catio

COOPER MURPHY SPEAKS OUT

Caturday Art

I think most of you have met me by now, but if not, my name is Cooper Murphy. I have been living with Kitties Blue for a week, and the lady here said I could “talk” to you today.

I discovered that this place I now call home has other cats living here. I’d seen some through a window, but I wasn’t sure they were real. They are. I have no idea how many others live here, but today I met a calico, a tuxie and two torties. They all seemed okay, except for the tuxie, who was sort of snotty. I think her name is Misty May. That’s what the lady yelled when the tuxie hissed and tried to hit me. I was a gentleman and did not respond.

I heard the others call the lady, Mom, so I guess that is her name. She’s the one I’ve been cuddling with the past few days. I like her and the man too. His name is Dad.

I also had an adventure today in a place called a catio. It was warm today, nothing like that day I came to live here when it was cold and snowy. This catio was a big place where I could not only see the birds and squirrels, but hear and smell them as well. I think I am going to like spending time on the catio.

I think that’s enough talking for now. I am supposed to show you a picture the lady Mom made of me. I don’t really recognize myself. She says that is because this is art. This is yet another thing I know nothing about. But here it is.

 

Cooper Murphy - Caturday Art

 

caturdayartbannerMom says we are entering a blog hop hosted by another kitty. Her name is Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty. Mom showed me her photo. She is very beautiful! If you want to see her or any of the others entering the blog hop, you can click on her badge. And, if you want, you can make some art too and enter the hop.

Oops, I almost forget…I am supposed to tell you how Mom made the art. First she used the “Oil Slick” effect from Dreamscope. Then she added the bokeh shapes using PicMonkey. She added the “ColorZ” effect and the leaves around the border using piZap and the black border using Picasa. That sounds like a lot of work to me! I think I’m darn cute in my own furs, so I have no idea why my new Mom thought she needed to do this. I guess I have a whole lot of stuff to learn.

Anyhoo, she said she’d take over now and I could say, “good night.” So…

Purrs and paw-pats, Cooper Murphy

I think Cooper Murphy did a great job with his first post, and he was totally calm meeting some of his fursibs today. Dad Tom had predicted Cooper Murphy and Astrid would become friends, and it appears he may be right. Yeah! Astrid needs a friend. As he continues to learn his way around and meet and get to know the other Kitties Blue, either Cooper Murphy or I will tell you all about it.

Sunday Selfies Reminder

Cat4-001Tomorrow is that day when you give your human the day off and snap your own photo. I am so happy that you all continue to enjoy, join and support our weekly blog hop. Tomorrow your guest host will be the kitty we are now sponsoring at PAWS Connecticut. She’s a darling calico. I really hope you will return and meet her. She just may be the kitty you have been looking for to join your family.

See y’all tomorrow.

 

screen-shot-2016-09-18-at-11-12-00-pm

 

FIONA AGAIN & FILL-INS

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #19

It’s time for this fun hop brought to you by 15 And Meowing‘s Ellen and McGuffy’s Reader’s Annie. Ellen and Annie each select two phrases for participants to complete. Ellen’s are always numbers 1 and 2. And Annie selects numbers 3 and 4. You can join the hop by adding your link on Annie’s blog.

Friendly Fill-Ins

 

Here are this week’s phrases. My completions are in teal italics.

1. Something healthy I do daily is pet the Kitties Blue. In fact, Fiona is on my lap right now getting lots of loving strokes. Of course, if her daddy were at home, she’d shun me for him. And, as usual, Mauricio is trying to horn in. 

2. Something unhealthy I do daily is drink one or two cans of Diet Coke®. It is my caffeine of choice as I totally dislike coffee.

3. This Summer, was too, too HOT with more days in our city above 90 degrees than previously recorded. I do not tolerate the heat well and am tired of being sopping wet all the time.

4. This Autumn, I hope we have decent enough weather to cycle more. With the rain and heat of this summer, we were unable to get out as often as we usually do. 

This week’s fill-ins did not lend themselves to talking much about Kitties Blue. But as I did mention Fiona, she gets to have her photo (for the third consecutive day) as part of this post. She was enjoying yet another nap in a sunpuddle on the catio.

 

Fill-Ins

 

Wow, look at those long legs and precious toesies! I think the angle of her head makes this an exceptionally cute pose. You may now “squeee.”

As Fiona is here again today, I’d like to take another opportunity to thank everyone for keeping our little girl in your purrs and prayers. She’s a fighter…when she’s not napping!

Tomorrow is Athena’s Caturday Art Blog Hop. We’ll be participating with some birthday art. Don’t forget to drop in to find out who will be celebrating.

FROWNING FELINE FIONA

 

Frowning Fiona in mosaic.

 

Yes, I do look as if I am frowning in my photo, but I was just concentrating. I had my eyes trained on the bird feeder just outside the catio. Every perch was filled, and birdies were waiting in the nearby tree for their turn at the seed. I didn’t even want to blink for fear of missing something. My dad took advantage of my distracted state and snapped this photo.

To create the art, Mom went to Dreamscope again. She says they have so many cool filters that she just couldn’t help herself. She tried four different looks, but this was her favorite. (She’ll post at least one of the others on Instagram.) She used the mosaic filter on this. After using Dreamscope, Mom used Picasa to blur the edges and add the border.

Fiona on the catio frowning at the birds.Here’s the original photo. We’re entering the mosaic version in Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s Caturday Art Blog Hop. We enter this every week and encourage you to give it a try. If you’d like to enter some art of your own or just check out the other submissions, click on Athena’s badge.

So, you know what tomorrow is…that’s right, our Sunday Selfies Blog Hop. None of us have come forward to volunteer to be your host. Mom, however, has promised it won’t be Mauricio. Allie voiced her opinion that he should be featured everyday. He totally agrees, further proving that he is a blog hog. MOUSES!

Cat4-001Anyhoo, all of us Kitties Blue hope to see lots of you tomorrow for the hop. We’ll surprise you with the host. Giulietta got furminated and brushed yesterday so she’s all nice and floofy. Maybe I can convince her to do a selfie. If anyone can, it will be me. I can use the power of suggestion and whisper in her ear while we’re snuggling. Cross your paws it works!

Purrs and paw-pats, Fiona

LISBETH’S BLUE PERIOD

 Feeling Blue

LISBETH'S BLUE PERIOD

 

Lisbeth is the subject of our submission to Athena and Marie’s Caturday Art Blog Hop. I used three different photo editing programs to create our work of art. The first was PicMonkey where I created a double exposure by adding a photo of a white and blue columbine to Lisbeth’s photo. In the same program I added the Dark Edges effect in blue. The flower border was added using piZap and the thin frame using Picasa.

 

Lisbeth's Blue Period

Here’s the original photo of Lisbeth enjoying a nap in a sunpuddle on the catio. To join the Caturday Art Blog Hop or view the other submissions, click on Athena and Marie’s badge.

Book Winner

Tomorrow I will announce the winner of the book, Simon’s Cat Off to the Vet.

Sunday Selfies

Cat4-001We’ll be hosting our blog hop tomorrow. We are not certain who will be representing Kitties Blue, but we may have a two-fur photo. Submissions were down a bit last week. We invite all anipals, regardless of species, to join us. If you don’t blog on Sundays, you can link to Facebook. And please invite all your friends.

TORTIE TUESDAY: “SUMMERTIME…

and the livin’ is easy.”

TORTIE TUESDAY SUMMERTIME

“Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high.”* Oops, no fish or cotton here…just Calista Jo enjoying the Catio and perhaps dreaming of fish. Calista finds the best spot on the Catio on these hot and humid summertime days to be on the table. It is located directly beneath one of the ceiling fans and is the ideal spot to feel the cool breeze ruffling her belly furs. And if she needs a little pick-me-up, the catnip plant is in the pot right behind her. The nip looks a little worse for the wear after both Lisbeth and Mauricio crawled through the center of it and broke off several stems. No harm, though, as it was dried and added to their stash in the freezer.

C.J. looks a little dazed by the heat, but she merely was trying to avoid making eye contact with the pesky photographer. Whenever she gets too hot she comes in and camps out in the bedroom with the air conditioning. She may be the baby, but she’s no dummy!

Patriotic Pets Contest

Mauricio would like to thank everyone who has “admired” him and sent him “hollers” in the Patriotic Pets Photo Contest being sponsored by Just4MyPet.com. He remains the only cat in the contest, which is open for 16 more days. If you didn’t see him in his Independence Day stars and stripes attire and/or haven’t voted for him by giving him a “thumbs up,”  please click on SnapYeti to do so. When we last checked, just before bedtime Monday night, Mau was in first place with 20 “thumbs up.”

If we should win anything, it will be part of a giveaway on our upcoming second blogoversary on July 21.

Brofur Bailey’s Birthday

Honorary Bailey Blue

Honorary Bailey Blue

The kitties’ honorary brofur, Bailey Boat Cat, will be celebrating his third birthday on Wednesday, July 9. He is holding a raffle with proceeds going to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Last year he raised £100. This year his goal is £300. When I check on Monday in the early evening, he was at 77 percent. The raffle is for a Critters life vest or one of five pawtographed copies of his book, Bailey Boat Cat: Adventures of a Feline Afloat, which we reviewed here: “Brofur Bailey Featured as Caturday Art.”

We will feature Bailey in our Wordless Wednesday post. And should we be lucky enough to win a copy of his book, it too will be part of our blogoversary giveaway, as we already have our own pawtographed copy.

* Lyrics from “Summertime” by George Gershwin.