Aby-a-Day – 24 Juli 2020: The start of an amazing experience (Friday Flashback)

This memory came up in my Facebook feed today. Seven years ago today, I was contacted by Leslie and Sheila of the Westchester Feline Club because they wanted Jacoby to be the 2013 Westchester Feline Club Cat of the Year.

I have to admit, I really had no clue what a huge honour it was to be named Cat of the Year, but fortunately I’m a fast learner. Of course, seeing his face on the Jumbotron was a pretty big hint.

I was constantly talking to people, or doing something with Jake. Besides the Cat of the Year, Jake was also entered in the show (we only missed two rings, which is a bit of a miracle) and he participated as a model in the Fashion Show which was held both Saturday and Sunday. Jake is actually the first Cat of the Year to do all three things in the same show!

The show was good; Jake made a few finals. And the fashion show was fantastic. They originally wanted Jake to wear a Santa outfit…but when we saw how he rocked this turkey confection, everyone agreed that it was the costume for him! The person who made it even gave it to him afterwards, because he owned it so hard.

The list of previous Cats of the Year is impressive, indeed.

Jake was given an incredible rosette – the Scarlett Ribbon – with a photo of Scarlett, who was the very first Cat of the Year and the reason the award was created.

He was also given this certificate…

…and this poster. I was NOT prepared for all of it!

It was truly a once in a lifetime experience…but I didn’t realise that in July!

Aby-a-Day – 22 Maj 2020: Facebook has all the memories! It has the best memories! (Fashion Friday Flashback)

Yesterday, Facebook reminded me of the time we got bored at a cat show and put some of the hair I had groomed off Jacoby and put it on his head.

After I did that, we noticed that the pile of hair on Jake’s bore a striking resemblance to a certain American president.

Especially from the side.

Jake was always such a good sport…

…and he really could rock anything he wore, too. I miss that.

Aby-a-Day – 13 Maj 2020: Wordless Wednesday (When you try to use the litterbox at a show and your little sister is being a brat)

Aby-a-Day – 12 Januari 2020: International Champion S*Backilandets Mercedes von Ekorntorp (Cat Show Sunday)

Unlike Izaak, Lorelai did not become an International Champion on Saturday at the show in Turku.

That’s because she was in direct competition for the certificate.

We saw Thea Friškovec, who loves Zak, and who has seen Rory before on her judging table.

There was another blue Aby female in Category 7: Ch FI*Redcheetah’s Erin.

When there are two or more cats in the same category, sex and colour, only one earns the certificate. The other gets an Ex2.

I am sure it was hard to pick the best cat…they are almost the same age (Rory is four months older), same colour, same level of achievement…

…It was pretty tense to watch.

In the end, our friend Jonna and her cat Erin got the certificate. Congratulations!

But Erin was only entered on Saturday. On Sunday, Rory was the only blue Aby in her category.

We saw Martienn Tausen, a judge from Iceland.

He didn’t Nominate her, but that wasn’t important.

What was important is that she earned her non-Swedish certificate and achieved the title of International Champion. It’s a bit ironic; we started showing Rory earlier than Zak because we had to wait to get his pedigree entered into Sverak…but he earned his title before she did!

Aby-a-Day – 11 Januari 2020: International Champion Joy Minimali*PL (Cat Show Saturday)

We went to a cat show in Turku, Finland, back in November. The main reason we entered this show was so that Lorelai and Izaak could earn their International Champion titles. In order to achieve this, cats must earn three certificates from three different judges in two different countries. We had the three certificates from three different judges locked. We just needed to go to a different country. Turku is a convenient ferry ride, and a place we hadn’t visited yet.

As is not uncommon, Zak was the only Singapura in the show, so we were pretty certain that he would become an IC.

His judge for the day, Pia Nyman, loved him. She praised his perfect “reindeer” colouration.

She also knew Singapuras, which, in FIFe, can be rather hit-or-miss when it comes to judges. But Pia was actually “babysitting” a litter of Singas at home for a Finnish Singa breeder friend.

Singapuras are almost always the last breed in the ring in Category 3 (unless there are Selkirk Rexes, Sokokes or Snowshoes entered, and honestly, they’re almost rarer than Singas! But because we are last, we usually just hang around for the Nominations, because we’re almost always under consideration. The Champion males were stiff competition. We were up against a Korat, a British Shorthair, an Ocicat, and an Egyptian Mau.

But you could tell she really liked Zak.

It was super close and really tense. I am usually the one who’s taking the photos, not holding the cat during the Nomination.

Pia took close second looks at the Brit and the Oci…

…and she also revisited the Mau.

But she kept coming back to Zak.

Pia had good things to say about all of the cats.

But, in the end…it was Zak who won the NOM!

Then it was time for the panel (basically, the FIFe finals), and we had a great steward assigned to handle him.

It was close…there was a white British Shorthair and a seal Burmese with Zak…Zak did get one vote, but in the end it went to the Burmese.

That didn’t matter, though. We got what we came for.

Zak earned his International Champion title.

And he also earned a really nice NOM medallion. The prize you get for winning a Nomination can really vary between clubs. We have gotten trophies, plaques, banners, and simple rosettes…but medals are by far my favourite, and the Turok medals are seriously the best I have ever seen.

It seems that they had them custom-made somewhere. They are really heavy and really nicely made (this coming from someone who did metalsmithing and jewellry making in college and coin-making in the SCA). It’s one of the best cat show trophies I’ve ever won.

Aby-a-Day – 7 Januari 2020: Art in garbage (Cartoon Tuesday)

At one of the cat shows we entered recently, I happened to notice a shape in one of the paper towel trashbins in the toilet. Can you see it?

Now can you see it?

Aby-a-Day – 15 Augusti: A quick visit to the cat show

On Sunday, we spent some time at the cat show in Lempäälä (near Tampere) that Russell and Carol, along with my friend Pam, were judging. Because we had to catch the ferry back to Sweden at 16:45, and it was a long drive from the show hall to the ferry terminal, we couldn’t enter Dashiell in the show – it didn’t matter, pointwise, because he’s still a kitten, and exhibitors aren’t allowed to leave until the show’s posted closing hour. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t drop by for a visit.

It was a very small show, held in a shopping mall (which was actually rather cool). One-day shows in CFA aren’t common, but they happen; however, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show with only three rings!

My friend Anne set us up with a small pop-up tent and a litter box for Dash. While in Sweden, people mostly use the metal show cages and spectators view the cats on the same side of the cage as the exhibitors, in Finland, people use SturdiShelters and pop-up tents with a clear back, and the spectators view the cats from the back whilst the exhibitiors sit with their cats by the cages’ doors. It feels a bit strange, not really being able to interact with the people coming to see the cats except over the top of your cage.

Dash has been to shows before, so he knew what to do.

He was very interested in this one little boy who stopped to see him.

Dash wanted to make friends with the kid, but it’s hard when you’re behind plastic.

If it had been a metal cage, Dash would have reaching out to touch the boy.

I think both kitten and child were equally fascinated with each other. It was adorable.

We were only able to stay for about an hour and a half (the show, being so small, didn’t start until 11), but it was nice to hang out with Meg and Anne a little bit more. I also managed to get a photo of Anne’s stunning tattoo…isn’t it lovely?

Aby-a-Day – 9 Augusti: Speaking of escape artists…(Friday Flashback)

Izaak’s escape at the show last weekend reminded me of the time Logan figured out how to open his cage at one of his first shows.

They look so similar, Logan and Zak, but they are so very different.

As much as I love my little Zakky…I do miss Logan’s grumpy old man meow.

Aby-a-Day – 8 Augusti: Two words you never want to hear at a cat show: “Cat out!” (Thursday Things)

Especially when it’s your cat.

Sunday at the show, after Izaak had been judged and we were waiting for the Nominations, Lorelai was called up for her Nomination at the same time. So Björn had Rory and I had Zak. Then I dropped my phone and it came out of its case. I needed two hands to put it back in, so I handed Zak over to Björn. Then Zak started to cough up a hairball.

I raced over to the Secretary’s table and grabbed a piece of scratch paper, and got Zak to puke on it. Björn was right next to us, so I asked him to grab Zak whilst I dealt with the barf. In the time between me letting him go and Björn grabbing him…

…he decided this space under the folded-up bleachers (the show hall’s day job is a basketball arena). And he. Would not. Come. OUT. When he doesn’t want to be caught, he is a master. They announced that a cat was loose and to close all the doors, but I was like, “Yeah, no. The doors are the least of our worries!” He’s roaming around underneath the bleachers, and he’s up for Nomination like NOW

Finally, a woman with Siamese working the Secretary’s table called to me. She saw Zak in the corner, near her stroller. They asked me if I had any food that would lure him out. I said, “No…he won’t eat anything but raw and chicken necks. Does anyone have a raw chicken neck?” Yeah, nobody did. I had grabbed Chirpy Mouse and Zak’s favourite wand toy (a fishing lure blue crab I picked up in Baltimore), so we tried those. Chirpy Mouse had no effect, but Blue Crab got his attention. I almost grabbed him…but then he backed away. He wandered around a little more, and then came back to that corner, and, with the help of Blue Crab, I was able to grab him. The judge he was up for Nomination with, Glenn Sjöbom, asked me if I was okay and patted me on the back, telling me not to worry and not feel like I needed to rush. When he actually got nominated, I held him up, and, during the applause, I said to him, “You. Do. NOT. Deserve. This!”

I repeated that when he was declared Best In Show.

I don’t have any photos of the actual events…I was too busy trying to catch the little asshole.

But here’s the punchline to the whole escapade: Just after it happened my friend Kinsey posted on Facebook that Zak’s brother, Paolo had escaped that morning and led her on a merry chase around the neighbourhood before she managed to catch him again. He wears a tracker on his collar that she can track on her mobile.

One of her friends commented that it could only happen to Kinsey, and I chimed in, “Nope, not just Kinsey. Today at the cat show, Izaak, Paolo and Keiko’s younger brother, escaped and went exploring under the bleachers!”. To which Kinsey explained, “Must be in their genes. Paolo did that at a cat show once and I was on my hands and knees under the benches trying to get him.”

They ARE full brothers, perhaps not littermate brothers, but brothers nonetheless. Kinsey’s always posting about Paolo’s adventures…and by the smug, “sorry, not sorry” look on Zak’s face, I suspect I will be, too.

Aby-a-Day – 5 Augusti: Just another day at the cat show (Hipstamatic Monday)

I love doing Hipstamatic photos at cat shows.

The show we did this weekend is no exception.

From Lorelai being judged…

…to Rory being BIV, Hipstamatic casts events in a different, interesting, light.

I love this photo of the two of them with their rosettes.

And this, of Rory competing for BIV against the other blue Abys in the show. Hipstamatic turns a boring photo into art.

After a long day at the cat show, there’s still a train ride home to look forward to.

It’s a train ride made more interesting with Hipstamatic.

Aby-a-Day: 2 Augusti: Boss Chonk (Photoshop Friday)

There’s a meme going around with three cats at different levels, with the highest level cat being designated “Boss Chonk.” Well, we’re going to a cat show this weekend, and I bathed Izaak and Lorelai. I also bathed Alfred, to help get him used to bathing (something I should have started doing when he was younger). Whilst bathing these three, this meme inexplicably came to mind.

So…I made a thing.

Aby-a-Day – 10 Juni: Another way to look at the show (Hipstamatic Monday)

I keep forgetting to do Hipstamatic photos when we’re at FIFe shows. I used to take them at cat shows regularly back in New England. But they’re fun…and it’s interesting to see what Hipstamatic does…like this one. You’ve seen our show curtains, they’re shades of green. But Hipstamatic turns them into shades of red!

I also love the randomness of it. Sometimes it really improves the photo.

I used to take photos with the cameras Hipstamatic is meant to emulate, back when I was a kid. You would take the photo…but never know what you were going to get. It’s a kind of fun we don’t have nowadays (although I wouldn’t want to go back to film EVER).

Sometimes it makes a good photo even better…I really like the way the focus is shifted to Izaak and his BIV trophy in this one.

Some of the films have frames that are a lot of fun. This one flips the original photo around the edges and sort of “shatters” them. It’s a neat effect.

Hipstamatic can make a boring photo more interesting…

…and it can save a photo you might have kept. When Hipstamatic saves a photo, it also saves the original, “normal” version of the shot. In this photo, Zak moved his head and his face was blurred. But in the Hipstamatic version…that motion blur is not an issue.

Some of the different films play with colour, as I mentioned before. This one only keeps red and blue and discards everything else.

This film makes your photo look like it was printed on an old newspaper, which can be a cool effect on the right shot.

I also like this film a lot. It makes this cute photo of Zak even cuter, somehow.

Once, ages ago back in the States, someone asked me, “So…What’s this Hipstamatic Monday all about?” This. This is what it’s all about.

Aby-a-Day – 9 Juni: Sunday at the Cat Show (Cat Show Cinema Sunday)

Today at the cat show was…well, not as exciting as yesterday.

Lorelai was the first up again, and she had the same judge, Thea Friskovec, that Izaak had yesterday.

Lorelai charmed her, but ultimately lost the Nomination to a friend’s Cornish Rex.

This is what her judging looked like…so different from CFA!

Next up was Izaak.

Like yesterday, since there were three Singapuras entered, he was up for Best in Variety, but today he lost out to IC S*Kustens Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (on the far right). That’s cat shows: one day, you’re top of the world, another day…not so much. You can’t win them all.

After the BIV, Zak had to compete for the Nomination, against the Burmilla from yesterday and a snow Bengal.

The competition was stiff…

But today, Zak lost to the Burmilla. Ultimately, no Singapuras were Nominated to Panel, where yesterday we had two (who both won Best in Show). But that’s okay; with neither cat Nominated, we were able to leave the show early! That’s always a bonus.

Here is a video of Zak being judged. I think I like FIFe’s style better than CFA, to be honest; not only do you get an honest conversation about your cat’s strengths and weaknesses, but you also get a written copy to save in your cat’s show book. Only being judged by one person a day vs. the CFA method of a cat getting several judges’ opinions in a day is…different, and admittedly, a little hard to get used to. But the fact that you get the judges’ notes to keep for posterity is pretty awesome and makes the shift a little easier to handle. Plus, it’s nice having a written record of what a judge thought about your cat.

Aby-a-Day – 8 Juni: Double play! (Cat Show Saturday)

Today we are at our first cat show since Örebro in January – four and a half months is a long time to not go to a cat show! We were supposed to go to a show in Falköping last month…but someone missed some kittens’ vaccination boosters, so we couldn’t go. So here we are in Gislaved at the DackeKatten show.

And what a great show it is! Lorelai was first up, and the first thing that happened when she got onto the table was…another judge brought a cat over to our judge’s table for a second opinion on the cat’s colour.

Even though a strange cat was just inches away from her, Rory didn’t even notice. This is why Jacoby didn’t like FIFe…he didn’t like having to see other cats. Being close to them was right out. But that happens in FIFe. Luckily, Rory and Izaak, having grown up in FIFe, don’t mind being held out in the open with other cats.

Rory’s judge today was Alexey Shchukin from the Netherlands.

He had a judge-in-training, Hannah Jensen, with him, so he spent a lot of time explaining what he was doing as he went along.

He explained what he saw in Rory as she listened intently.

Then Hannah looked at Rory herself, trying to see what Alexey saw.

During her judging, Rory decided Alexey need a hug. He kept explaining things to Hannah despite the schmoozing.

Rory supervised as Alexey wrote down his judging notes.

Then it was Zak’s turn on the judge’s table.

His judge was Thea Friškovec, from Switzerland.

I didn’t know it until the end of the day, but she actually breeds Singapuras herself.

Zak sat nicely whilst Thea wrote her notes on the judging sheet.

Our friends Stellan and Hans Owe from S*Kustens were at the show, too, with their two girls, SW GIC S*Kustens Chi Sarà Con Te and IC S*Kustens Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. We’ve seen these two girls at shows many times before.

Because there were three Singapuras in the show, we got to compete for Best in Variety (BIV).

It was a very close competition. Stellan and Hans Owe breed amazing Singas. But, to our shock…

Our Zak was named BIV!

And whilst I was watching that happen…Lorelai got a Nomination in her class (Unspayed Females)!

Then Zak was up for his Nomination, and his competition was stiff: He was up against a sweet Egyptian Mau and a stunning Bengal.

But the Singapura was the one Nominated to the panel! Both Rory and Zak have gotten one Nom each…but this is the first time both our cats were Nommed in the same show.

Not only that…but Rory became a Champion today.

After lunch, it was time for the panels. Rory went up first.

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For Best in Show, Category 4, Unspayed Female, Rory was up against a very nice Cornish Rex.

And she won!

This is Rory’s very first Best in Show win.

Next up was Zak.

I mean, we were still over the moon about Zak getting his BIV. And now he was going to the panel!

Zak was up against a very nice Burmilla in Category 3 Unneutered Males.

And the judges’ choice was…

Our Zak!

Both of our cats were Nominated, and both were named Best in Show. AND one got BIV! We were stunned…

We had a really good day at the show today…probably the best since we showed Jake.

 

Aby-a-Day – 2 Juni: An announcement (Cat Show Sunday)

This is Anubis Dashiell Hammett. My friend Meg took him to his first cat show today. It was a small, one-day CFF show in Worcester today. He won two Best Kitten Shorthair Specialty, and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best Allbreed Kitten. Not bad for his first show!

But more than that, Meg will be going with Russell to a CFA show in Finland in August. And Björn and I will meet up with her…and we’ll take Dash home with us! He is related to both Jacoby and Taz, and Meg wanted me to have him. We’ll register him in FIFe and show him along with Izaak and Lorelai.

I can’t wait to see how he fits in with our little clan!

Aby-a-Day – 24 Maj: “Scattered pictures…of the smiles we left behind” (Friday Flashback)

As I posted earlier this month, the Memories that Facebook shows you can be bittersweet. Lately, they’ve been showing me a lot of Jacoby memories. It started with this one, of Strollercat on the way to a cat show in Göteborg in 2017.

I never actually posted these photos here, as this was during the blog’s hiatus.

This is another photo that popped up, I think as one of Björn’s Memories. I called it “Conversations on a train.”

Then there is this one I posted whilst we were at that cat show.

I found this photo of Jake crashed out in the hotel room after the first day of the show was over whilst I was looking for the other ones from this week’s Memories. I had forgotten it…but it is SO Jake.

This is the Memory that came up yesterday…

…another one I forgot about that is such a classic Jake moment. I found Angel sunning herself in a little square of sunshine in the kitchen.

The square was just the right size for one little cat loaf.

And then…along came Jake.

And he decided that he wanted the sun square. I wasn’t able to capture what happened next.

And this last one is the most bittersweet of all, from five years ago Wednesday. Jake loved riding on the front of his stroller on our way home from our therapy visits. I posted the photos here in the blog at the time, but I only posted the video to Facebook. Apologies for the vertical video…I forgot to turn the camera sideways.

Aby-a-Day – 15 Mars: Remembering Logan in Finland (Friday Flashback)

I have been thinking a lot about Logan recently. I suppose it’s only natural; his birthday was last Saturday, and this is the month before we found out about his FIP. I guess March is going to be hard for a while. But this is a memory that always makes me smile.

When we took Logan to Finland for a show, Logan discovered the heated bathroom floor.

He loved it!

He was always a little less stocky than Izaak is.

It was so funny to watch him rolling on the warm, but hard, floor. He was like, “What is this sorcery!?”

Have you ever seen a happier little cat?

He really loved it.

When we couldn’t find Logan anywhere else in the room, we knew he had to be there on the bathroom floor. He even slept in there instead of on the bed or the chair!

We haven’t stayed in a hotel with heated floor since then with any cat. I was looking forward to seeing what Logan would do when we encountered one again; now I’m just wondering if Lorelai and Zak will have the same reaction.

Aby-a-Day – 28 Februari: Our three seconds of Swedish fame (Thursday Things)

When we went to the Ädelkatten show in Västra Frölunda back in December there was a celebrity spectator in the show hall.

Glenn Hysén is a retired footballer, manager and commentator who, along with his sons (also footballers) Tobias and Anton and his wife Helena, go to places around Göteborg and film their interactions for a Swedish reality show. It’s a bit like the Kardashian show, but less sleazy and more silly.

Of course they captured typical scenes from a typical cat show…the last cat, the Cornish Rex, is our friend our friend Sully!

They also caught my friend Peter on film as well.

I am not entirely sure what they said, but from the video, they did a good job capturing a show.

They even covered a final.

Our friend Stellan, one of the top Singapura breeders in Northern Europe, was the emcee for the finals, so of course he was featured on the show.

And so were we!

They actually filmed us for a while, and interviewed Björn, but all we got was about three seconds.

But hey, we were on television! In Sweden!

You can see the cat show segment here; it starts at 23:08, but you can’t fast forward though the ads (you can jump to the beginning of the third segment, but you have to watch the ads). The link will work on computers in North America, but not on phones.

Aby-a-Day – 31 Januari: More from Örebro (Thursday Things)

Saturday was not a great day for Lorelai and Izaak; apart from Zak earning his Champion title, neither he nor Rory were even up for a Nomination.

But Sunday, both of their judges loved them. Here is Polish judge Robert Nowak admiring Rory.

There were five females up at the Nominations. It was a very close competition.

At the end, the judge chose a lovely Siamese to go to the panel.

This is a shot from Saturday. Rory is Number 664. Number 663 is GIC DK*Saltvig’s Oona. We have been a little concerned that Rory small for her age (she’s smaller than Zak!), but Oona is over two years older than Rory and they are the same size! Oona was chosen over Rory on Saturday, but Rory was the judge’s pick on Sunday.

Zak’s judge on Sunday was Gerardo Fraga y Guzmán, from Spain. He loved Zak, but he was especially enamoured with his coat texture.

He even called the judge next to him over to feel Zak’s coat. That’s a particular compliment to the owner as well as the breeder, because the cat’s condition is a reflection of diet and grooming as much as it is genetics and breeding. It’s nice to know you’re doing a good job!

The Nomination in Zak’s category was also stiff. There were two British Shorthairs (one disqualified himself by almost biting his owner), a stunning white Kurilean Bobtail, and Zak.

The judge had a cat teaser made with a bobcat’s tail that a Danish merchant sells at shows. We have one at home, too, and I have to hide it from the cats when we aren’t using it. Zak really wanted that tail! He actually jumped out of my arms in an attempt to catch it.

But in the end, the judge felt that, while both cats were excellent, the Kurilean matched the standard for his breed just a bit better than Zak matched the Singa standard. But it was close…and the Kurilean ended up winning Best in Show for male cats in Category 3! So…losing to a cat who ended up being BIS? Yeah, that’s not bad at all.

On the way back to our benching cage, we met a little girl who was meowing at all the cats.

I thought she might like to pet one, so I knelt down so she could pet Zak. I know that if an exhibitor had done that to me when I was kid at a show, I would have been over the moon, so I hope we made that little girl’s day.

Aby-a-Day – 30 Januari: Wordless Wednesday (A day at the show)