Aby-a-Day – 29 Augusti: Thai tuna salad (Silly Singapura Sunday)

I have an awesome recipe for Thai tuna salad from the Wei Chuan cooking books I learned to cook Asian food with back in the late 90’s.

The books had been boxed up since I moved out of my Somerville apartment in 2009. I rediscovered them earlier this year, and one thing I wanted to make again was my Thai tuna salad. Canned tuna isn’t a staple in Sweden the way it is in the States, so when I found canned tuna on sale at the supermarket, I was all over that action.

It’s such a great salad because it doesn’t involve mayonnaise. The version I make has fish sauce, sweet chili sauce, lime juice, mint leaves, celery, lemongrass, and scallions; I also add cucumber and Romaine lettuce. But you can also include cilantro (coriander), tomatoes, crushed peanuts, Thai basil, carrots…well basically anything Thai and salady.

Alfred was quite interested in my empty container, as you might expect.

Izaak can express so many feels in one look.

Aby-a-Day – 22 Augusti: “You cannot handle my swag” (Cinema Singapura Sunday)

As you might recall, I have been trying to document Izaak’s swagger for a while now.

Yesterday, when we took the cats outside for a walk, I think I finally managed to get it.

You can really see his bum swing in this series of photos.

Compare the way Zak walks compared to the way Alfred walks. Freddy’s back stays straight and he bends his wrists and ankles more.

Here’s a short video showing Zak’s Singa swagger on YouTube.

Aby-a-Day – 15 Augusti: The boys on the bed (Singapura Sunday)

This is a scene that happens most days.

The three boys love to hang out together on our bed.

Dashiell and Izaak have always been best friends since Dash came to live with us. Zak was Dash’s first friend, and they eat all their meals together, especially since we haven’t been going to cat shows. Dash hasn’t been without Zak in his life in Sweden.

Alfred often joins them, but he doesn’t always cuddle with them.

Freddy does cuddle with Zak and Dash in the morning when we’re all in bed, but for some reason, he gives the younger boys their space in the afternoon and evening.

Maybe he remembers his best friend Logan, and he doesn’t want to intrude. I really do wonder if Freddy thinks about Logan.

Aby-a-Day – 18 Juli: My sweet summer child (Swedish Singapura Sunday)

You may recall, I have been working on a Four Seasons of Izaak project and a couple of weeks ago I took some Summer photos.

I wasn’t completely happy with them compared to the Winter and Spring photos.

Also, the tree looks more “summery” now than it did last month because now, the cherries are ripening.

So, when we went outside yesterday, I put Zak up in his tree and took some more photos.

Just like last time, he climbed up the branch, used it like a scratching post, and tried to eat the lichen.

Zak is pretty good at moving around up in the branches.

I think he really enjoys his tree time.

In the end, this shot is the one I’ll use as Summer in the project. And, like the Spring photo, I may have touched it up a teensy bit in Photoshop…but only three layers, no big deal.

Aby-a-Day – 11 Juli: Izaak in the sticks (Swedish Singapura Sunday)

One of the times we took the cats out, Izaak rand down the hill and into the bramble.

He had to navigate a bunch of sticks down there.

He did a remarkable job, to be fair.

For an indoor cat, he does a pretty good job outside.

Aby-a-Day – 3 & 4 Juli: Just Izaak being Izaak (Silly Singapura Saturday and Sunday)

The other morning, I woke up to this.

Izaak just sitting in his cat bed, on his baby blanket, chilling.

It was really funny…and not a little surreal.

Zak sat that way for a really long time, too.

Just contemplating himbs peets.

Apparently, they were very interesting that morning.

Suddenly, Zak started to aggressively groom his tailtip.

Lick, lick, lick…

…lick…oops, almost lost it!

Take that, tail!

Zak was very thorough.

And then,

suddenly…

..Zak was done.

“What?”

Aby-a-Day – 20 Juni: Happy Gotcha Day! (Singapura Sunday)

The 20th of June is a good day to adopt a cat. Three years ago today I took a trip to Stockholm to collect Izaak.

He was so tiny!

The kitten harness I got for him was too big, so I had to improvise.

He was so intimidated by the big cats. He was smaller than even Lorelai!

To be perfectly honest, I was a little afraid he hadn’t been properly socialised.

The vet didn’t quite believe he was really five months old.

My concerns about his socialisation were, of course, unfounded. This was his first outside romp, three days after he arrived.

Two days after that, he discovered IKEA mousies.

He wasn’t registered in Sverak when we went to Rory’s first show at the end of June, so he had to miss it. He did, however, help me pack.

Not long after that, he started his very serious relationship with chicken necks.

Hard to believe that that tiny scrap became this burly, confident cat.

Zak isn’t the only 20 June baby. 30 years ago today, I adopted my first purebred cat, Harri. He was my first “do everything” cat.

On 20 June 2005, we went to Quincy and brought Kylie home! Happy Gotcha Day everyone!

Aby-a-Day – 9 May: Oops, I did it again (Silly Cinema Singapura Sunday)

This was today. Izaak wedged himself into Angel’s bed…again.

Although, she seems to be getting kind of used to it.

She might even, dare I say it…actually like having the little guy around?

Zak seems to really love cuddling with her. It’s funny, but they don’t really ever associate apart from the afternoon cudddle sheshes.

Maybe she just enjoys the free grooming in the spot she can’t reach.

Here’s a short video of them together…what do you think? Friends?

Aby-a-Day – 21 Mars: Who me? I’m not doing anything…(Singapura Sunday)

I walked into the kitchen to find Izaak on the stove. And, as you can see, he’s clearly not doing anything at all suspicious.

“La la la…pay no attention to the feline on the stovetop…”

I have no idea what he was doing there.

He’s not usually the one on that counter. That’s usually Alfred, looking for edibles.

“Oh! Hi! I totally did not realise you were standing there!” (Spoiler alert: He totally did know I was there).

“And I absolutely was not doing anything at all naughty.”

“I promise!”

Aby-a-Day – 14 Mars: Watching your back (Singapura Sunday)

Yesterday, I was sitting on the sofa watching something on my laptop, when Izaak decided to sit on me.

I was a little bit entranced by the way the sunshine highlighted his colours. In some ways the sepia ticking is so much prettier than the Abyssinian ticking…I think it’s that ivory undercoat.

Aby-a-Day – 24 Januari: The good old days of 2019 (Singapura Cat Show Sunday)

Remember when, back in the day, we went to cat shows and didn’t know words like “social distancing”?

Sigh…

I do.

Especially in Sweden, the pariah of Scandinavia. We may never have a show again at the rate we’re going.

These photos are from a show in Västra Frölunda…15 September 2019. Back when the world was…normal.

This is judge Ad De Bruijn from Holland examining Izaak.

Zak really turned it on for the judge, too…but he didn’t get the NOM.

I don’t think I have shared one of these before, but this is Ad De Bruijn’s judging sheet for Zak (these sheets are the BEST thing about FIFe).

Aby-a-Day – 20 September 2020: More Singa Sharing (Cinema Singapura Sunday)

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.

Aby-a-Day – 21 Juni 2020: Izaak and his family (Singapura Sunday)

Today on Facebook, Anna (Izaak’s breeder) posted a photo of her newest litter of kittens.

Turns out, these kittens are Zak’s full siblings! Their father is Tinytoy Rus Mafoj*PL
and their mother is Angelina Minimali*PL.

Zak also has two older, famous brothers. Paolo and Keiko, five years older than Zak, are famous for their adventures. And they had another adventure (of sorts) today: Paolo and Keiko got neutered!

It wasn’t long before they escaped their Cones of Shame, but their human Kinsey sent me this video of them. Just click on the image to watch the video in another tab on Flickr.

It’s so cool to be part of such an illustrious family!

Aby-a-Day – 10 Maj 2020: Remember when we used to go to cat shows..? (Cat Show Cinema Singapura Sunday)

A friend on Facebook posted a photo of her cats today with the caption: “Is this really all we do now? We can’t leave?! When is the next cat show?! We’re tired of sitting home!!!!”

Dude…I so know that feel.

Because we weren’t able to go to our favourite show in Örebro this year, we haven’t been to a show since November, when we went with Lorelai and Izaak to Turku. It’s the one thing I really miss since the pandemic started.

So, I went back in my backlog of photos and found this set of Zak at the Turku show, after our collection of show wand toys fell over.

He was so cute, playing with the toys. We mainly only ever play with wand toys at shows, so this was a treat.

I even made a short video of it (click on the image to view it on another tab in Flickr).

Aby-a-Day – 12 April 2020: Izaak and Angel up a tree (Silly Singapura Sunday)

It’s become something of an afternoon ritual.

Izaak and Angel have a cat tree battle.

Angel occupies the top spot, and Zak occupies the house.

And then Zak attempts to storm the castle and take over the top.

He has some…interesting moves…

He’s very stealthy…

Okay, that’s just plain…what is that, even? What is that meant to accomplish?

May as well settle in, Zak. You’re not going to knock Angel off her perch.

Aby-a-Day – 23 Februari 2020: Singapuras don’t share (Singapura Cinema Sunday)

The other day, a little drama unfolded right on our living room sofa.

Dashiell was happily napping in the corner closest to the television, which also happens to get the best sunshine in the early afternoon.

But Izaak wanted to nap there.

So he pulled out the super-stealth licking manoeuver. You start out with just a little friendly licking on the top of the head.

Then, when the target is lulled into docility…

…Zak starts to make his move.

And there you go: Singapuras always get the best napping spot in the house. Regardless if someone is already napping there.

Here’s a little video of Zak assimilating Dash’s napping spot. Resistance is futile!

Aby-a-Day – 26 Januari 2020: Happy 2nd birthday, Izaak!

Today is Izaak’s second birthday!

Zak was a bit taken aback by the flame on his birthday candle.

But since we have a show in two weeks, probably best not to get his whiskers all singed and twisty.

Zak’s birthday present was a catnip fish that was supposed to flop around like a live fish.

Turns out, the site was a scam, and the fishes don’t move. They’re just stuffed catnip fish.

Luckily…

…Zak didn’t care. He loved the fish, with or without gimmick.

Unlike last year’s birthday, Zak was not as hesitant to tuck into his non-raw birthday cake.

Happy second birthday, Izaak!

Aby-a-Day – 21 Juli: Singapura Stubborn (Singapura Cinema Sunday)

The other day, Izaak found a stick toy in Kalle’s room. It was a fuzzy green ball with a bell and a leather “tail” attached to an elastic cord, with the stick stuck in a crate.

He really wanted to play with that toy, but I was in the middle of doing laundry, so I didn’t move the stick for him. But that wasn’t really what he wanted; he just wanted to play with the soft toy on its own, not as a stick toy.

Singapuras are very…focused little cats. When they want something, they don’t give up easily.

You can watch Zak’s determination in this video…it went on a lot longer than just this, though. There’s stubborn…and then there’s Singapura stubborn!

Aby-a-Day – 23 Juni: “Have you ever held a snake? They are so strong. You can see why there are so many myths about them: they are unlike any other creature” (Silly Singapura Cinema Sunday)

You may recall a few months ago, I had bought some catnip snakes on Etsy. I gave one to “everybody,” which Izaak promptly claimed, and then put one away for Jacoby’s birthday…which never happened.

The other day, whilst tidying up my clothes cupboard, I happened to find Jake’s green birthday snake. I had forgotten about it.

So, I called Zak to come and play with it.

He was all over that action.

Lorelai wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Zak was not about to share his new toy.

One of Zak’s little quirks is, he loves to roll around on the entryway rugs. I have no idea why, but he does it almost every day…I just haven’t captured it on camera yet.

Apparently, rolling about on the rug is much improved with a catnip snake.

He really likes this snake!

When I posted about the first snake, I lamented not catching it on video. So this time, I made sure to sort that. Here’s Zak in action with Jake’s snake.

Aby a Day – 19 May: Little Cat on the Prairie (Singapura Cinema Sunday)

Since I moved to Sweden, I have absolutely fallen in love with Family Guy. Something about the razor-sharp New England sense of humour and the pitch perfect spoofs of pop culture…what’s not to love?

Recently, we happened to see Seth MacFarlane’s spoof of the iconic closing credits of the classic 1970’s television show Little House on the Prairie. Then a couple of days ago, whilst outside with Lorelai and Izaak…I got inspired.

It’s been rainy and grey the past few days, but today it was sunny and not windy and just…perfect for what I had in mind. It took us a while to get it just right…but at the end of the day, I am pretty proud of myself.