Aby-a-Day – 17 April: Pages 6 and 7 (Selfie Sunday)

Björn was interviewed by the Göteborgs-Posten last Thursday bay a reporter doing a piece about Migrationsverket and the “love migration process” and people like us who either have a partner trying to move to be with them or who are that partner, and an article was published in last Saturday’s paper (that’s the big paper of the week there, Saturday instead of Sunday, so you have two days to read it all).

This was the main photo they used on the web version of the story and in the newspaper itself.

This is the front of the newspaper…

Look who made it to page 1!

This is the spread on pages 6 & 7 with sidebars about other aspects of Migrationsverket and Swedes waiting for their partners.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time someone I know has been featured on the front of a major publication.

Not only that…he also had a spread on pages 6 & 7! Björn and Jacoby…media superstars!

Other People’s Aby’s – Rufus och Flora i Västerbotten, Sverige

And the Swedish influence on my blog is already starting.

Björn and I went to ICA to get groceries and we happened to check the magazine section. I’ve had a link to Kattliv (Sweden’s biggest cat magazine) for years now, but this was the first time I’d seen a hard copy of the magazine itself.

Of course I had to leaf through it. I mean, it’s a cat magazine!

And what do you suppose I found?

An article about two Abyssinians! Their names are Rufus and Flora and they live on a farm in Legdeå, a small town between Umeå and Skellefteå in the Västerbotten region in northern Sweden.

They seem to have an awesome life ruling their humans, hanging out with horses, stalking chickens and hunting rats. I haven’t read the whole article, yet…but now I have something to practice with Björn!

An Aby lost and found story

This is a great story: Emotional reunion after cat escapes car during road trip

But it’s not just any cat…it’s an Aby!

Check out the video:

Abys are everywhere – Pitbulls & Parolees and insurance Abys in the airport

Sometimes, you see Abyssinians where you least expect to. After last week’s post about Abys in television and movies, Abyfriend Ellen Fair wrote to tell me she had been watching Animal Planet’s “Pitbulls and Parolees” when she saw a striking brown cat just hanging out in the yard.

She sent me a screenshot – oh, yeah, that’s definitely an Aby all right! Why is he just sitting outside? Ellen wrote: “It’s just a snap I took with my iPhone of a scene paused on TV. I took it because I thought I might be hallucinating until I rewound the DVR.

Don’t know if you’re familiar with the show, but this is an episode in which Tania Torres (daughter of Tia Maria, the awesomely formidable woman who runs both the show and the New Orleans shelter at its center) and her husband, Perry, decide to get another pit bull after Tania’s beloved Bluie has died. There they are, sitting in their backyard talking it over, while this gorgeous Abyssinian looks on.

‘Pssssst! All the companionship you will ever need is right in front of you!’ my brain hissed as I watched. But–sigh–they are dog people, obviously. I do wonder if the Aby is theirs, or was just hanging around the neighborhood, though I’d find the latter hard to believe–the cat was clearly in excellent shape, and looked quite comfortable.”

I did my due Google diligence and I could find nothing about the Torres family owning any cats…so I don’t know who that Aby is. But still, who’d ever think they’d see an Aby on a program about Pitbulls and Parolees?

A couple of days later, Sherry sent me this advertisement for The Insurance Brokers Association of Canada that she spotted in the Ottawa airport.

She actually saw two versions: French and English. But in either language, that’s still an Aby about to knock over that antique vase! This one struck me as particularly amusing because, well…I work for a property insurance company! The only time I’ve ever had insurance and Abys combine before this was when I brought one to work with me.

Abys are Everywhere – Cat Fancy, now and then

As I’m sure you’ve heard, after 50 years, Cat Fancy’s last issue is now on the newsstands. You cant miss it: Not only does it have a huge “50” on the cover, but there’s also an Abyssinian kitten!

It’s not gone, gone…it’s “reinvented” itself as Catster Magazine to appeal to people who like to look at cats on the internet and will come out every other month. But it’s not the same. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like looking at at cats on the internet as much as the next person. But there’s something about reading a magazine that’s been around your whole life, you know?

I always keep an eye out for old back issues that feature Abyssinians (I wish I still had my old copies from when I was in high school). A few weeks ago, I found this issue from 2003 on eBay. While I knew it had an Aby on the cover, as well as a feature article on the breed, I didn’t know about the bonus Aby.

Check out the cat food ad on the back cover! There was no mention of this little guy in the eBay listing…but isn’t it a great ad?

Yeah, I’m going to really miss Cat Fancy.

Abys are Everywhere -Swiss story about litter and cats at a show in Houston

Abys are everywhere! Today, on the Swiss news site 20 Minuten, an article about litter features an Aby cuddling with his human.

Also, Abyfriend Cynthia pointed me to this excellent slide show of “25 cats trying to figure out why they are at the cat show”.

It not only features her Aby, GC RW Absolute Crawdaddy, doing agility…

But it also features this somali, named Kondwani. I’m not sure if it’s just that thing where once you have something, you notice it everywhere, but doesn’t it seem like Abys are getting more facetime in articles and advertisements lately?

Other People’s Abys – Nigel the therapy cat

One of our friends, Nigel and his human Janet, were featured in a news story on Houston TV because of their work as a therapy team!

I simply love the fact that Nigel has the exact same stroller (in the exact same colour) that Jacoby has.

When she posted the link to the Abyssinian Cat Club on Facebook, Janet thanked me and Jake for being the inspiration for her and Nigel to start visiting nursing homes.

Janet is actually a veterinarian, too, so she has a medical background which helps when you’re doing therapy visits.

You can watch the entire segment here.

I love this photo so much…I can’t wait til March when Jake and I can try to get our certification renewed again. Thank you Janet, for sharing this!