I want to feature Lisbeth in our Caturday Art post today so I can tell everyone a little more about her. I will, however, start by showing off her lovely, bright white tummy in today’s Caturday Art submission.
I really didn’t want to do much to this photo as Lisbeth looks so pretty just as she is. I mostly played around with the edges using a Vignette filter and a Drop Shadow effect which makes the photo appear to be floating off the page. I did use a very small percentage of Boost on the photo as well to help keep her fur bright. I did all of this using Picasa.
I always like to show you the before photo. I am doing so with a photo taken at the conclusion of the photo session. Lisbeth is telling me, “Go away! You have disturbed my nap enough.”
So, Lisbeth is a rather solitary cat; though, as mentioned in other posts she and Astrid were adopted together from Barn Cat Buddies. They had different birth moms, but Astrid had been abandoned by hers, and when old enough, was placed with Lisbeth and her siblings and their mom, Tux.
They were bonded and inseparable when they came to us. Please click on the title, Cats = Love to see them when they were fairly new members of the Kitties Blue clan.
For whatever reason, Lisbeth and Astrid grew apart. Now Lisbeth hisses at Astrid whenever she sees her. I don’t really know why or exactly when this happened. They both love and interact with Mauricio, and as you know from previous posts, Lisbeth and Lily Olivia will occasionally sleep near each other. But mostly Lisbeth hangs out in the laundry room atop a makeshift bed (also a favorite place of Lily’s), somewhere on the catio or on”her” pillow on the bed.
Lisbeth will join in and play with the red dot or Da Bird or other toys, but she is not aggressive and tends to hang back.
But I couldn’t ask for a sweeter or more loving cat when it comes to human interaction. She will immediately roll over on her back when she sees me coming. But in is NOT an invitation to rub her belly, just her way of saying, “I’m happy to see you. May I please have some attention.”
Her absolute favorite thing is butt scritches. She never seems to get enough. Like most cats she likes her head, chin and neck rubbed and scritched. Whenever I do this to any of the other Kitties Blue, I always give them kisses on the top of their head. Lisbeth, however, would never allow this until three days ago. She would always pull away from me. But on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, when she was napping in the laundry room, I tried this, and she allowed me to give her several kisses. And in return I even got a head butt.
I feel I have broken down an invisible barrier between the two of us. I know that the next time I try the kisses, she may pull away again, but I feel as if I am making some progress in making her more social and open to attention. Now, if I could just get Astrid and her back together, I would by a happy mommy.
We are, as usual, participating in Athena Cat Goddess’s (Athena and Maria) Caturday Art blog hop. To participate or view the other submissions, please click on the badge at the left.
I also want to remind anyone who has not entered our giveaway for a colorful, appliquéd kitty, garden flag, that you can do so through Sunday midnight EDT. To do so, please click on the flag.
See you all tomorrow for Easy Like Sunday with a report on our new kitty quilt that I was shamed into buying from Ms. Stella O’Houligan and her Mom Stacy (on a more personal note) after keeping the BlogPaws commemorative one for myself.
They look so very cute. We cats do sometimes grow apart as some are very solitary while others are chummy. Don’t ask who is who here…
MOL
Lisbeth is gorgeous x
P.S. We checked out your Cats = Love post, but comments were turned off for it, so we will leave our comment here: LOVED all of those photos. Seeing everyone as kittens was just so sweet. Especially little Astrid and Giulietta cuddled together. Sampson meowed with delight when he saw baby Astrid. He sends even more kisses!
That’s such great news that you got through a barrier with Lisbeth. Perhaps with Astrid’s progress and Lisbeth’s progress, they will become best friends again. How could you ever resist petting that beautiful white tummy?!? It’s just so tempting! 🙂 Lisbeth sounds like a very sweet kitty who loves her mom. Hope she and Astrid get close again. Thanks for sharing more about Lisbeth today – we are all happy to have gotten to know her better.
Sampson sends many many kisses to Astrid, and we all send our love.
So wonderful that you have gotten through a barrier with Lisbeth and we hope that her and Astrid will become friends again. Sweet post and pretty art photo.
That’s so sweet that Lisbeth now allows kisses! She’s so beautiful!
Such a pretty photo of such a pretty tummy! Hooray for head kisses, that is really special!
You are pretty Lizbeth. I am glad you let your mum give you kisses and you gave her a headbutt.
LIsbeth you are a gorgeous kitty! We glad you and your Mommie had a breakthrough and we hope that continues.
Lisbeth, you are such a pretty kitty! So glad you decided to do headbutts with your mom.
We enjoyed learning a little more about Lisbeth. Cosmo and Ling (true siblings) used to be really close until the 2nd episode of redirected aggression (before the other cats joined the family). Cosmo was very upset with a stray cat he saw outside and took it out on Ling. Today they aren’t as close but they still look out for each other after a period of hissing by Ling.
Hopefully Lisbeth and Astrid will be able to mend their relationship given enough time. 🙂
Lisbeth, you are a beauty. I want to rub that belly.
Gorgeous photo! you are invited to share this Feline Art Friday:
http://kittypartay.blogspot.com/2014/06/feline-art-friday-2.html
You did good not doing too much with the photo. It’s nice the way it is. Who knows why cats grow apart. Believe it or not, I LOVE head kisses but not when TW photographs them.
It’s funny how some cats grow apart. Julie & Carl are full siblings but were never that close. Julie does tolerate Carl coming close to her better than any other kitty, but that is it, even when they were kittens they didn’t play together. We do wish you the best in getting them back together!
What a wonderful picture of Lisbeth’s tummy furs! She is such a pretty girl!
We love the tummy photo!
Lovely photo and tummy!
Purrs xx
Athena and Marie
such a gorgeous girl!
That’s the thing about cats. They’re so mysterious. They change their behavior and you don’t know why. I think it’s so intriguing. And when they make that move toward a little more love–particularly from a cat who may be normally a little aloof–ah, how sweet!
–Purrs (and wags) from Life with Dogs and Cats
Miss Lizabeth, my mommy is very taken with you! I headbutt my mommy too..she feels loved.
Hi Ms Lisbeth. You are such a gorgeous girl and so photogenic. That picture of you is beautiful. I’m so pleased your mom chose you to be the featured kitty today. Please continue your progress with showing your mom how much she means to you and becoming better furrends with your siblings.
Charles
Gosh that photo of Lisbeth is just gorgeous as is she…..the aqua coloring is so flattering too……well done!!!! I bet you’ll reach that goal of reuniting Lisbeth and Astrid…..all of us “mellow with age” and it just might be in the works for the girls……….
Hugs, Pam (and Sam)
Luv your picture of Lisbeth!
Lisbeth, you are a charmer. It takes us a while to relax to certain hoomin behaviours….some things they do are strange. Nice to meet you and I hope to hear more about you.
Hugs, Shoko
Sometimes it takes kitties a long time to allow certain human behaviors. A really long time – just ask Boodie!
You have a lovely tummy ! You make your mom very happy with your head butts ! Purrs
What a sweetheart! And what an irresistible tummy!!!
Oh Lisbeth, you are so gorgeous and that bellah of your is beautiful!
Concats on the headbumpies. Our Mommy is jealous.
Happy Caturday!
>smoochies<
We love that tummy of yours, Lizbeth. 🙂
Lisbeth be so purretty. Gweat gettin’ tu know hers bettew.
Luv ya’
Dezi
Miss Lizabeth, you have the most adorable tummy. It was very nice of you to allow your mom to give you head kisses, we thinks it made her very, very happy.