on the poetry badge so you can pop over and read Sammy’s poem. We guarantee you’ll be impressed. And check out the comments for links to other poems.

We now present this week’s photo and our mom’s poem.

 

 

The Pantless Shoveler

People do crazy things
Others just don’t understand.
For example, the antics of this man
Shoveling snow in only robe and boots.
Did he just forget his pants or
Give them away to a needy passerby?
Perhaps they were stolen by a marauding bear.
More likely he’s just a Canadian…
Shorts and sweatshirt under his robe.
He looks silly but chances are he doesn’t care.
We know we could speculate all day and never
Guess the reason, so we’ll be on our way…
Buddled in our parka, mittens, scarf and hat
Marveling at the idiosyncrasies of our fellow man.

© Janet Buickerood Blue – 11/13/2019

Thanks for visiting us today.

Purrs and paw-pats, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer 

 

 

THE ADVENTURES OF PERIWINKLE AND STINKY: PART V

 

Mill Mountain Star

Stinky sat fidgeting next to the teleportation tunnel as he usually did when awaiting Periwinkle’s arrival. Suddenly she came whooshing out of the tunnel ahead of schedule.

She turned quickly, threw her paws around Stinky’s neck and gave him a big hug. “Periwinkle, reporting for our next adventure,” she said with a giggle.

Before Stinky could speak, she continued. “I found a new way to travel even faster through the tunnel. If I chase my tail while in the tunnel, it gets up to an incredible speed. Isn’t that cool?“

Stinky frowned at her question, as he wasn’t certain how safe that was as well as due to the fact that he had no tail to chase.

When Periwinkle saw his expression, she realized her mistake, gave Stinky another hug, and whispered in his ear, “Oh, I’m sorry, Stinky. I wasn’t thinking.”

Brushing away his sadness, Stinky grabbed heavy coats and hats and led Periwinkle out to his mom’s car, explaining, “Mom is going to drive us to our adventure location. The last two days were gorgeous, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s, but now it has turned cold, and we are going to be outside.”

As Stinky’s mom got her keys, the two tabbies put on their warm clothes and got in the back seat. After buckling their seat belts, they held paws and chattered quietly to each other about what they had been doing the past week. Periwinkle told Stinky how she had made her mom sad when she broke something very important to her mom. She reassured Stinky that she’d been forgiven.

Stinky explained that he hadn’t been eating very well, but when he remembered she was coming, he did a good job for a couple days finishing his noms and getting his meds.

When they reached their destination, Periwinkle couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Wow, Stinky, I have never seen anything so huge. That star is so tall, I can’t even see the top. Where are we?”

 

 

Stinky explained that his city is known as the “Star City of the South,” and she was looking at the largest neon star on the planet.

“This is amazing. Tell we more about it, Stinky.”

Stinky replied, “Here’s the sign that tells you everything about it. The star is 88 1/2 feet tall and was built in 1949. Hey, Periwinkle, it’s the same age as my mom! Anyhoo, it is neon and can have a variety of different colors, but it is usually just white.”

While looking up at the Star, Periwinkle and Stinky had the same idea at the same time and said in unison, “Let’s climb it!” They both knew this was wrong and strictly forbidden, but this was supposed to be an adventure after all. And, of course, cats are notorious for not following the rules.

Stinky told Periwinkle that they better take off their coats so they didn’t get dirty or catch on anything. He said, “If we are all dirty when my mom picks us up, she’ll know we’ve been up to something.”

They also decided to climb only part way up, so they were certain they could get down quickly if needed.

 

 

After admiring the view of the valley and those tress that still held onto colorful fall leaves, they held paws and jumped down to the ground.

“Hey, Stinky, let’s take a selfie so we will always remember this adventure,” said Periwinkle.

As they got back into their coats and hats, Stinky explained that the area they were visiting was called Mill Mountain, and in addition to the star, a zoo occupied the area. He promised to bring Periwimkle back to visit the zoo in the spring when the weather would be warmer.

The temperature was starting to drop, so Stinky used his cell phone to call his mom to pick them up.

When they arrived back at Stinky’s house, he and Periwinkle enjoyed a dinner of Fancy Feast and played with Stinky’s fursibs.

Once again, Periwinkle would spend the night and go home in the morning, as Stinky wanted to make certain Periwinkle saw the Star after dark when it was lit up. To do that, they went to the upper deck at Stinky’s house and admired the “Star” as well as all the stars in the sky and a full moon.

 

 

“Oh, Stinky, this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” said Periwinkle. She then turned and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. If it hadn’t been dark out, she would have seen that Stinky was blushing.

After a snack of Fancy Feast (so Stinky could get his medicine), Stinky showed Periwinkle the various options for sleeping over. He said he would be sleeping on the bed with his mom and dad and several fursibs. As it was so much colder than Periwinkle’s home, she decided to join Stinky and the others. They snuggled up together and quickly drifted off to sleep, as the fresh air and climbing escapade had made them quite tired. They both dreamt of the day’s adventure and the next one to come.

The End

Please join Stinky and Periwinkle on their next adventure by visiting Friends Furever on Tuesday, November 18.

Periwinkle and Stinky are joining the Happy Tuesday blog hop at Comedy Plus. To join them, click on the badge below.

 

SPARK OF COURAGE ON VETERANS DAY

Sparks

 

Today is Veterans Day. In an attempt to find a representative quote, I found this from Winston Churchill. It is relevant but not just for those who have served their countries. It speaks to me, and I suspect it will speak to most of you as well.

With that said, I want to thank all of the veterans who have served the U.S. and fought for our freedom. That includes both my dad and Tom’s.

 

Top: E. Morse Blue (U.S. Navy) Bottom: Harvey Buickerood (U.S. Army)

 

Sparks began as a blog hop, created by our friend, Annie (McGuffy’s Reader). Annie has been taking a “break” from blogging, so there is no hop. Unfortunately, during this break, Annie has been the victim of a hacker. This has continued to keep her off-line and caused her much distress. Please continue to send prayers to Annie and her family as they work to get their lives back to normal.

Many of us believe in Annie’s vision: “If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world!”

The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky

Please join us tomorrow for the next installment in “The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky.” These two spunky tabbies surely have something exciting planned, and you won’t want to miss out on the fun.

 

 

 

A CATIO SELFIE ON A SUNNY DAY

Sunday Selfies: Week #274

 

 

Sawyer was enjoying a warm day on the catio when he snapped this. Unfortunately the warm weather seems to be a thing of the past. Thankfully, unlike many of you, we have seen no snow as yet. Kitties Blue will continue to spend time on the catio if they can find some sun. They will intersperse their outings, however, with time curled up on our bed or the heated bathroom and kitchen floors. They are not spoiled, but they do lead pretty cushy lives. We’d absolutely love for you to share a selfie and hop with us. I think by now each of you have probably memorized those hopping tips we post each week…well, that is, if you ever read them. Whether you have or haven’t (read them), I am skipping them this week.

An Apology

If you stopped by yesterday, you may have noticed that The Cat on My Head was having technical difficulties. I wish I could tell you I fixed the problem, but I was unable to discern what went wrong. So, after several hours of trying to figure out why the post was not visible (and you could not make comments if you were able to see it), I copied it and put it in a new post. Magically, that did the trick. Paws crossed that was a one-and-done glitch. Thank you for your patience and an even bigger thanks to all of you who returned to comment when the post finally appeared.

The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky

These two fun-loving tabbies asked me to remind you they will be back here on Tuesday. They enjoyed a fun day at the beach last week and even learned to surf. If you missed that post, you can find it at Friends Furever by clicking here. We will return tomorrow for “Sparks.” Everyone have a great easy Sunday.  

REPOSTING: OOPS…THEY DID IT AGAIN!

Caturday Art: Sunpuddle Siblings

Last Caturday Mau and Lisbeth shared the spotlight in some sunpuddle art. This Caturday, coming to you from exactly the same spot in the kitchen, we have the unlikely pair from Wordless Wednesday, Sawyer and Astrid. Of course, the camaraderie didn’t last. Astrid perpetrated a sneak attack on Sawyer later in the evening. He jumped back but was not fazed and continued his trip to the kitchen.

 

 

I chose this photo from the several I took, as the two were holding paws. You can see this better in the original. I will be sharing other photos from this session in future posts.

To create today’s art, I used Painnt yet again. This is the “Square Bricks” effect. I then added the “Perplex” filter at about 70% from piZap along with the white, deckled-edge border.Sawyer and Astrid are hopping over to visit Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty and join her Caturday Art blog hop. To check out the art by other bloggers, click on Athena’s badge.

Sunday Selfies Reminder

Another week has flown by, so that means we will be back tomorrow with our blog hop. We sure hope you will share your adorable self with us. Remember all anipals are welcome, regardless of species. So clean those treat crumbs out of your whiskers and put on your best smile, as your friends will be here waiting to admire you.