Björn’s ex’s mother, Inger, is celebrating her 80th birthday this weekend. She always loved Jacoby, and Björn found a lovely cat-themed birthday card for her. This is the cover of the card.
The design is repeated inside the card, so I added a little sketch of Jake to the group of cats for her.
Alfred is the most cuddly cat I have ever known.
He’s like a living, purring (and occasionally drooling) teddy bear.
This is Freddy cuddling on the sofa with Björn the other night while we we watching television.
It’s hard to tell, but he’s wedged between us, with his hands on my leg, soaking up all Björn’s pets.
He may be our “extra” cat, but I love him and his purr.
I took these last autumn after a trip to the vet with Dashiell.
In the courtyard outside Commerce (our downtown mall), there was a giant Adirondack chair.
It appeared randomly last summer, and then disappeared, never to be seen again.
When I put Dash on it, it reminded me of Edith Ann on Laugh-In…and that’s the truth.
I love Izaak’s face.
I love the way he looks at me with such intensity. It’s like he’s trying to communicate with me telepathically.
Zak is so expressive. He goes from that to a goofy yawn…
…back to stink-eye in the blink of an eye.
Facebook has been reminding me a lot about Alfred and Logan lately. This one came up today.
Look at little Logan, sleeping peacefully on the IKEA cat bed.
Suddenly, a wild Freddy appears!
Freddy uses licking.
It’s super effective!
Although, to his credit, Logan did get a pretty good chomp in on Freddy’s ear.
I also made a little video of the encounter; click on the image to watch it on Flickr.
I have been taking photos of cats for over 50 years, ever since my dad gave me a Brownie Starflash camera when I was four years old.
I mean, even the manual said it was meant to take photos of cats!
In the old film days, I could take a photo of a cat at 1/8 of a second, which is a really slow shutter speed. I could hold that still. So I know I can seem to make taking photos of cats look easy.
Just remember…no matter how long you’ve been taking photos, you can still end up with photos like this. At least I don’t have to pay for film and processing any more!
Tonight, on a very special episode of the Daily Abyssinian…
Today is National Voter Registration Day in the States. I may be living in Sweden now, but I am still an American and I still vote as a Massachusetts resident. In fact, I am filling out my ballot right now.
If you are living in the US…please vote. That is all.
(Sidenote: the image I posted is available as a T-shirt…)
Facebook reminded me that, three years ago, Logan really wanted to be friends with Jacoby.
And also this exchange with Stellan: “Aha… you’ve been seduced over to the darkside,” he said.
“Well, I don’t think I’d go that far,” I said. “I’ve definitely been seduced over to the sepia side, though.” I still use that one.
Logan used to do this thing we called the “Singa bum bump.” Izaak does it once in a while, but it was Logan’s signature move.
He’d walk past Jake, just brushing his pelt…
…and then turn his butt and bump Jake with it. Sort of like a head bonk, with the other end.
It was really cute to watch.
Jake was rather unimpressed.
I love the expressions on his face in these photos. They were taken two iPhones ago, and they aren’t the best quality, but they really show how much Logan liked Jake.
Singas do that, though. As I showed over the weekend, when they decide they want to be your friend…that’s it.
Resistance is futile.
So, remember what I said about Singapuras sharing, and the other cats just letting them get away with it?
It doesn’t always go down that way.
You know that IKEA cat bed we have? Well, Alfred was sleeping on it.
And Izaak wanted to be sleeping on it.
So, he pulled his usual “Well, I’ll cuddle on in here trick.”
Freddy wasn’t having it.
He showed Zak the meaning of the word “smackdown.”
At first, I thought Zak was going to give up.
Never underestimate the determination of a Singapura.
After the tussle, Freddy let Zak cuddle in, and they slept together peacefully after that.
Here’s a video of the whole interaction. It’s a bit long, but it’s fun to watch their interaction.
As I have said before, Singapuras are big fans of sharing…whether or not you want to share with them.
This happened the other day. That this is Angel’s bed is well established. But Izaak thought she needed company.
So he wedged himself into her bed.
Zak tried to appease Angel with some licks to her head.
I am not sure how successful that actually was, but Angel didn’t kick Zak out of her bed.
You know those ads for customisable T-shirts on Facebook? Well, I clicked on one. And then I made a shirt…”just to see what it would look like.”
Yeah, right.
Well, it came on Wednesday. I love it…I am particularly fond of the way Alfred looks.
Because he follows me everywhere, I call Izaak my “little shadow.” But there are times when he is literally my shadow.
When the sun is just right…
…Zak’s shadow shadows me.
There goes my shadow…and his shadow.
There’s a meme going around involving the above image created by Darien McSweeney. Apparently, it started in 2018, and seems to have been resurrected. So of course I had to do it for our lot. And it was harder than you’d think, for the most part.
Angel, despite still being a bit skittish, is mostly happy to be petted anywhere…except her mouth. Because of her past history with Feline Oral Resorptive Lesions and bad teeth, even though the pain is gone, she still doesn’t like to have her muzzle touched.
Izaak is pretty easy-going, but he does not like it when I try to wipe his eyes!
Lorelai is equally compliant, but she hates to have her claws trimmed.
Dashiell, on the other hand, loves to have his paws played with. Not a big fan of having his ears touched, though.
And then there’s Alfred.
I took some really nice portraits of Izaak in the kitchen, but they were kind of…Meh. So I took to Hipstamatic to spice them up. The above is my favourite.
I like this one, too…something about the melted film effect appeals to me.
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I really like the “shattered” effect on this photo, and the way it focuses on Zak’s eyes…but I cant decide which version I like better. What do you think?
Today was the New England Meow Unit‘s Virtual Cat Show. I entered everyone, including Alfred, Angel (as a Household Pet), and Logan (in the Rainbow Bridge class). Because it was the Nemo show, of course there was a costume contest, and I entered a few different outfits…and finally won with our Marilyn Monroe and JakeFK costumes. Okay, it was Third Place, but still.
Meg and Drooley got 4th Place as the Unknown Comic and his cat!
Jacoby placed 7th in the Rainbow Bridge class.
And now for the actual judging classes. Izaak was 15th Best Cat in Championship in Teresa Sweeney’s “ring.” You know, this is actually my first CFA final with a Championship cat! All my other show cats were Premiers.
Speaking of Premiers…Dashiell did the best of everyone, placing 6th Best in Premiership in Allan Raymond’s ring.
You can see all the finals on Nemo’s YouTube channel. Each one is pretty long, so clear yourself some time (or fast forward through it, that works too). Oh, and it’s pretty cool that my artwork is all over this show, too.
When I read, I like to lie on the bed. And I usually end up with a lot of company. Izaak and Dashiell are almost always with me, and Alfred and Lorelai join us most of the time.
And then there’s Angel.
Angel comes and joins us every so often, but she doesn’t just nap quietly.
No…she tromps around the bed, kneading and purring.
It’s cute, and it’s sweet she wants to join us…but it is somewhat annoying.
Then, just as suddenly as she appeared…she is gone.
Look at Freddy’s face! He is so clearing thinking, “Good riddance”!
This week Facebook has been inundating me with memories of Logan. The above screenshot is from 10 September 2017, Logan’s six month birthday. Except it isn’t; Logan’s birthday was 9 March. I am not sure why I posted that on the 10th (which is Björn’s birthday).
This, though…this was 8 September 2017. Logan wanted to sleep where Jacoby was…and in typical Singapura fashion, he got what he wanted.
Then, three years ago today, Jake wanted to sleep where Logan was, so this happened. I miss them.
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 