Aby-a-Day – 7 September: Hold that tiger! (Fashion Friday)

At the same venue our last cat show was held, there was a “loppis” (flea market) held outside during some horse racing. And of course we had to go check it out! I was lucky enough to discover this really cool tiger rug in one of the stalls for only 50kr (about $5.50)!

It came originally from a chain called Rusta, and according to a quick Google search for “Rusta Tiger Mattor,” it seems to have been available, and, apparently, a very popular Jul gift between 2009 and 2011.

Of course the moment I put it on the floor, it attracted a cat.

And then it attracted another.

As a cat-trap, it works fairly well. At least, it works better than a circle of tape on the floor.

And then, the cutest thing happened. Oh, Jacoby tried to hide it with his tail…

…but he couldn’t hide it completely. Nope, he was licking Lorelai on the top of the head!

After that, Jake wandered off, and Izaak decided that the tiger needed a mousie, too.

Look at Rory’s face!

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She’s like, “Really? We have this cool tiger rug to play with, and you bring a mousie?”

But back to the tiger…it’s really well made, with a nicely-shaped, probably styrofoam-based head with really nice eyes, nose, and whiskers. The fur is pretty high quality, too.

The tail is well done, too. It’s nearly exactly the way they lay out real animal-skin pelts for rugs.

It’s also really long. It reaches all the way to the back of his head.

Zak thought it was fun to play with, too.

As you can see, compared to Zak, it’s a very good size.

Oh, look. Rory’s back.

Let’s wrassle!

Okay back to examining the tiger…oh, wait…

Oh, hey! My mousie!

“What?”

Aby-a-Day – December 1: Behind what Somalis say (Cartoon Tuesday)

Another in my series of the sketches behind some of my favourite cartoons…in honour of Abyfriend Wendy’s blue girl Wren, whose birthday was yesterday, I thought I’d share the sketch behind last year’s April Fools Day cartoon.

It’s rare for an artist to really like something they’ve drawn, but I’m extremely please with how the Somali versions of Vegard and Bård Ylvisaker turned out. They needed almost no changes from the original sketches to the final cartoon – that almost never happens!

Also, notice how Leo’s arm was not drawn around Wren’s shoulder. I drew each Aby separately, and put them together in Photoshop.

Here’s the final cartoon. See how little Vegard and Bård changed from the sketch?

And if you still haven’t seen Ylvis‘ awesome video, well… you probably should:

Aby-a-Day – May 19: “They call me Aby driver, once upon a pair of wheels…” (Cartoon Tuesday)

This is based in part on this photo from the Abyssinian Cat Club on Facebook.

And it’s partly based on this expression tutorial, brought to you courtesy of the artist who does Lackadaisy. Since it’s Cartoon Tuesday, if you have any interest in cats, the Roaring 20’s, incredible artwork, pig farmers, or old photographs, you really should check it out. Of course, this has little to do with my cartoon, per se…but there are cats who drive in that cartoon, too.

Seriously, though. Awesome webcomic. And I suspect Viktor may be a Somali – there’s a photo where his complexion is described as “Ruddy”…Just sayin’.

(Click cartoon to embiggen, or you can view all cartoons in Slideshow mode on Flickr.)

Other People’s Abys – Rie Komoto’s Aby shows his true colours in National Geographic

This incredible shot featured by National Geographic was taken by Rie Komoto of what happened when her Aby variant*, Meelo, saw a sparrow hit a window.

Thanks to Helen Warn of the Facebook Abyssinian Cat Club for this link!

*Meelo is an Aby variant because he carries the longhair gene. One of his parents was a Somali.

Aby-a-Day – January 15: Suomalainen laatikon toimitus (Part One)

Last year, my friend Sanna-Leena and I did a box exchange. I sent her some stuff for cats and for humans from the States, and she sent me some goodies from Finland.

Well, that was so much fun that we did another one. I sent Sanna-Leena a box last summer, and she sent us our second box just after Christmas.

It arrived last week, and it was HUGE! Light…but huge!

And so filled with goodies!

Of course Jacoby was right there to check it out.

You may remember this feather toy from yesterday’s post. The tall feathers are from a duck her brother-in-law shot and her sister plucked the feathers, which were only frozen to kill the bacteria. Her cats go wild with the smell, and she thought mine would, too. As you saw, Tessie loved it!

Jake was interested in it, too…

…But there were just so many things to see and smell that he couldn’t focus just on the feathers!

Like a new Arja’s Art harness! Jake got one last year, of course, but as it turned out, the metallic copper was a bit too pink, and ended up looking better on Kylie. So I asked if Sanna could get him a green one to match his leash.

Since Angel has a purple one already, and now Kylie has Jake’s copper one, Tessie needed a red one for her own.

I love these harnesses so much. Look at the reflective trim! If you’ve met me and Jake in person, I’ve probably made you feel how soft this leather is. It really does need to be felt to be appreciated.

And there were some leather goodies for me, too, like this little coin purse.

The green leather matches Jake’s harness exactly!

Sanna also sent me these amazing leather feather earrings (leather feather is fun to say)!

And oh, this bookmark! Look at those ears!

She also sent me some Finnish pop music. And oldies from 1963! There’s a Twist song on there that I just adore (I love me some Twist music).

There was so very many good things in the box that Sanna sent that I’ll have to show you the rest in some future posts…so check back tomorrow to see Jake’s new Finnish outfits.

Aby-a-Day – July 28: Masquarade (Hipstamatic Monday)

One of the biggest attractions at ArtBeat is the vast collection of arts and crafts booths selling all kinds of alluring items.

I saw this wooden masquarade mask with distinctly Abyssinian-like markings in a woman’s hand at the Magpie booth and I dashed up and blurted out: “Do you have any more of those cat masks? I need one!”

The shopkeeper looked at me like I was a bit nutty and, bemusedly, pulled out a second cat mask.

Then she saw Jacoby in his stroller and it all made sense. This clever wooden mask on a stick is a “Silly Stick” made by Maple Landmark in Middlebury, VT. But as great as it is that the mask looks like an Abyssinian…

…the backside is a scuba mask with a small clownfish!

How perfect is this for the NEMO show next month?!

Aby-a-Day – April 1: “What Does the Somali Say?” (Cartoon Tuesday)

It’s April Fool’s Day, so…

Somalis are known as the fox cats, after all. And if you haven’t yet discovered Ylvis, well… here you go:

Last year, Gangnam Style, this year the fox…international and on trend!

In case you were wondering, the shorter Ruddy Somali is meant to be Vegard and the taller Fawn Somali is Bård. The Abys are Leo and Wren…Happy Birthday, Wendy!

(Click cartoon to embiggen, or you can view all cartoons in Slideshow mode on Flickr.)