Other People’s Abys – Another Good Weekend for the Abys

Abyfriend Meg (Cousin Taz’s mom) reported some excellent news from the Burmilla/Empire CFA show in Lebanon, PA, this past weekend about the outstanding success Abys had at the show (where there were at least some Abys actually entered).

In Championship, Abycastle Midnight in Paris, a dark, handsome fellow with bedroom eyes, made all 12 finals and was one of the highest scoring cats for the weekend. Congratulations to Lauren Castle, Gary Hoffman, and Chris Giammarinao. (We were benched next to Paris at the New Hampshire show.)

In an extremely competitive Premiership class, a new Aby Tag Team emerged! The racy, elegant blue, GP Zehnder Roger Vivier of NuDawz made 11 of 12 finals, including three Best Cat wins and the colorful, refined red half of the team, GP Anubis Taz Mania, made 10 of 12 (including a Best Cat win). Most Premiership finals had not one but two Abys and two had them First and Second Best Cat. (Just like Jacoby and Taz did at the New Hampshire show!)

What the show proved was that, when given a choice between two virtually equal, fine examples of the Abyssinian breed, judges are able to see their way clear to using both and to using them high. The three cats shown are slightly differing versions of the 100 points the standard represents but all three are A+.

All of the Abys there did have a couple things in common…

All were colorful and all had excellent ticking. Paris has a lush, springy coat with lots of very black ticking. A number of judges commented on Roger’s amazing patina. One of Taz’s strongest suits is his richly colored, well-ticked coat. All also had great eyes.

Speaking of eyes; Chris & Deb Muratore had a gorgeous little ruddy boy in the Kitten Class, Instincts Alcatraz. He is elegance personified. He was only there on Saturday, however, and, because he was teething and has not been shown much, he was a bit frightened and not totally on his game.

I fell hard for him, however, and I know we’ll be seeing a lot of him in the future. He expressed an interest in adding a “last name.”

Chris G & I are happy to extend our congratulations to Monica, Sue, Seth & Lorna and we know they do the same.

Go Abys!!!

Other People’s Abys: The trip I SHOULD have taken

Next weekend is both my birthday and my friend (and Jacoby’s breeder) Sherry’s birthday weekend. Coincidentally, up in Fredericton, where Sherry lives, next weekend there’s big ACFA cat show scheduled. I really wanted to bring Jake to that show…but fate consipred it was just not in the cards for this year.

It got a great write-up in the Fredericton newspaper (but you have to actually subscribe to the paper to read its articles online), and I also found this charming video of Sherry explaining the cat show last year to local celebrity Charles Leblanc:

Of course, while I wanted to see Sherry, and also our friend Kim, and Jake’s relatives Clancy and Finnegan, the main reason I wanted to go up there was so Jake and his brother Dillin could have a little littermate reunion.

4xGrCh Pellburn Johnny Dillinger, Jake’s brother, was Best Cat for ACFA Eastern Canada Region for the 2011 show season! What an achievement!

We’d also have been able to see Jake’s (non-littermate) brother, Buddy Guy, who shares his fondness for dressing up.

There’s more information on the Abyssinian Cat Club on Facebook. If you’re anywhere near New Brunswick next weekend, you’ve got to go to Fredericton.

*Sigh* Wish I could…well…as we’re so fond of saying in Boston, there’s always NEXT year!

Other People’s Abys: Abys and Tiaras (Fashion Friday Extra)

You need to check out Abyfriend Julie’s newest creation, modeled, of course, by Cousin Toki:

Princess Tiara with Swarovski crystals and sequins

Made of wire, silver trim, and horsehair mesh, with iridescent sequins and swarovski crystals. Ribbon tie in the back and elastic under chin to secure to head. Specially shaped for a cat’s head.

Awww…! Isn’t Cousin Toki a pretty princess? It kind of goes along with what Meg and I were saying about Cousin Taz’s metrosexuality at the show in Hampshire a couple of weekends ago…we were calling him the Ryan Seacrest of Abyssinians…

…Even funnier, when I Googled “I’m a pretty, pretty princess,” I found <a href="this:

I guess Abys & Tiaras is kind of a thing?

Aby-a-Day – May 15: Alphabetical Privilege (Cartoon Tuesday)

This cartoon is the result of Meg and I rehashing the show least weekend.

I admit that my favourite part of the concept was the challenge of drawing Cousin Taz.

(Click cartoon to embiggen, or you can view all cartoons in Slideshow mode on Flickr.)

Other People’s Abys: Cover Story

Check out this photo of Cousin Taz and Specialty Judge Lorraine Rivard from yesterday’s Concord Monitor:

Take a good look at #131 there in the background. That’s Jacoby…I guess he didn’t realise there was a camera on him.

There’s also a really good photo of Richard from Chanan at work:

As Meg wrote to the Aby list:

I have to admit I was pretty thrilled & excited at the Seacoast Cat Club CFA show in Concord, NH this past weekend. This is the same show where my little, red, barely adult boy, Taz Mania, last year went from Open to Grand. This year, in a highly competitive Premiership class (that included four Abys), Taz made every final and was the second highest scoring cat in Premiership [this weekend] behind the (incredible) British Shorthair [blue-cream tortie] spay. One judge gave the two Aby GPs (the other one being GP Pellburn Jacoby Stealin’ Home, a glorious ruddy boy) Best and 2nd Best Cat. Taz even made the front page of the Concord Monitor.

(Officially) GC, GP Anubis Taz Mania is sired by GC Bojangles Australia of Instincts and his dam is GC Etochat Canada Post of Anubis DM. He is co-owned with his “grandmother” Chris Giammarinaro. He is one of my litter of three red Grands, the other two being GC, RW Anubis Lew Zealand and GC Anubis Kuki Airani (aka Ginger).

Taz is most of all my sweetheart. His heart is as richly gold as his coat.

Thanks, Meg, for the heads up!

Aby-a-Day – May 5: Grand slam

As it turns out, the other Grand Premier entered in the show? Is my friend Meg’s Taz! You may remember that at the first CFA show Jacoby went to in Milford last year, we met his two little red/sorrel cousins, Anubis Lew Zealand and Anubis Taz Mania. Well, little cousin Taz is all grown up and he’s already a Grand Premier!

So he was Jake’s “direct competition” today, and he did really well. There were two other ruddies in Premiership, and Jake took Best of Colour in every ring but one. When it came to Best of Breed, Jake was consistently awarded second, after Taz. And Taz actually made all six finals today, too!

It was actually quite funny. In the first Premiership final, Taz placed seventh. In the next final, he placed sixth. Then, after the third final, he and Meg came back with a fifth place rosette from one of the Specialty judges. Well, we joked, at least he’s moving in the right direction.

I watched Taz’s next final, and I said, “well, he’s going to get fourth place in this one, obviously.” And he actually did get fourth place from that judge! So when he was called into the next ring’s final, I said I was going to laugh so hard if Taz took third.

And he was Third Best Cat in Premiership in that ring!

Then we got to the last ring. Every Aby in our little block (which included Stan from Jazzy Abys, Chris and Debbie from Instincts, and Lauren from Abycastle) had won a rosette in at least one final…everyone but Jake. “Hey,” I said, “we need a little rosette lovin’ over here on the end!”

We were reminded of the last CFA show when Jake finally Granded…in the last ring of the second day of the show when the finals of the last Premiership ring were announced…and Jake was among the cats called! And Taz was also in the finals of that Specialty ring judged by Russell Webb. This was going to be interesting!

Of course, I would have been happy to get even 10th Best Cat, because at least Jake had finalled. But Russell kept giving out ribbons…to the Havana, to the Fold, to the Rex…until he was down to just a blue-point Siamese…and Jake and Taz. And then he announced that the Siamese was his 3rd Best Cat in Premiership.

And we were down to the two Abyssinians.

In the end, Jake was 2nd Best Cat in Premiership and Taz was Best Cat in Premiership.

And Jake was completely happy with that. He was tired and ready to call it a day, anyway. But Meg said that, just like in Groton, at the last minute Jacoby stole home!

Aby-a-Day – April 13: How can today be unlucky? (Friday Flashback)

Three years ago tomorrow, three little kittens were born.

That’s right! Jacoby’s birthday is tomorrow!

Look at the tiny toes!

Here they are with their mom, Instincts Santa Catalina. Sadly, their father, Scar, died before they were born.

There were two boys and one girl.

Sherry picked Jacoby out just for me.

His brother Dillin is a Grand Champion who has sired several kittens. His sister Scarlett, sadly, died from Feline Leukemia.

This is Jake and Scarlett (Jake’s the one on the right, using his sister as a pillow…of course) together. I would really like to go up to New Brunswick to go to a cat show and hang out with Sherry and Hinka and Kim. I wonder if Jake would recognise his littermate, brothers and mother?

(All photos by Sherry Pellerin, Pellburn Abyssinians)

Aby-a-Day – March 25: Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone…

Two weeks ago, I went to Baltimore to visit my sister. I had originally wanted to bring Jacoby with me so we could go to the Crab and Mallet CFA show, but we ended up going to the TICA show in Providence the previous weekend.

I’ve left Jake alone before, but we haven’t done a lot of travelling in the three years since he’s lived with us, and I’m pretty sure that this was the very first time I left him alone but my husband stayed home. Apparently, Jake missed me. A lot.

According to my husband, the first two days I was gone, he waited by the door for me.

He’d get all excited when he heard someone at the door, but then, when Jake saw it was only my husband and I wasn’t there, too, he’d deflate like a day-old latex balloon. “Oh, it’s you” was his basic reaction.

By Sunday, he’d given up all hope that I would ever dome home. He slept most of the day on Sunday.

I tried to FaceTime him on Sunday night…he went in the bedroom and looked for me, but he didn’t connect my voice coming from the phone to looking at me on the phone.

He was so happy when the front door opened on Monday afternoon and I was behind it! He was suspicious about the smells that were on my bags, though. I told him those were the scents of his cousins…

…Towson…

…and Spike!

We did go to the Crab and Mallet show on Sunday afternoon as spectators, just wait til you see who I met at the show!

Cousin Toki…on Failblog? Wait…what?

Not sure how this happened. Definitely a “good news/bad news” sort of thing: cousin Toki was featured on Failblog: Poorly Dressed yesterday.

Poorly dressed? Really? Considering Toki dresses better than most people at your average strip mall, I really wonder how, exactly, he is “poorly dressed.” And, word of warning, some of the comments on that Failblog entry are pretty crass; not exactly NC-17, but they’re definitely in “Two and a Half Men” territory. There is one, though, that calls him “Steve Jobs, reborn” which makes up for the rude ones.

But, yay, more international exposure? Even bad publicity is at least publicity? Right?

Other People’s Abys – More Abys in Cars

Oh, my, what have I started?

Kim, the person who belongs to Jacoby’s Uncle Clancy and his cousin Finn, writes:

So, of course I have traveling pics of my boys, too LOL!
Finnegan much prefers to be out of his carrier in the car – he’s on lock down until we hit the highway for most trips – because he loves to gawk out the windows and freak out the cars passing us. Passengers will look over and see a ruddy aby screaming at them, because you just know he’s talking the entire time.

Clancy, however, will snuggle down and chill in the kitty cube that always travels with him – he’s an awesome car passenger… silent and most times asleep within 20 minutes!

I wish Jake took after his uncle and not his cousin! As I’ve posted in the past, he feels the need to comment on every single thing he sees and feels…

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

Christmas is a time for families, and Jacoby’s family is very into the holiday spirit!

Just look at Uncle Clancy’s festive nails!

And here is Clancy with Santa…

Of course, Cousin Finn gets to spend some facetime with the fat man, too. I need to take Jake to get his photo with Santa next year! As it turns out, Angell Memorial has an annual Santa photo fundraiser, which, somehow, I didn’t know about until…December 13. Sigh. Well, as we say in Boston, “there’s always next year!”

Cousin Toki has a union suit to keep him warm on winter adventures. We haven’t had any snow since that freak storm at Halloween, but it’s been chilly here in the northeast.

Of course, Toki also has plenty of festive garb.

How adorable is this embroidered wool holiday hood!?

I really want to get one for Jake…next year, perhaps. He has enough presents this year! Including some more clothing…

…he just doesn’t know that, yet.

Other People’s Abys – Kittens inside and out

I’m on a couple of Abyssinian mailing lists, and one of these is very active and very international. The listmembers also share a lot of really fascinating photographs.

Susan Graham of Aksum Abyssinians shared these x-rays and photos of the litters of two sister Abys, Aksum Tiny Dancer, a chocolate, and Aksum Cheyenne of Blue River, a blue. The father of both these litters, as it happens, is the same male, Vivid V’Lane of Spiritcat, so all the kittens are cousins.

From Susan’s email: Here’s the photo of Dancer’s x-ray (above photo with drawings of where the kittens are, below photo without the drawings). And also the very first photo of Dancer’s fourth and last litter of kittens that I’m publishing. I’m pretty sure they are: ruddy male, ruddy female, chocolate female. Yes, the x-rays have been correct every time so far.

Here is another recent x-ray we got done, on Dancer’s younger full sister Cheyenne, who also recently had kittens. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get one of them out fast enough, the kitten was breach and she didn’t make it. Cheyenne is a blue and the sire has produced blues, but she had three ruddy females, go figure! Anyway, here is the x-ray and it’s more like what you really see since a picture of it was taken with a better camera.

With Cheyenne, there were three kittens and two survived. All three were/are ruddy females. The two ruddy females are doing great! One of them had one eye open yesterday and I took a picture. The other eye opened today. They are so CUTE!! I adore kittens!!

With Dancer, there were three kittens and all three did fine. Dancer and Cheyenne are full sisters, but Dancer is a chocolate carrying cinnamon and dilute and Cheyenne is a blue (not sure if she carries chocolate or not yet, need to color test I suppose, but probably won’t because she is also a B blood type, ugghhh…). We’ll test Cheyenne’s and Dancer’s kittens instead in about three weeks, for blood type and color.

Between the two litters (born about a week apart, with Dancer now caring for all five), there are four ruddies (one male, three female) and one chocolate female. Talk about crowded! LOL!! Dancer is a little girl, which is why I named her Tiny Dancer. She looks a bit overwhelmed, poor girl, but she just purrs away, she is such a great mom!

I just find it so incredibly cool to see x-rays of unborn kittens and then photographs of the same kittens after they’re born.

Susan also posted x-rays of another of her pregnant females, Alexy Blue Cream Sky of Aksum, a blue-cream torbie.

There are only two kittens in Sky’s belly. Here’s how she looks on the outside:

Isn’t she lovely? Blue-cream Abys aren’t recognised in CFA, and they’re more common in Europe; Susan is one of the few breeders in the US breeding sex-linked reds and torbies (I say “torbies” rather than “torties,” since all Abys are, technically, tabbies). You can see the subtle patching of blue and cream in these photos of Sky. It’s said that torties are “crazy,” perhaps because of the mosaic genetics that produces their motley coat. We all know what Abyssinians are like…I wonder if a torbie Aby is a special kind of crazy?

One more interesting little thing I discovered: Dancer’s paternal great-grandfather was Paranor’s Panamaniac of Devande. Paranor’s Panamaniac of Devande is also Jacoby’s maternal great-grandfather! Once again, the Aby world is a small one!

Clancy and Finnegan – Abys for all seasons

Sherry sent me this wonderful photo of two Abys, Clancy and Finnegan, in their autumn coats…aren’t they handsome?

Clancy (the red/sorrel) is a cat of all seasons…he’s got an outfit for any kind of weather!

And, as a matter of fact, Clancy is Jacoby’s uncle! Clancy’s father is Haro’s Jake of Eszencia, aka TJ, Jake’s grandfather (Scar and Clancy are half-brothers)! Finnegan is also from Eszencia, but he has different parents from Clancy.

Too Cute Kittens – All in the Family

I learned a very interesting fact this weekend at the cat show. The litter of Aby kittens, including the adorable runt, Tiny Dancer, featured on the Animal Planet show Too Cute Kittens…are Instincts kittens!

Jacoby’s mother Catalina is also an Instincts Aby…so Jacoby and Tiny Dancer are at least related by cattery! I had no idea that I actually knew the breeders and the cattery the (several) times I watched the show!

Incredible, isn’t it? I wonder why they don’t mention the cattery names on the show? Still, I have to say, it was a lot more fun finding this out during the last Premiership judging at the show.

A Grand Day for Abys

I got this email from Sherry, Jacoby’s breeder, tonight:

Just wanted to share some great news with you. This weekend, I attended Ellie’s 2-day CCA Show in Halifax, NS. I brought Pellburn Buddy Guy Slippin’ In (because he already had a fair amount of Grand Points), and his niece, Cassia Alexandrina, Dillin and Ginger’s daughter (Ginger’s breeding replacement now that she’s spayed). Cassia earned her Champioinship on Saturday, and both got some finals and Grand Points, although not enough for Buddy Guy to Grand, but there is much better news!

Dillin (Pellburn Johnny Dillinger, son of Scar (who you all knew) and Instincts Catalina (from Chris G.)) stayed home for the weekend, for once. But some of his relations sure had a great weekend! His sons Eszencia Diego and Dylan (mother is Hinka’s Eszencia Song-of-the-Siren Moon) also attended the CCA show. On Sunday, Diego finished 3rd Best Cat in Show and Dylan finished Best Premier in Show AND just a couple of points shy of Granding! Diego also did awesome at a big CFA show in New Jersey this summer

But on the very same day, far far away in Groton, CT, Dillin’s brother Pellburn Jacoby Stealin’ Home (Jake), became a Grand Premier at his 3rd CFA show as a Premier! As you can read in his mom Coco’s “The Daily Abyssinian” blog, it was a real nail biter

Congratulations to Diego, Dylan, and Jake!!

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, Buddy Guy won Runner-Up for Best Costumed Cat, he was “The Buddy Guy” and I was “Mustang Sally” LOL.

If you look at the background of her photo, you can see why she and Buddy Guy are wearing polka dots!

News from TICA: Abyssinian Claims Title As The World’s Best Cat For 2010-2011 Show Season

AbyFriend Katscan alerted me to this post on the TICA blog: Abyssinian Claims Title As The World’s Best Cat For 2010-2011 Show Season.

World’s BEST Cat, you guys. Best. Cat. ON THE PLANET. An Abyssinian.

But then, we already knew that, amirite?

His name is Abyfelis Ermès, bred and owned by Patricia Jean-Jean from France, and he’s just a little younger than Jacoby. Wonder if the Pouponette gang know him?

But here’s a little fun. If you’ve read a few of my posts, you know how I always say that all Abys are related. So…I randomly chose one of Ermès’ eight great-grandparents: Thamos Johnny B Good of Baton Rouge. I picked him (he’s Ermès’ mother’s father’s father) because he was the lone Norwegian cat in amongst seven French and German Abys.

Well, One of Johnny’s great-grandfathers (his mother’s mother’s father) was none other than Tailsend Satchel! And we know all about Tailsend, and Satchel, don’t we? Satch, as he was called, went to live in Finland…and, well, there you have it. From Canada to Finland to Norway to France.

Two of Satchel’s great-grandparents were Quin-Jo’s Red’n Reddy and Shomra’s Rusty Nail, who are both Jake’s mother Catalina’s paternal great-grandmother’s parents’ ancestors; Shomra’s Orion was Rusty Nail’s great-grandson, and Catsylvania’s Margarita of Shomra was Red’n Reddy’s great-great-granddaughter.

Ermès and Jake are also related through another great-grandparent, Des Entrechats Une Histoire, whose grandfather is Instincts Klein Bonaire, who is Jake’s great-great grandfather!

Amazing, isn’t it? I’m fascinated by this; it’s like the Kevin Bacon game, only with Abyssinians!

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

Sherry sent me an email in response to my swan song post the other day to tell me “Jake looks a lot like Buddy Guy in that 3rd pic, he is somewhere between Dillin and Buddy Guy in looks I think “

Buddy Guy (Gr.Ch. Pellburn Buddy Guy Slippin’ In) and Dillin (4x Gr.Ch. RW Pellburn Johnny Dillinger) are Jacoby’s full brothers; Buddy Guy was born 2 years before to Scar and Catalina, and Dillin is Jake’s littermate. Sherry says “Dillin is my breeding male, the wonderful surprise that was born after his dad Scar (the cat love of my life) escaped from the house and got killed on the road Dillin has intense colour, lots of coat, and is so affectionate, a trait he is passing on to his babies I am so grateful that he is a loverboy, just like his dad!“

Jake has all of the above, except for the cojones. Sherry and I hope to someday go to the same show with the brothers, and compare them side by side.

Like this:

Can you tell them apart? LOL

At the show in Mansfield, judge Roger Lawrence made an interesting observation about cats in Premiership vs the cats in Championship classes. Back in the “old days” (which in my mind, at least, equates to the late 70′s-early 80′s, when I first experienced the CFA, and it seems that definition tends to hold), cats entered in Premiership were the cats who weren’t “good enough” to be entered in the Championship classes. Their colour wasn’t quite perfect, or their ears were too big (or too small) or their noses were too short (or too long); basically, they weren’t good enough to be Champions but they were a little better than pet quality. However, he continued, today the Premiership rings are seeing cats that could easily be shown as Champions if they were not neutered or spayed. You could, he said, take any one of the cats in that show that were being shown as Premiers and put them up against the Champions and they would still be competitive. I suspect the reason is economics (not everyone can afford to keep an intact purebred cat, let alone breed and raise kittens) and – at least in the case of Abyssinians – litter size (Aby litters tend to be small; when you only have two or three kittens, it seems to me there’s more of a chance of a kitten being show quality than there would be in a litter of ten or twelve).

Jake could easily have been a Champion and a breeding male…but since I have neither the space nor the disposable income to breed (or the desire to live with an unneutered male cat), he’s neutered. He wasn’t neutered because he wasn’t “as good” as Dillin, he was just neutered because he was my cat rather than someone else’s.

At the last show in Groton, CT, after Jake was awarded ribbons in one ring, a woman cheered and then watched me collect him from the judging cage and followed me back to his cage. She said that she was so taken with him, and asked if he had any kittens. I had to smile at that; that was how I met Sherry and Scar back in 2006. My husband saw Scar in a ring, and followed Sherry back to her cage in the benching area because he was such an “awesome looking” cat. I told her that Jake is neutered and hasn’t any sons, but he does have nephews! I hope she does contact Sherry for a kitten. I’m glad I did!

Aby-a-Day – September 15: Are Jacoby and Sparkle Related?

After seeing a Somali up close and personal, it’s very easy to see that they are essentially Abyssinians with a long coat. And as I’ve often said, almost every Abyssinian is related to every other Abyssinian, if you go back far enough. But what if you took a random Abyssinian, say one from the East Coast, and a random Somali, say, one from California? Could you find a link between them?

(Pr. Pellburn Jacoby Stealin’ Home and G.Pr. Kimelot’s Toberone in Walter Hutzler’s final)

Let’s find out, shall we?

It just so happens that I have a random Abyssinian, our own Pellburn Jacoby Stealin’ Home, born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and (forgive me, I don’t know her full name) a random Somali, Tajhara‘s Sparkle, born in Temecula, California, USA.

(Pr. Pellburn Jacoby Stealin’ Home and G.Pr. Kimelot’s Toberone in Walter Hutzler’s final)

On the face of it, these two cats have about as little in common as possible: one’s a boy, one’s a female; one has short hair, one has long hair; and I don’t think there are two points on the continent that are farther apart than Fredericton and Temecula!

Sparkle’s mother was Tajhara’s Tina Turner, and Tina’s maternal great-grandmother (Sparkle’s great-great grandmother) was a red/sorrel Abyssinian named Tajhara’s Firecracker. Firecracker’s paternal great father was a cat called Phaulkon‘s Poetry in Motion, whose father was a cat with a name I recognised: Nepenthes Leo, who was born in March, 1976 and has 17 offspring known to ERoS. Another of Leo’s sons was an Abyssinian named Quin-Jo‘s Gatico, and from Gatico we go to his daughter, Quin-Jo’s Rosita, to her son, Quin-Jo’s Red’n Reddy (a Grand Champion red/sorrel and National winner born in November, 1984), to his son, Robert Red’n Reddy, to his son, Shomra’s Aristotle of Catsylvania, to his daughter, Margarita of Shomra, to her daughter, Shomra’s Tomahto (a red/sorrel), to her son, Shomra’s Right Off the Vine, to his son Ramkatz Ryan New Year (born January 1, 2003)…to Instincts Santa Catalina, Jake’s mother. So on Sparkle’s mother’s side is an Aby who is also on Jake’s mother’s side, meaning that Sparkle the Somali and Jake the Abyssinian are distantly related! That’s not the only link between Sparkle and Jake, either: Another cat, Badfinger’s Bumble Bee of Catknapp, appears in both their pedigrees as well.

(Toby in Russell Webb’s ring)

Sparkle’s father, Tajhara’s Miles Davis, comes from an older line of Somalis than does Sparkle’s mother, but I did find a link eventually. I had to go back to 1962 and Ring’s Abi Sheba of Selene, whose daughter was Ring’s Sheba of Van Dyke. From Sheba, we go → Van Dyke’s Abi Farouk → Van Dyke’s Abi Kariba → Van Dyke’s Abi Ayesha → Van Dyke’s Abi Abdel of Barba → Van Dyke’s Abi Amberina → Van Dyke’s Abi Ashley → Van Dyke’s Lakeshore Missy → Van Dyke’s Abi Antonia of Haro → Haro’s Abi Alpha → Haro’s Ginger Snap of Pellburn…to Jake’s dad, Scar.

Ring’s Abi Sheba of Selene also had a son, Van Dyke’s Abi Abdullah, and from him we go → Alvi’s Amore of Shorehouse (an Aby variant, which I’m not sure but think may mean he had long hair) → Alvi’s Chimo of Lolirand (who is listed as a Somali) → Falconsview Ezekiel of J.R.R. (a Canadian Somali!) → J.R.R.’s Shyboy of Lynn-Lee (a shy Aby, apparently…didn’t know those existed!) → Lynn-Lee’s Desert Fox → Lynn-Lee’s Christmas Cactus of Seguin (born Dec. 24, 1980) → Lynn-Lee’s Strawberry Shortcake (it was the 80′s) → Lynn-Lee’s Firefly → Lynn-Lee Dances With Wolves of Tadofa (born January 1991) → Tadofa Claim Jumper of Gunsmoke → Gunsmoke’s Amaretto of Tajhara, who was Sparkle’s father Miles Davis’ mother.

(Jake and Toby with Walter Hutzler again)

But there you have it: Sparkle and Jake are distantly related on both sides of their families! Man, I love stuff like this.

(Jake in Gene Darrah’s ring)

Sparkle can also trace back to the infamous Grand Champion and Distinguised Merit Abyssinian Bastis Zackariah through Phaulkon’s Poetry in Motion, Firecracker’s paternal great-grandfather. Zackariah is probably the most prolific Abyssinian recorded. He has 73 offspring known to ERoS, and he probably had many, many more kittens than that. Most modern Abys can trace back to him (he’s in Jake’s pedigree as well, on his father’s side), and apparently so can a lot of Somalis!

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(Toby with Russell Webb again)

I have actually bought several of the old CFA Yearbooks with feature articles about Somalis and Abyssinians in them and I have a scanning project planned. In these fantastic tomes (and I do mean “tomes;” these things are big and heavy!) are photos of a lot of these cats (or at least cats from the same catteries) whose names you see above. That’s the most fascinating thing to me…you can see these ancestors! I haven’t found a source for these online, apart from Karen Lawrence’s Abyssinian Historical Review (which is an incredible resource). I found photos of two more of Jake’s forefathers, Gr.Ch. and Regional Winner Blybos St. Lawrence of Instincts and Gr.Ch. and National Winner Instincts Klein Bonaire, who are probably also a part of our cousin Ataraxia Nantucket of Instincts (Toki)‘s pedigree!

The Aby world is a small one indeed!

It’s Thursday, and the results are in!

I checked CFA’s Herman Online today, and I had the points figured pretty closely. The partial points do round up or down, but they don’t add.

So, Jacoby has 66 points. 9 more, and he’ll be a Grand Premier. So far this show season (CFA show years run from May 1 – April 30), 13 Abys have Granded, including Jake’s two cousins Lew Zealand and Taz Mania. 67 Abys Granded last show season, including another of Jake’s cousins, Toki Nantucket.

I guess it runs in the family!

Can a cat named Jacoby go to a “Damn Yankees” cat show?

Jacoby and I are going to another cat show this weekend. It’s the Damn Yankees Cat Club’s 2-day CFA allbreed show in Groton, CT. I’m amused that the name of the sponsoring cat club is “Damn Yankees,” but since Groton is east of the Connecticut River, I think it’ll be okay.

However, speaking of cat shows, I recently got this email from Sherry (Jake’s breeder):

Just wanted to share the good news with you about the 2-day ACFA show in Parrsboro, NS.

I had 4 cats with me:
- Dillin [Pellburn Johnny Dillinger, Jake's brother and littermate], Grand Champion in the Cat class,
- Jasmine, Catalina [Instincts Santa Catalina of Pellburn, Jake's mother] and Buddy Guy’s daughter born May 11, 2010 in the Alter class (aka Falafel – going to her new home at the end of the month)
- Koto (Ginger and Dillin’s boy) in the Kitten class (his brother Katana came along to keep him company) [Jake's nephews!]

Koto got in all 8 finals out of 12 kittens, although usually around the middle of the pack. He was rather nervous. It’s too bad I had not entered his brother Katana instead as he, as it turns out, is far more comfortable with new situations.

This was Jasmine’s 3rd show and she earned the Winner’s ribbons and finals she needed to Grand. In ACFA, they need 16 Winner’s ribbons plus 6 Finals, 2 of which must be top 5 Allbreed (this 2 top 5 Allbreed rule only applies to Alters which can make it difficult for some to ever Grand). There were only 5 Rings at the Dartmouth and Fredericton shows, so she needed 6 more Rings after those shows.

In ACFA there are 4 levels of Grand Champion. Once a Cat or Alter reaches Grand, they compete against other Grands for points, one point for each Grand they beat in a Ring, max of 5 points per Ring. Once they reach Quadruple Grand, they get the title of “Supreme Grand Champion”. Dillin earned his Grand last year in Fredericton, and this weekend in Parrsboro, earned the remaining points need to QUADRUPLE! YAY! BTW, Scar’s dad TJ is a Quadruple Grand too [Scar is Pellburn Scarface Cat Pacino, Jake's father, and TJ is Haro's Jake of Eszencia, Jake's grandfather - the name Jake kind of runs in the family] Oh yeah, Dillin also ended up 2nd Best Cat in Show for the 2 days

We attended the Regional Awards Saturday night where Dillin was Best Cat for the 2010-2011 Show Season – he got a super big purple and black rosette

I so want to bring Dillin to a CFA show in New England!

Wouldn’t that be fun? I wonder if Jake would remember his brother? Sherry and I went to two shows together when I had Gun-Hee and she had Scar, so father and son were reunited. But we haven’t managed to be at the same show since 2007. Still, I’m sure we’ll manage it at some point. The Aby world just isn’t that vast!