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 – 25 Augusti: Wordless Wednesday (Some cats have NEVER had tuna water before…)

Aby-a-Day – 24 Augusti: Salta Katter (Cartoon Tuesday

Back when I was in SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) classes, they had a really cool poster of the Salta Lakritsfigurer cat. It was created by Tommy Hallgren, a Swedish graphic artist who designed several Swedish candy brands, among other things.

A couple of weeks ago, Björn found a framed print of the same poster at the second-hand store – signed by the artist!

Izaak, of course, had to “help” me take a photo of our poster.

This is how the Salty Cat looks on the actual candy boxes. But take a close look at the box on the right.

See the holes? Yep…Alfred, with his fierce belief that anything in plastic is food, bit the box.

Of course, Zak had to “help” me with the candy boxes, too.

Aby-a-Day – 21 Augusti: “The lion crouches in the tall grass. The gazelle sniffs the air. The awful stillness before the strike” (Swedish Saturday)

This afternoon, we took the cats outside. The grass on the hill is really tall right now, and Izaak was looking at it longingly.

Because he always follows me everywhere, I went down the hill myself to give him a little push.

And, of course, Zak marched down the hill to meet me.

I love watching him move through the grass. It’s almost like he’s swimming through it.

Meanwhile, Alfred was coming back up the hill.

The grass where Freddy was is even taller than the grass Zak was in.

Lorelai was in the tall grass, too. Even though she was restricted by her leash, her joy at being outside after a week of rain was undiminished.

Everytime I see the cats in the tall grass, I wonder what it must be like to be a small cat in the big world, where walking through tall grass is like strolling through a jungle.

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 – 5 Augusti: Necks-level logistics (Thursday Things)

The only downside to having Emma stay with us was the fact that she occupied the spare bedroom, where Alfred and Lorelai eat their daily chicken necks.

There is a very good reason for this.

Rory and Freddy eat their necks wicked fast. Sometimes, Freddy will be finished with his neck before I can get the door shut!

Dashiell and Izaak, however, eat their necks at a more leisurely pace.

Which is somewhat ironic, considering Zak is the entire reason we have the evening neck ritual at all. But he’ll look at his neck, and then try to follow me out of the room. It’s like, dude…eat your damn neck! You wait all day for it and yell at me until I give it to you!

It’s arrangement that works well. Freddy and Rory scarf their necks down, growl at each other if one tries to steal the other’s neck, and can pretty much defend their necks from one another. Dash and Zak respect each other’s boundaries and generally don’t try to poach the other’s neck (although sometimes they do trade).

So you can see the problem. Dash and Zak aren’t accustomed to competition. Meanwhile, Rory…

…and Freddy are hovering like vultures, just waiting for an opening to swoop in and snatch a neck away from one of the boys.

Rory…NO!

“Whattaya mean, ‘no,’ Mom? He’s not eating it!”

Finally, Dash ate about half his neck, and I gave up and let Rory have the rest. Better her than Freddy; she needs the calories more than he does. And I needed to go eat dinner with Björn, Kalle and Emma.

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"Thanks, Mom!"

Yeah, I'm glad we can go back to the two-room system.

Aby-a-Day – 3 Agusti: Alfred as Pepita the Alebrije from Coco (Cartoon Tuesday)

After the other movie-inspired artworks I did, I got to thinking about Pepita, the flying jaguar Alebrije in the Pixar movie Coco.

I could see Pepita as Alfred, so I went with it. I took a different approach with the one; instead of just black line, I used the colours of Pepita to create the outline.

Then, as usual, I did the under colour. But instead of using the smooth airbrush to do the colour, I used an oil-painting brush which gave a very different effect..

Then I did a fur and feather layer. It really made a difference!

This is the combined fur and feather layer.

Then I started working on the background.

This is the final, combined image of Freddy as Pepita. Not only am I pretty proud of this artwork, but I TOTALLY LOVE the lighting on it. And OMG, getting to play with colour was amazing!

Here’s the Procreate video of my drawing process; click on the image to watch it in a new window in Flickr.

Aby-a-Day – 2 Augusti: Alfred is such a ham! (Hipstamatic Monday)

Yesterday when Björn and Emma were making breakfast, they gave the cats a little bit of ham…and a piece fell on Alfred’s back.

He could smell it, but couldn’t figure out where the delicious ham was.

Meanwhile, here it is.

Meanwhile, Izaak is wondering why we are all giggling and taking photos.

“Mooooommmmmm…where’s the haaammmmm..?”

“Wait? There’s ham? I thought I smelled ham…”

I thought for sure Izaak would clock the ham on Freddy’s back.

Because I am a meanie, I tried to get Zak to notice the ham on Freddy’s back.

I almost thought he was going to see it.

But in the end, Freddy managed to knock the ham off of his back and eat it. Sorry, Zak.

Aby-a-Day – 1 Augusti: Emma and the cats outside (Swedish Cinema Sunday)

Today we took the cats out with us to take out the recycling. Emma got to handle Lorelai’s leash.

It’s been raining most of the week, so the cats haven’t been outside in a while.

While we usually let Izaak and Alfred follow us at their own pace, Emma wanted to try and keep them all with us.

When we first saw this little Yorkie, I was afraid it was going to start yapping and being annoying, but it actually seemed curious about the cats.

Rory was curious, too. We let them say hello.

Rory and I continued to the garbage bin whilst Björn and Emma tried to get Zak to follow us (he had been spooked by the neighbour boys and was hiding from them). On the way we passed one of the rug racks being used for its actual purpose.

In the end, Björn and decided Zak would be fine until we got back, and finally made it to the bins. When we got there, we met an adult Vallhund!

At first, the dog was a little too eager for Rory’s liking.

But don’t worry. Although she be small, Rory is mighty fierce. She can hold her own.

Eventually, the Vallhund settled down, and they and Rory had a nice little meeting.

Freddy got to meet the Vallhund, too.

When Björn went to Stockholm yesterday to collect Emma, he’d left his bicycle next to the bus stop. It was very convenient to fetch it on the way back from the bins. As Björn was wheeling it up the path, Rory did something surprising: she jumped up on the chain guard!

The thing is…she didn’t jump off even when Björn continued to move the bike!

She rode on that chain guard for a while, too.

Long enough, in fact, that I was able to make a little video. Click on the image to watch it in a new window on Flickr.

Aby-a-Day – 31 Juli: Emma Hellqvist is in the house! (Swedish Sunday)

Björn’s daughter Emma is visiting us this weekend! She’s here for her birthday, which was last Friday, but as Björn’s holiday started today, here’s here from today until Wednesday morning.

Tonight, we had options for dinner, and Emma chose ribs.

So, we had ribs.

And when we had finished, we let the cats gnaw the meat of said ribs.

Emma doesn’t have a cat at home in Stockholm, so she was quite amused to watch the feeding frenzy that ensued.

After the cats had their ribs, Emma had her cake.

She also mentioned that she didn’t like wearing a mask, so I gave her my two cat-face masks. I mean, if you don’t like wearing a mask, it’s easier to wear a fun one, amirite?

Aby-a-Day – 30 Juli: Memories of Logan and Alfred together (Friday Flashback)

Facebook reminded me yesterday of Logan and Alfred, my brothers from another mother.

I had kind of forgotten what scamps they were! They used to get into everything when they were kittens.

Like Logan “helping” me in the laundry room.

And he put himself in that drawer-basket himself.

I’m not sure who the instigator of this little foray to the top of the bookshelf.

It was probably Freddy, although Logan was no slouch when it came to getting up and down from high places. Much better than Izaak ever was.

Then one day, I went into the bathroom and found…Freddy in one of our storage baskets.

Still not sure how he managed to get up there without knocking off any of my Catzillas!

He definitely looks very proud of himself.

Aby-a-Day – 24 Juli: Alfred is NOT a morning feline (Swedish Saturday)

Do you hate mornings?

Alfred is definitely not a fan.

I caught him NOT getting out of bed the other morning.

Freddy’s face is a whole mood. I get it, Freddy.

Aby-a-Day – 17 Juli: A curious series of events (Serious Saturday)

Okay. Today was…weird. Strange. Mysterious. And not a little bit scary. It has many layers to it. It starts earlier this week, when I bought a used tricycle.

Since Covid, my balance is a bit off and my Dutch bike is getting harder to ride, especially when I am carrying things. But good tricycles are expensive, and cheap ones are…unpredictable. I’d been looking on a Swedish used item selling website, but there was nothing. Then, on Wednesday, I happened to check it again…and there was one listed, in Skövde, for only 2900 kr (about $300 USD – wicked cheap). The trike had been put up the day before, so it really was serendipity. He delivered it Thursday. It’s going to take a bit of practice to get the hand of riding it (bicycles and tricycles handle very differently) and it needs some lights and reflectors.

Another point: Björn is away on a weekend gaming trip, since everyone is vaccinated. Last night, I was on my own, so I ordered those lights and reflectors on Amazon.se. As part of this shopping, I went out twice after sunset to look at the trike to see what I needed and where I could mount things. When I went out, I got a lot of mosquito bites. I also ran into my upstairs neighbours, who told me they were going on a trip in the morning (this becomes important later). I fell asleep watching Hamilton, woke up at 4am, and went to bed. Woke up at 10, itching like crazy, and took some Benedryl. I was reading in the bedroom (it’s cooler there during the day than in the living room) and the Benedryl made me doze off. When I woke up, it was almost 4pm.

Which meant the cats’ breakfast was late. I immediately went to feed them. Izaak and Lorelai weren’t around, but that’s actually kind of normal for them; Zak has been hiding from me when I feed him, especially in the morning because he doesn’t want to be shut up in the bedroom, and Rory likes to hang out on the balcony and eats later.

But it was bothering me. Afternoons, Rory sleeps on the end of the sofa, and Zak eventually comes out of hiding. Kalle and I searched the house; I had started a load of laundry and thought they might be shut in there, but they weren’t. Now I was getting worried. I started thinking they might be outside, but how? They didn’t get out when I went outside last night, because they were here for dinner. Around 5:30pm, I went outside, both to look for them and also to see if I could put the tail light back on the trike. As soon as I got to the trike, Zak appeared, yelling a blue streak!

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? WHY WAS I OUTSIDE? WHERE WERE YOU!?” And I couldn’t answer that, because I have no idea. But that means Rory was probably outside, too. I put Zak back inside and Kalle and I scoured the område. Kalle suggested we check with the Anderssons, and I told him they’d gone on a trip this morning. We looked everywhere, but couldn’t find her…but it occurred to me that late afternoon is Rory’s nap time. WHen I messaged Björn about it, he thought she might be napping under some bushes in one of her favourite spots, like near the sandbox. So, we decided to wait for an hour and try again. Kalle mentioned that the door wasn’t locked when he went shopping; he had forgotten that until after we searched. Alfred, as you know, can open the front door if it’s not locked, and when the Anderssons load their car, they block the door open. Kalle and I started theorising: The door somehow was left unlocked (I don’t remember NOT locking it, but I don’t remember actually locking it, either) and Freddy opened it. Zak, Rory and Freddy go out in the hallway, and the front door is open because of the neighbours’ trip. The Anderssons see Freddy and put him inside, but they don’t see the other two. I also knew no one had found her; she’s pretty well known in the område and all the children know her by name. She has two ID tags and nobody had called or checked the Blanket ID site.

Kalle suggested taking Zak with us when we went out to look for Rory, and I had been thinking the same thing. So, Zak and I go out to find Rory and Kalle was still getting ready…but there Rory was, right at the door, waiting to be let in! I have no idea when they got out, how long they’d been out, where they went…nothing. Just our theory of events, at least until the Anderssons get home. But, this shows that taking them outside often and in all seasons is a VERY good thing, because they know where they live. A lot of indoor cats don’t learn that, so if they do escape, they are easily disoriented and don’t know how to get home.

Epilouge: The Anderssons didn’t see the cats this morning. I just messaged Oksana, and she didn’t see Freddy, Zak or Rory this morning. The mystery continues. So much for all that CSI I’ve watched in my life.

Aby-a-Day – 15 Juli: Snuggly Freddy (Thursday Things)

I know some of these photos today are a bit blurry, but I wanted to share them anyway because this is so Alfred’s personality.

Freddy loves to cuddle between us when we’re sitting on the sofa watching television.

He especially likes to lay up against my bare legs when I’m wearing a skirt. It’s kind of sweet to see him next to Jacoby.

It’s not the most fun when it’s almost 30°C, but it is cute.

For some reason, he also likes to touch peets.

I am not sure what this is, however.

Aby-a-Day – 5 Juli: “My what big peets you have…” (Hipstamatic Monday)

The other day, I was reading whilst lying on the bed, and Alfred came to cuddle with me.

He curled up next to me and laid a paw on my arm.

Look how loooonnngg Freddy’s toes are! He has really big feet, even at four years old. Do you think he’ll ever grow into them?

Aby-a-Day – 30 Juni: Wordless Wednesday (Abys enjoying the balcony)

Aby-a-Day – 27 Juni: “You must get high on lawn clippings, Jack, ’cause this ain’t grass, man. I’m telling you that.” (Swedish Sunday)

One thing all of the cats love to do when we go outside is chew on the grass. Alfred and Lorelai especially enjoy chomping on fresh, green bladage.

It’s funny. Izaak and Dashiell aren’t as much into eating grass. But it’s the first thing Freddy and Rory do when we open the front door.

Nom nom nom.

Sometimes, though, the camera catches some humourous faces.

Like this one. Freddy’s trying to catch moving grass…but he looks like he’s doing a heckin’ screm.

Aby-a-Day – 19 Juni: Happiness is a warm puppy (Swedish Saturday)

A couple in the C part of our building recently got a Swedish Vallhund puppy. We’ve seen them walking him outside, but we had yet to be outside with the cats when they were training him.

Until last Thursday, when we took the recyclables out. As we know, Lorelai likes dogs. But she’s never really met a puppy before.

The pup is really young, and he’s squirmy and yappy. At first, Rory was a little taken aback.

But eventually they touched noses.

Then Alfred strolled up to meet the puppy, whose name is Toke (Pronounced “TOH-kuh”).

It was pretty funny to see how big Toke made Freddy look. Toke looks a little intimidated. Toke’s humans were happy to introduce him to our cats; they want to get a kitten as well.

And then Izaak joined the party.

“That sure is a funny-looking cat!”

“Wait…That’s no cat!”

Aby-a-Day – 16 Juni: Wordless Wednesday (Not exactly sure what’s going on here…)

Aby-a-Day – 9 Juni: Wordless Wednesday (Min Vetrinär, party of five)