Barn Cat Buddies

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO C.J.

An Awww Mondays Birthday Celebration

I knew Calista Jo’s birthday was on the horizon, but didn’t realize we had inadvertently passed it by a couple of days. She doesn’t know we are late. If she did, she would be complaining non-stop. Complaining, in a high-pitched whine, is what she does best.

Calista Jo joined the Kitties Blue crew shortly after I began this blog. She was our second Barn Cat Buddy (BCB) adoption. She was a member of a litter of four cats (three girls and one boy). Her name at the time was Josette (Josie for short), which didn’t really suit her. But more about that later.

C.J. and her sisters were at a BCB adoption event. I attended in order to drop off catnip toys, which at the time I was making for the group to sell. I was attracted to Josie, and told my friend Diane (the founder and President of BCB at that time), that if no one else wanted to adopt her, I might be interested. By the time I left the event, a couple and their teenage son had completed an adoption application for Josie. I have always believed if something is meant to happen it will, so I went home with no regrets.

A few days later, I got a call from Diane. The adoption application for Josie had not been approved. She would be coming to the house to deliver her. It was meant to be after all.

Here is the official announcement of her arrival with some cute kitten photos: “New Barn Cat Buddy Joins Blue Household.”

Renaming

We decided to keep Josette as our new kitten’s middle name. None of the names on my list of potential cat names, however, seemed to fit with it. While running names through my brain, Calista popped into it and stuck. As they say, the rest is history, and Calista Josette has now reached the age of 14.

Let’s Party

As we always do, we asked our resident baker, Cooper Murphy, to create a cake for C.J. Once again, I think he outdid himself.

 

Birthday cake with a dilute tortoise shell cat on top for Awww Mondays.

Of course, we have some beverages and noms to share as well.

 

collage of various beverages

collage of various foods and cat treats and nip

A Birthday Spark

 

A dilute tortoise shell cat celebrates her birthday with a Spark from Madeleine L'Engle and a current photo of herself and one as a kitten for Awww Mondays.

 

I did use this Spark six years ago, but it seemed appropriate again.

The author, Madeleine L’Engle (1918 – 2007), was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and young adult fiction. She’s best known for A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels.

Sparks is the creation of Annie from McGuffy’s Reader. It began as a blog hop, created by our friend. Annie stated when she began Sparks, “I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. 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.”

Calista Jo will be participating in the Awww Mondays blog hop hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus. If you would like to join her there, click on the Awww badge.

The Adventures of Periwinkle & Stinky

Tomorrow, your two favorite tabby cats will be adventuring again. It is Stinky’s turn to plan their adventure, so you’ll be able to find them right here. Stinky has shared none of his plans with me, and so I cannot give you any hints as to what they might get up to. They always have fun, though, and will be looking for you to join them.

Our Angel Sawyer continues to live through these adventures as his alter-ego Stinky, and it would mean so much to Mom Sharon, Noelle and myself if you would continue to follow our two favorite, cartoon tabby cats.

Thanks for stopping in and celebrating with us today. We always appreciate your visits and support.

 

 

SEVEN FOR BREAKFAST & FILL-INS

Feline Friday

 

Seven cats having breakfast.

Clockwise from the bottom right corner: Calista Jo, Raleigh, Kizmet (on cat tree), Sawyer (head behind cat tree), Audrey, Lisbeth & Cooper Murphy.

 

Rarely do we get all seven of the adult cats in the kitchen for a meal. As you can see, they all are eating except Cooper Murphy. He wolfed down his food and is plotting on which bowl he will try to invade.

The entire gang will be participating in the Feline Friday blog hop hosted by messymimi’s meanderings. To do the same, click on the badge below.

Friendly Fill-Ins

The Friendly Fill-Ins blog hop is hosted each Friday by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Lorianne (Four-Legged Furballs). They publish the fill-in sentences on their blogs each Thursday. To participate in the hop, click on the badge at the left. Once again, Sawyer offered to help me out. He volunteered to fill in #4 with a very similar reply as his from last week. We used teal italics to complete the sentences. Any additional or explanatory information is in parentheses.

1. “What Child is This” is my favorite Christmas song.

2. A greeting card box made by Dad Tom’s sister, Bonnie, is a Christmas decoration that I treasure. (I actually leave it out all year long and put in it any cards we get at Christmas and throughout the year.)

 

Black and white cat with a Christmas panda greeting card box.

 

3. Though ’tis the season for roasted chestnuts, I much prefer any other nut, except macadamia nuts. (I am highly allergic to those.)

4. Sawyer: If I could create a new Christmas tradition, it would be for me to get all the treats I can eat. (After all, I do need to gain weight.)

Update from Yesterday’s Kitten Update

They’re back!

I reported yesterday that the four kittens going up for adoption would be recuperating at the home of the Barn Cat Buddies’ president after their surgery and vaccines yesterday. They weren’t supposed to come back to us until Saturday, giving us a bit of a break. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. They came back to us right after their procedures.

I was delighted that I started my Christmas preparations early this year, and I was on track to get everything done in a leisurely and timely manner. That plan is dead! Everyday, I get a bit further behind. The Kitties Blue cards I ordered early (before Tali and Gibbs joined the KB crew) may still be waiting to be addressed when the New Year rolls around.

And just to add to the fun, we have our third snow event scheduled to arrive this morning.

Anyhoo, thanks for dropping in to see us. We’ll definitely be back tomorrow with some Caturday art.

 

KITTENS, ART & WINTER

Kitten News

So, I found out on Thursday that the four kittens Barn Cat Buddies will be taking for adoption will be returning to us after their vaccines and surgeries. They will remain here until sometime in January. Many cats and kittens are already awaiting placement at the adoption center, so the kittens will be biding their time here until their turn comes. I love them all and do not want to see them go, but this is a month longer with us than we had anticipated.

Caturday Art

Lisbeth kindly allowed be to photograph her for today’s art. She was toasting herself on the radiator next to the Christmas Tree in the foyer. This is a favorite spot of hers when winter roles around, and it has arrived. (I will share of photo of that later in this post.)

 

A tuxie cat on a radiator next to a Christmas Tree which has been turned into a winter scene with a sparkly silver frame and teal bow.

To create Lisbeth’s wintery art I used the Iced effect from Painnt and added warm coloring. To that I added the Galaxy filter from piZap at 40 percent. The frame is from the favpng app.

Here’s a trimmed down version of the art as a puzzle for all the jigsaw fans.

preview130pieceIcy Christmas Cat

I am sharing the original photo as well just because I really like it.

 

Tuxie cat on a radiator next to a lit Christmas tree with lots of cat ornaments.

 

I made another puzzle as well.
preview126pieceTuxie Cat with Christmas Tree

Lisbeth will be joining Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s Caturday Art blog hop. If you would like to participate, click on Athena’s badge.

An Early Taste of Winter

 

A winter scene of snow-covered trees and a pergola.

 

This was the view from our kitchen window when we woke up yesterday. As the temperature did not rise above 33 degrees F, this was still the view at 10 p.m. It probably looks exactly the same as you are reading this. The overnight temperature was predicted to be in the 20s. This is about three inches of very heavy, wet snow.

Sunday Selfies Reminder

Not too many Sundays remain in 2025, so please don’t miss the opportunity to participate in week #590 of our blog hop. We’ll go live at midnight EST, but you have through the end of the day Thursday to join us. We always love seeing your happy and adorable faces, so Kitties Blue and I will hope to see you there.

Thanks for dropping by today. Have an exceptional Caturday!

 

CAT & KITTEN THANKFULS

Thankful Thursday

Each week, Angel Brian hosts the Thankful Thursday blog hop. Kitties Blue and I always try to participate. This week’s thankfuls, not surprisingly, are about the kittens and adult cats abandoned in our alley on October 14th.

I am particularly thankful that the ten young adult cats that were dumped in the neighborhood have been trapped. Seven have been neutered/spayed and vaccinated. Two of those have been adopted and five returned. The remaining three will be spayed/neutered tomorrow. I have just learned that they will not be returned and the five which have come back will be retrapped and taken to a sanctuary with the hope of finding homes. It has turned out that none of the cats are feral and so should be able to be adopted.

This situation has changed daily due to neighbors that decided, after agreeing to the terms of the TNR, that they were going to fight the cats being returned. Neither Barn Cat Buddies nor I trust these individuals not to harm the cats. I will continue to keep you posted about this ongoing saga.

Dad Tom ordered three houses for the outside kitties, but now those will be returned to Amazon. I truly appreciate his generosity and willingness to help these cats.

I am grateful that all eight kittens are thriving.

 

Collage with three photos of kittens in heart design frames for Thankful Thursday.

 

Chris was here to clean on Tuesday and helped me “muck out” the kitten enclosure. Dad Tom usually does that, but Tuesday is the day he volunteers for the Red Cross. That was definitely beyond the scope of Chris’s responsibilities, and I am so grateful to her.

That’s it on the thankfuls.

As stated above, we will be joining Angel Brian’s blog hop. To do the same, click on the Thankful badge.

Another No Poem Thursday

Once again, I must apologize to Angel Sammy, Teddy and Mom Pam over at Two Spoiled Cats for not participating in Thoroughly Poetic Thursday. Please click the link in the previous sentence to visit and read Angel Sammy’s poem. I do hope to get back to poetry next week. I only need to attend physical therapy once each week for the next four weeks, which will free up some time.

Thanks for sticking with us.

 

 

C.J.’S 13TH BIRTHDAY

Feline Friday

When I started this blog for Kitties Blue in July, 2012, Calista Jo was not a member of the family. She was, however, the first addition to that group on October 4, 2012. Today we will celebrate her birthday and later this year we will celebrate her Gotcha Day. C.J. was the second tortoise shell cat we adopted from Barn Cat Buddies. Astrid was the first.

 

Portrait of a dilute tortoise shell cat wearing a flower in her fur for Feline Friday and surrounded by a frame with cakes, candies and other confections and the words, “Happy 13th Birthday Calista Jo!”

 

We have a card for her. And, of course, Cooper Murphy made her a cake. (piZap AI didn’t quite understand when he asked for a dilute tortoise shell cat.)

 

Birthday cake on Feline Friday for Calista Jo with a kitty wearing a tiara as a cake topper.

 

We also have some beverages and nip ice cream to accompany the cake.

 

Drinks and ice cream to celebrate a birthday on Feline Friday.

 

Calista Jo will be participating in the Feline Friday blog hop hosted by messymimi’s meanderings. To do the same, click on the badge below.

Friendly Fill-Ins

The Friendly Fill-Ins blog hop is hosted each Friday by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Lorianne (Four-Legged Furballs). They publish the fill-in sentences on their blogs each Thursday. Calista Jo felt that as it is her birthday, she should get to do the fill-ins. I never argue when one of the Kitties Blue offer to do this. She, however, requested pink italics as opposed to the teal we usually use. Any additional or explanatory information is in parentheses.

1. I avoid Lisbeth  like the plague. (These two have never gotten along. Yesterday, Lisbeth was sitting with me. C.J. showed up. The two started hissing at each other, and Lisbeth left in a huff!)

2. I hope to spend time napping in sunpuddles this summer.

3. My favorite subject in school was naptime.

4. I wish there was a calorie-free treat for adults (cats).

Calista Jo is the champion napper among the Kitties Blue. None of the others rack up as many hours a day in repose as she does.

I want some of those calorie-free treats for adult humans.

Thanks for coming to C.J.’s little birthday party. We hope you had fun.

Tomorrow, we’ll be here with some Caturday Art.

 

New E-Mail: KittiesBlue@thecatonmyhead.com

THE ADVENTURES OF PERIWINKLE & STINKY: PART CCLXXII

Periwinkle’s Arrival

Stinky is feeling pretty bad as he waits for Periwinkle by the teleportation tunnel. It is bitterly cold, and he knows she is not a big fan. For that matter, neither is he. He is super happy that their trip in the teleportation tunnel will be a short and quick one. 

When he hears the familiar whoosh from the tunnel, he sprints to catch Periwinkle as she tumbles out. They spend time, as they always do, whisker kissing and paw hugging.  Then, before Periwinkle says anything, Stinky takes her paw and leads her back into the tunnel.

The tabbies arrive at their destination moments later. Before Periwinkle has time to get her bearings, Sawyer grabs her paw and rushes her over to a sign in front of a house. He is so quick, Periwinkle doesn’t even have the opportunity to read the sign.

The Toebean Cat Café

 

Two cartoon tabby cats dressed in winter clothes and standing in the snow in front of a sign: The Toebean Cat Cafe.

 

After a very quick photo, Stinky leads Periwinkle up the front steps and into the house. As she looks around, she sees a neon sign on a wall of faux grass. 

 

Two cartoon tabby cats in front of a faux grass wall with a neon sign: The Toebean Cat Cafe.

 

She squeals when she realizes where they are and asks Stinky, “Is this an actual cat cafe where we can meet other kitties?”

“Yep, my mom and her friend, Etna, came here before Christmas to meet the cats, and they thought we might enjoy it. It is one of three cat cafes that opened recently in our area. I hope we can visit the other two in the future as well.”

Local Cat Art

“Ooh, Stinky … me too! I sure love the name of this cafe. It is so cute and clever. And look at all the kitty art work.”

Stinky explains that some of the paintings are from local artists but most were done by local school children.

 

The top of a Christmas Tree and fireplace with cat art on the wall and the mantle.

 

“Look Stinky, they still have the Christmas Tree up, just like at your house,” exclaims Periwinkle.

Stinky blushes and does not reply to her comment. Instead, he says, “Periwinkle, did you notice the ginger cat over the fireplace is holding a huge hamburger?”

Periwinkle giggles when she notices it. “That cat looks a lot like your brofur, Cooper Murphy, as well as our friend, Teddy.” It is then Stinky’s turn to giggle.

 

Two cartoon tabby cats at a reception desk by a staircase with lots of cat pictures by children.

 

“Will you please get off the counter and quit eyeing the human treats. I want to see the kitties,” replies Periwinkle.

There is an upstairs and a downstairs cat room. The employee behind the counter tells them the majority of the felines are upstairs, and so Stinky and Periwinkle decide to go there. As they are heading up the stairs, they admire the art from the school children and are quite impressed.

When they get to the second floor, the tabbies first check out a sitting room for visitors with a wall painted with adorable feline faces.

 

Two cartoon tabby cats sitting on an antique sofa in front of a wall painted with yellow, blue and white cat heads.

 

After admiring the art work, they head across the hall to the cat room.  

Visiting With the Kitty Occupants

“Squee. Stinky, they are all so cute!”

 

Two cartoon tabby cats and three white and grey real cats.

 

“Of course, they are. They are cats! When I was sitting on the counter, the employee told me that the kitties in this room are from Barn Cat Buddies. That is one of the two local rescues my mom and dad support and also from where Astrid and Calista Jo were adopted. And I saw on Instagram that lots of the kitties who have been here have been adopted.”

“Stinky, that is so cool,” replies Periwinkle. Stinky explains that The Toebean Cat Café also brings in kitties from a couple of other local rescues as well.

Periwinkle and Stinky spend their visit playing with and getting to know the cats.

 

Two cartoon tabby cats with a real white and grey tabby cat.

Two cartoon tabby cats with a real dilute and white torbie cat sitting on a fuzzy pink rug.

 

“They sure have lots of nice things, Stinky: cat trees, shelves, tunnels and even a laser toy,” Periwinkle comments. Stinky tells Periwinkle that when his mom and Etna came to visit that they brought toys for the kitties and that his mom brought the laser toy. Lots of the items at the cafe have been donated by supporters and friends.

Before heading back downstairs Periwinkle and Stinky decide to take a photo with the Toebean sign painted on the wall.

 

Two cartoon tabby cats sitting on an antique sofa in front of a wall painted with "The Toebean Cat Cafe"

 

The tabbies go downstairs where they check out the smaller cat room from the provided window.

 

Two cartoon tabby cats sitting in front of a window that looks into a room with a wall painted with dozens of cat paws showing off their toebeans.

 

Stinky tells Periwinkle that the employee he spoke with earlier told him that right now the room, which is much smaller than the one upstairs, has only one adult kitty in residence.

“Stinky look at all those cat paws and toe beans. This cafe is decorated purrfectly! The kitties that get to come here to wait for adoption are so fortunate!”

Stinky smiles and agrees.

Café Information

Stinky tells Periwinkle that the two owners are Vet Techs from the Emergency Vet Hospital where both Lily Olivia and Sawyer have been treated. He also tells her what they said on their Facebook page: “We are Roanoke’s premier full-service cat cafe—a ‘home away from home’ for cats until their forever homes are found!”

The Toebean Cat Café is located in Roanoke, Virginia. Reservations are suggested. An half-an-hour visit costs $10 and a one-hour visit is $20. Sweet treats and drinks are available for an extra charge. They also sell cute gift items.

If you are interested in finding out more about The Toebean Cat Café, here are the links to their web-site and Instagram: https://www.thetoebeancatcafe.net and https://www.instagram.com/thetoebeancatcafe. They are also on Facebook.

It is finally time for the tabbies to head back to Stinky’s house. When they arrive, they have a snack and visit with Stinky’s fursibs.

Finally, it is time for Periwinkle to head back home. She and Stinky share lots of whisker kisses and paw hugs. Then Periwinkle is gone in a whoosh with a wave and blown kiss. Stinky goes in search of a sunpuddle for a nap and dreams of Periwinkle.

The End

Periwinkle and Stinky will be participating in the Happy Tuesday blog hop hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus. To do the same click on the badge below.

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY C.J.

Wordy Wednesday

Today is our youngest sister, Calista Josette’s, birthday. Before we get on with her party, we wanted to share a baby picture of C.J.

 

dilute calico kitten in chair

 

At the time Calista joined our family, she was tiny and made our itty bitty cat, Astrid, look like a giant. As you will see in C.J.’s birthday photo, she’s no longer a little girl.

 

dilute calico cat wearing birthday crown

 

We’ve all heard a rumor that presents will be forthcoming later today. We don’t know what they are, but C.J. has promised to share.

Now we’d like you to join our little party for the birthday girl and enjoy some cake and nip bubbly. Of course, Mau made the cake in his Cat Scouts Bake Shop. We also have lemonade for the youngsters.

 

 

 

🎈HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALISTA JOSETTE!🎈

 

Though we have been a bit wordy today, we are joining the Wordless Wednesday blog hops.

Purrs, paw-pats and love, angel Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer

WELCOMING THE NEW YEAR WITH A GUEST SELFIE

Sunday Selfies: Week #125

As Kitties Blue embark on a new year, we’d like to wish all our followers, friends and supporters a new year that brings each of you only good things. This past year was overly sad for us and many of you. Our resolution for 2017 is to put on happy faces and try to look ahead with positive attitudes.

We wanted to begin 2017 by doing something special, so today we are introducing you to a friend and giving her the honor of guest hosting the first Sunday Selfies blog hop of the new year. And here she is now.

 

New Year guest selfie host

 

We’d like you to meet Allie. Look at that gorgeous face! Allie is a seven-year-old, bi-eyed, short-haired, white-furred beauty. She lost her elderly person and went through a grieving process but now is ready for her new home. She is in a wonderful Barn Cat Buddies foster home, but it is not her first one. We’d so love for her to have a New Year’s miracle and find the loving, forever home she deserves.

Allie would make a great companion for a senior person. She loves to snuggle at night and sleep next to her person in bed. She is a little shy at first but once she realizes you are kind and gentle, she will respond with head butts and affection.

Allie is fearful of other cats, so if you have a quiet home with no other cats or possibly just one other, you and Allie would be a purrfect fit!

Allie is house trained, spayed and current on her vaccinations. She is currently located in Hardy, Virginia.

If you think you or someone you know would be interested in Allie, please leave us a comment. We can send you additional photos as well as her contact information.

Cat4-001This is our Sunday Selfies blog hop, and we’d love for you to join in the fun. All anipals are welcome. We do not discriminate! “Come one, come all,” we say! To join the hop, use the link below. You may want to add the hop to your blog as well. If so, the code is below. If you do this, would you please be so kind as to add our badge to your post and/or link to The Cat on My Head. And don’t forget: The hop remains open for entries through Thursday at midnight.

Thanks for a great year, dear friends. We wish everyone a happy and blessed 2017.

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, mauricio, Misty May, giulietta, Angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Mom Janet and Dad Tom

 

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STEEL MILL CAT RESCUE UPDATE & BP SWAG WINNER

On July 5, Kitties Blue told you about cats living at a steel mill. You can read their post here. These kitties needed to be rescued, and I had a comment-a-thon and pledged $1 for each comment to raise funds to help with the process. A donation of $60 was made thanks to all those who commented.

Here’s an update from Barn Cat Buddies with the good news of what has occurred during the last three weeks.

 

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 CLICK HERE TO DONATE

GotMiceLogo

 

Our BlogPaws Conference Swag Winner

I am happy to announce that the winners of our BlogPaws Conference swag surprise package are good friends, Angel, Isabella and Mom Sharla from the delightful blog, Beaded Tail. We’ll leave it to them to show off what’s in their package after they receive it!

See you tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

 

THE LONGEST THIRTEEN PLUS TWO DAYS EVER

BlogPaws Booty Bonanza

Remember that BlogPaws Conference loot we were waiting for UPS to deliver? Well, it finally arrived last Friday evening. Then it sat for two days before Mom even opened it, turning 13 days into 15. Was it worth the wait? Yep! You bet! We have a little slideshow to show y’all a good portion of the booty. (To read the captions, do not have your cursor over or near slideshow.)

 

[slideshow_deploy id=’21477′]

 

Even though there are eight of us kitties, Mom says we cannot possibly keep all these goodies. She packed some toys and treats up today for cat sitter/housekeeper Chris’s kitty, Tinsley. She also gave him the zebra-striped cardboard cat cube we won from the Cat Style Lounge in 2015. She says we are running out of room with the addition of the pink kitty cube won this year. This was meant to be C.J.’s birthday gift, but she hasn’t even had the opportunity to try it yet. Mau and Astrid have found it to their liking.

Next Mom will let Mauricio and Lisbeth select some things to send to their significant others, Allie and Charles. After that she’ll put together a prize package to give away on our fourth blogoversary (Thursday, July 21). She’s also going to put some things aside for our local no-kill shelter, Angels of Assisi.

The only things we know we get to keep are the pink cube and the Original Hide and Sneak (craft paper cat tunnel) won from The Cat Style Lounge. Mom says that she also will be keeping all cleaning and odor relief products. And she’ll be letting us try the various foodables to see if there is anything the picky girls, Giulietta and Fiona, like.

Future posts will report on and review the products Mom received directly from Conference sponsors.

We are happy that our humans are generous with other kitties, but we certainly have our paws crossed that we will get to keep at least a couple of the toys. After being abandoned for five days, it seems only fair. Don’t you think? We’ll keep you posted.

GotMiceLogoDonation to Barn Cat Buddies

Thanks to everyone who commented on our post about the the steel mill kitties, Mom has donated $60 to our friends at Barn Cat Buddies to help rescue these poor cats. If you missed our post, “Please Help Our Barn Cat Buddies Friends,” you can read it here.  If you can afford even a few green papers, you can make a donation directly to Barn Cat Buddies by visiting their site. We’d like to thank our dear friend Marjorie from Dash Kitten for doing just that. If anyone else has done so as well, please accept our heartfelt thanks.

To Catch a Cat Giveaway

To Catch a cat book jacket.If you missed yesterday’s post, Mom reviewed this heartwarming book of kitten rescue by Heather Green. She has three copies to give away and is willing to mail worldwide. To have the opportunity to win, leave a comment on yesterday’s post. There’s a link at the bottom of this post. Winners will be selected using random.org.

If you visited yesterday prior to 10:30 a.m., you missed some really darling photos of the kittens. The publisher sent them to us after our post was published. Mom added them after several readers had visited and commented.

That’s it for us today. See y’all tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday.

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