The weekend before last, Björn, Kalle and I went to the aby-aSweden Game 2018 here in Skövde. I’m not really much of a gamer, but I went along anyway, figuring there’d be something interesting there. And I was right! The first thing we saw was a huge display of Wacom tablets. I do have one, but I find it very difficult to draw on it as I find the disconnect between drawing on the table and looking at the computer screen difficult. But they also had the Wacom MobileStudio Pro tablets, the type where you draw directly on the screen, available to play with. They were also holding a Spiderman-drawing contest…so the drawing above is what came of that combination. I know it’s not up to my usual standards…but it was drawn in under an hour whilst standing up and using an unfamiliar device, so I can’t beat myself up too much about it.
But I actually found an intriguing came to play as well: Cateau. Cateau, made by a company based right here in Skövde, is an award-winning choose-your-own-adventure type game that involves walking around in Paris making friends with outdoor cats you meet along the way. Sadly, though, it’s only playable on PCs and I don’t know if they’re going to create a Mac or iOS version. They had a sheet of paper where people who tried out the game could “leave a cat,” so of course I had to sketch a quick Jacoby. There are a lot of other players who are good at drawing cats, though!
Today is National Cat Day in the States…and, having no ideas for a post today, I thought I’d just go round and take photos of the cats being themselves, with the Hipstamatic camera.
Alfred, napping on the sofa next to me, was the first.
Start with what’s close at hand, right?
Freddy was cool with whatever…
Next we have Jacoby, sleeping on our bed.
Hipstamatic makes that fun.
A lot of fun.
Next, we have Izaak in the kitchen.
He’s so much more food-oriented than Logan…
Freddy and Lorelai joined us in the kitchen.
Rory was so cute today…
She is so pretty.
And…just a little bit goofy.
Angel, meanwhile, was up in the cubby part of the cat tree.
She really loves it in there.
But it’s one of the few places in the world where she feels safe and secure.
Angel is an amazingly strong girlcat.
And we’re here again. Up 3-1 after two epic games in Los Angeles. Tonight could be the night, but if not, we go back to Fenway where we will win at home. Just as we did five years ago, we all put on our Red Sox gear to cheer the Sox on. I posed everyone with BallGuy™, my Red Sox mascot I got in 2004, and who went to the “Who’s your daddy game at Yankee Stadium.
When I got the kitty Red Sox things out and dressed Jacoby, he was all, “Oh, this again? Right, okay.”
“Just put me where you want me, and tell me where to look. I got this.”
He is so awesome. I won’t ever have a cat quite like him.
Jersey, socks, hat…no prob.
Alfred…not so much.
You may remember that Alfred doesn’t like wearing clothes, even if they keep him warm.
You think the jacket is bad? Freddy absolutely hated the hat.
The fact that I got him to pose at all is a miracle.
Lorelai, on the other hand, was fine with wearing a shirt.
The hat, however…
…not so much.
I think she looks intent on getting an errant foul ball, though.
The Red Sox fleece jacket was the best I could manage with Angel.
Still, she posed well with BallGuy.
Then we have Izaak.
He didn’t mind the T-shirt, but he hated the hat.
I managed to get a few shots before he got rid of it.
GO RED SOX! BEAT LA!
Lorelai and Izaak love the top of the cat tree.
There’s something about the danger of being so high that they can’t resist.
Which of course means they feel the need to fight up there.
Treetop fights are pretty funny.
I mean, what are they fighting for? To knock the other one out of the tree? One is in the house, sure…but the other one is at the top.
So what’s the actual conflict?
I have no idea…but it’s a lot of fun to watch them work it out.
You may recall my post a couple of weeks ago, remembering the last time the Red Sox were in the the World Series in 2013. Well, the good news is, the Red Sox are in the World Series against the LA Dodgers, and they are up 2-0!
I had this one awesome shot of Jake looking at the TV when they were showing the Prudential Building with “GO SOX” spelled out in the lighted windows. The shot was great…the photo, not so much. The flash went off, and the photo…sucks.
So, I thought I would try to fix it using Photoshop. First I tried to fix the flashlight eyes; they are hard to fix when they are really shining, but I did my best using a soft black brush, the band-aid tool, and the rubber stamp. Then, I needed to fix the Pru. I went through photos I had taken when I was down by Fenway earlier that evening. The Pru was lit up with red and blue lights…so I am pretty sure they were using an old shot of the building. So I went through my older photos and found one I took during the 2003 playoffs – that’s the one at the top of this post.
I tweaked the perspective on the building and adjusted the opacity and blended it in…and voilà! I’m not completely happy with Jake’s eyes, but I did manage to turn a crap photo into a much better and passable picture.
On one of our outdoor excursions, Lorelai and Izaak were very interested in the trees.
Rory actually managed to climb a tree! Two trees, in fact.
When she got up into the first tree, she was so proud of herself.
Zak tried…
…but ended up sharing Rory’s view from the ground level.
Then Rory conquered her second tree.
There was a moment where she contemplated climbing higher…
…Like, really considered it.
Fortunately, she decided to stay where she was and enjoy the view.
Which, admittedly, is pretty great on a warm autumn afternoon.
Zak tried to climb this tree, too, and join Rory up there…
…But again, he wasn’t as successful as she was.
Rory loved it up there.
Then she jumped down from that tree and tackled the biggest, tallest, deadest tree in our yard. It’s too big for me to get my arms around it, that’s how big it is.
Sadly, it is dying from Dutch Elm Disease; it didn’t have any leaves this year. As a matter of fact, they just cut it down this morning.
Zak really wanted to climb a tree like Rory. The fact that he tried so hard to climb that enormous tree was adorable. First, he studied it closely…
…Then he took a step back to size it up.
Rory gave it some thought, too…
…and then ran off to try out another tree instead.
Zak, of course, trundled along after her.
Rory was hilarious to watch, tackling every tree she could.
Zak…tried very hard. He never quite made it, though.
Remember when I posted this sketch? Well, my friend Teresa aksed me for a drawing for an upcoming issue of Cat Talk: “The theme for October is “Homecoming”…as in how to place cats, rehoming cats & those issues, etc…What I’m thinking is something with a cat moving to a new home.”
I remembered the unfinished sketch and sent it to her, asking if it would fit. She did, and so I finished it. I did the outlines in Procreate, and then the colouring and other details in Photoshop. I wish I could remember the original dialogue that I had in mind…but this works.
Almost every evening, Alfred comes for a cuddle with Björn.
Freddy sits right up next to Björn whilst he uses his laptop.
The thing is, he looks a right goon when he does it.
Of course, Freddy looks like a right goon most of the time. That’s just part of his charm.
Ultimately, he’s just a big lovable guy.
We love him so much.
Last weekend we enjoyed gorgeous weather, so I took Izaak and Lorelai out for some “being offleash” practice.
The main reason was, I wanted to check what that flash of red I could see out our window.
Turns out, someone had dumped their windowbox geraniums out onto the hill, and they were managing to survive on the dirt they were planted in.
They’re actually really pretty out there, and I hope they can survive, but I have a feeling that they won’t live past the first snow.
Rory especially loves to explore the outside world…to the point that it’s really hard for us to get out of our front door.
Rory also has to check out the rugbeater. Every. Single. Time. We go outside. She loves that thing.
After the rugbeater, we visited the sandbox/swings area that we visited before. But whilst we were there, we heard plaintive meowing.
Turns out, it was Alfred. He wanted to be out there, too…but after the last time we tried to let Freddy out off-leash, that was pretty much a non-starter.
Jacoby was just out there because he heard my voice.
Rory and Zak knew Jake and Freddy were up there…but I don’t think they cared, because they were running around outside.
Sometimes cats are so funny.
Clearly, Izaak thought that this was the best way to cuddle with Alfred. It doesn’t look either cuddly or comfortable for either party…but neither of them seemed to mind.
They worked out the comfort thing eventually, though.
Lorelai and Zak never have that problem. I guess it’s a size thing.
This morning, Facebook greeted me with a reminder of a post I made four years ago. I was challenged to post five photos of my cats, and I decided to post five group photos. Getting a photo of all the cats in the house together at the same time is harder than some might think. So, because of the reminder that Facebook sent me, I decided to post all the “family photos” I have been able to capture over the years.
The oldest is this, of Sigrid, Harri, and Patrick cuddled together on my sofa. This was taken in autumn 1997. It looks cuddly, but actually Sigrid and Tricky were sleeping there, and Harri decided to squeeze in between them. Still cute, though.
This is after I’d moved to Boston. Harri and Patrick had been joined by Tessie and Kylie. This is the first photo of all of them together.
This is my favourite photo of this group. I even used it as a Christmas card.
…And this would be the outtake of that photo…
This was Christmas 2006. Harri had died in August and we had just adopted Gun-Hee.
This photo is less posed, but more my favourite. Love Kylie’s arm!
Another photo of Gun-Hee with Patrick, Kylie and Tessie, this time all gathered on our bed.
This is another shot from that session, “arted up” in Photoshop.
One evening, all the cats lined up on the back of the sofa.
I had this shot…but Gun-Hee moved his head.
Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to replace Gun-Hee’s head and make this into a usable image.
This is another “art” composite photo. All of them were on the tree together, but this is multiple shots combined so each cat looks good.
Food and the kitchen is a great way to get everyone together. Here we have (anticlockwise) Jacoby, Angel, Tessie and Kylie.
However, they did have other motivations to gather together.
After we moved to Sweden, the kitchen was more a gathering point than ever. Here we have Alfred, Jake, Angel, Logan and Pyret.
And then, suddenly…our five cats became Jake, Freddy, Lorelai, Angel and Izaak.
A collection that was also easier to gather in the kitchen.
But they also gathered spontaneously on our bed! No Photoshop required.
Kalle captured these photos a few days ago.
Kalle has a lovechair/small sofa in his room, and the other day three cats decided it was the pefect napping spot.
Nothing to see here…just Alfred, Lorelai, Izaak…and Izaak’s mousie.
(As it turns out, Zak’s mousie is, in fact, an important member of this group.)
Have you ever seen anything as adorable as these three?
I mean, really…
…The fact that Freddy is zonked out whilst the other two are alert and watching the camera speaks volumes.
Of course, Freddy is so laid back, even that doesn’t faze him.
It’s almost as if Zak was a blanket for Freddy.
“He’s not heavy, he’s my brother.”
On Friday, Linus finished my tattoo honouring Gun-Hee and Logan
This is just after the shading on Logan was finished. Linus worked hard to find just the exact right shades of brown.
He really captured Logan’s expression and cute slight underbite.
Here we are checking it out in the mirror.
The green in Logan’s eyes should deepen as the tattoo heals.
Because it’s hard to get the whole tattoo in one photo, Linus made a short video as well. I asked him to take one with my phone, so you can see it “live” by clicking on the image above.
Today is just a normal Monday Chez Hellqvist…Angel sleeping in her favourite brown bed…
Unlike Logan, Izaak doesn’t share this bed with her. Oh, he tries to get in there with her…but where Logan ignored her when she hissed at him and got in anyway, Zak walks away and naps elsewhere.
Next we have Jacoby in the manly pink kitty bed. Which looks even more pink in this shot.
This film and lens tones the pink down quite a bit…but doesn’t really help.
Next shot is just plain black and white..and, nope. Doesn’t look any more manly without the pink. Must be the fluffy, not the colour.
Next we have Alfred.
I made Golonka (Polish beer-braised pork hocks) tonight, and Freddy always loves to chew on the bones.
Chomp, chomp…
He’s growling at Lorelai in this photo. He doesn’t like to share…
…no matter how big the bone is!
“Okay, Rory…NOW you can have it. I’m finished with it.”
Rory, meanwhile, has moved on and is playing in our bedroom.
Never fear! Zak the SuperSinga is here!
Never mind that that bone is bigger than his head!
Unlike Abyssinians, Singapuras are lap cats.
Sit down, make a lap…get a Singa in it. Especially if you have on a dress or skirt; they seem to really like the hammock effect.
But this story actually starts on Björn’s lap.
Both Izaak and Lorelai wanted to be on Björn’s lap.
Although it wasn’t particularly a comfortable sharing.
My lap was busy working on this blog at the time, so Zak went over to Björn’s lap. But Rory thought that Daddy’s lap belonged to her.
She tried some pretty passive-aggressive tricks to shift him, to no avail.
Until..
…She got the idea to attack his tail. Move the tail, move the cat, is Rory’s motto.
You can see how that went for her here (click the image to watch the video; sound is advised).
These photos are from May, when we first got Lorelai.
She was pretty adorable riding in Jacoby’s big yellow stroller.
First we have her ridesharing with Alfred.
He was so much bigger than she was, back then.
She was really adorable in the stroller with Freddy.
But a couple of weeks later, Rory was in the stroller with Angel.
That time, she was really working the cute. Look at her chill!
Five years ago this month, the Boston Red Sox won their third World Series in 10 years, and of course our Jacoby wore his jersey to cheer the team on.
Well, this year the Red Sox have had an amazing season and just beat the Yankees in the first playoff round and face the Houston Astros at Fenway on Saturday night. I’m lucky in that just this year they actually started broadcasting MLB games on Swedish television! They’re shown live, which is…challenging, given that they start at 1 or 2 in the morning, but I usually DVR them and watch them the next day.
Of course, it being October and the Sox being in the ALCS reminded me of the last Boston World Series game we watched.
I found a bunch of photos of Jake watching that game that, apparently, I never posted here. Of course, Jake was excited to watch the game.
Nothing like Boston during a playoff game – especially one at Fenway!
The Dropkick Murphys sang the National Anthem. That was awesome.
This was Game 6, and Boston was leading St. Louis 3-2.
Checking out the Cardinals’ line-up.
Make sure you have your bat, Jake!
Let’s just hope that the Red Sox can get past the Astros. GO RED SOX!
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 