Remembering Pixie in Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

 Greetings, Fellow Felines (and Woofies and all Anipals)!

That is how Angel Pixie, one of the co-founders of this Blog, used to greet her readers.  Pixie received her Angel Wings on December 23rd, nine years ago, so We commemorated her last Wednesday with a Yahrzeit candle - although, being Mewish, We should actually have done that at Hanukkah.

May her Light always illuminate Our Way.

We have honoured her memory this year by issuing commemorative stamps with her image:

Princess PixieCato, as Mummy used to call her, will also repurresent Us in the Caturday Art Blog Hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, as well as in the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop, hosted by the Amazing Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet:

Mummy has often told Us stories about Pixie and the mischiefs She and her brofur,  Angel Possum, used to get up to. We have all of Us - Shimshi in purrticular - learned A Lot from hearing these stories.  In general, She was a furry Good Kitty, but She certainly knew how to plan a Good Mischief! 
But Mummy remembers her most for the way She loved to snuggle up with her under the blankets when Mummy went to bed. She was a most loving, precious little girl and Mummy still misses her terribly.

It is time for Us to set off on the blog hops now. Here are their badges:

  

Before We go, We want to remind you that, although they have now started rolling-out the vaccines against the Evil Coronavirus (Mummy has an appointment to get her first dose in a fortnight), We are not yet out of the woods, so remember to carry on Social Distancing, wearing your facemasks and Washing Your Paws.

And because We only post on Sundays, We will wish you NOW a Happy Mew Year - and purray that 2021 will be a much better year than 2020 has been!

Purrs and Pawpats to you all!

Shimshi's Sunday Selfie and Chrissymouse Caturday Art

Hallo there, Effurrybuddies.

Shavua Tov (a Good Week) to you all!

Do your humans also have a purr-dilection for demanding your co-operation in the snapping of selfies at The Most Inconvenient and Intimate of Miowments?
'Cos MINE certainly do, as you can see!

Anyways, this picture (which does, at least, have the advantage of showing off my toesies), is Our Entry this week in the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Magnificent Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here is their badge:

We artified this picture with Chrissymouse Effects and a Snowflake Border from LunaPic.

Now it looks like a tapestry, doesn't it?


That will make a highly suitable entry for the Caturday Art blog hop hosted by the Wise and Lovely Athena and her HuMum, Marie, don't you agree?

So here is their badge:   

Last, but most Certainly not least, once again, this year, We are joining the Blessing Train at DezizWorld. As you know, beautiful Dezi received her Angel Wings last week, but she loved the Blessing Train so much that her Mommy, Audra and her sisfur RaenaBelle are carrying on with the Blessing Train - and We are joining it in Dezi's honour. This is Our Boxcar:

Look out for it on the DezizWorld website.

And here is the Blessing Train badge:  

All that remains is for Us to wish you all a Furry Miaowy Chrissymouse and to remind you that, although there is now, at last, a vaccine against the Evil Coronavirus, it will be some time before its full effects are known, so, in the meantime, keep on Social Distancing, Wear your Facemasks - and don't forget to Wash Your Paws!

J-Cats at Hanukkah: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo, Effurryone!

It is I, Caspurr the Courageous, the Maccabee, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces, King of the Tigger-Tabbies, here to wish you all Shavua Tov, a Good Week - or at any rate, a better week than the last. That was an Absolutely Pawful Week, which saw the departure of no fewer than THREE of Our blogging furriends for the Rainbow Bridge - sweet Jinx, a handsome panfur from the 15andmeowing blog who was much loved by Us all, and especially by his Mommy, Ellen and her hubby; beautiful Gracie (so well-named) from the Animal Shelter Volunteer Life blog, another precious panfur whose pawrents, Kevin and Tracey and sisfur Ava will never forget her; and lovely floofy Dezi, from the DezizWorld blog, who has flown away and left her Mommy, Audra, and sisfur, RaenaBelle, grieving.
We will remember them all, and We send comforting pawpats and kitty kisses to their families, both furry and human.

We are hardly in the mood for art and selfies and blog hops at the moment, with so much sadness around Us, but We think these precious new Angels would want us all to carry on, visiting our Furriends and bringing them what cheer we can. We can never know what tomorrow will bring, so it is terribly impawtant to cherish Our Loved Ones while We can - even if distance and the Evil Coronavirus makes it impawsible for us to meet in the fur or flesh.

So once again, We are joining the Caturday Art blog hop hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and the Sunday Selfies blog hop hosted by the magnificent Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here, then, is My Selfie. Note the chiaroscuro effects, the play of sunlight and shadow on My fur, as I bask in a sunpuddle.

These were heightened by the Luce filter from the Paper Artist app on Mummy's meowbile phone, which We used to artify the picture.

And, of course, in honour of Hanukkah, which started on Thursday night, We added a Menorah.

Here are the blog hop badges:

Stay safe, Dear Friends (both Anipal and Human), be well and let us always love and support one another.

And (for those who celebrate it) - Happy Hanukkah!

Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies with Queen Trixie

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

Shavua tov (a Good Week) to you all!

Yes, it is ME again, Queen Trixie, Furrst of My Name, Empurress of Jerusalem, Israel and the Entire Middle East, Queen of Hearts, Guardian of the Boudoir, Alpha Kitty Extraordinaire, etc. etc. etc.

This is going to be a furry short post, because Our Petcretary Mummy is tired, having spent a goodly portion of that part of the day when She is usually awake and active, (and helping Us write Our Blog) with her Caterwauling Club at a rehearsal. 

In the middle of the day, do I hear you ask?

Well, yes - because they are appearing in the Jerusalem International YMCA's annual Chrissymouse (and Hanukkah) concert, which is being pre-recorded, this year, without an audience, because of the Evil Chinese Coronavirus pandemic. And since they are appearing (like last month) with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, they have to make themselves available at the same time as the orchestra. They are going to be singing two pieces - one for Chrissymouse and one for Hanukkah. For Chrissymouse, they will be singing the Hallelujah Chorus from "Messiah" by Mr. G.F.  Händel. And for Hanukkah, they will be singing Maoz Tzur (or, as WE call it, Miaoz Tzur), to the less well-known tune by Signor Benedetto Marcello. The recording will take place later this week. Hanukkah, of course, starts Thursday night, with the lighting of the First Candle and you are all invited to join Us for a Hanukkah party on Saturday evening at 6 pm Israel Time, when We will be lighting the Third Candle. There will be latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (yummy jam doughnuts) and all the other traditional Hanukkah foods. And we will play dreidel and all sorts of other games.

Now, kitties, it is time for us to join the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the delightful Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.  In the picture above, I am strategically placed on a comfortable chair under the table, where I am safe both from my rambunctious brofurs, and from the thunderstorm that visited Us that day. (My brofurs ran and hid under the bed. But I stayed in the living-room to purrtect Mummy from the Storm.)

Mummy artified the picture by adding the Colorello filter from the Paper Artist app on her meowbile phone, and added a frame from the same app, so that We can take part in the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, as well.

We have also made a jigsaw puzzle of it. But We haven't yet tried to complete it. We know it will take Us a zillion years, especially if We have to rely on Mummy's Puzzle-solving Skills (mol).

90Colorello Cat resized 

 And here are the blog hop badges:

Now, just a quick reminder before We go (because you already know the drill, right?) that the Evil Coronavirus is still lurking out there, so don't go out unless you must (and don't let your Humans go out either, unless it's for something really impawtant, like shopping for Food or Treats for you), make sure they wear facemasks if they absolutely have to go out - and REMEMBER TO WASH YOUR PAWS REGULARLY.

See you next week.  By which time, it will already be Hanukkah.
So - 

Happy Hanukkah!

A Surprise Visitor: Sunday Selfies And Caturday Art

Greetings, Effurrybody!

Shavua Tov (a Good Week) to you all.


Today, We have a Surprise Guest joining Us on the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Wise and Beauteous Athena and her HuMum, Marie and the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the magnificent Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Can you guess who it is?


Take a closer look.

Yes, you are right! It is Our Woofie Uncle, Messi, who lives with Grandpaw and Step-Grandma.

This is the original picture:

Mummy artified with the Color Scribble filter, and a simple, but elegant, frame from LunaPic.

And since most of you seemed to like the jigsaw puzzle we added last week, here is another one:

90Imageedit 3 73910 

Mummy is ashamed to admit it took her 28 minutes and 59 seconds to complete! (We have mentioned, in the past, that She is rubbish sorely in need of practice at jigsaw puzzles, haven't We?)
We wish all of you better luck.

Before We go, We want to ask you all to pray for a furry sick little kitty. You remember a couple of weeks ago, We mentioned our furriend Smores, who was summoned to the Bridge, not long after his brofur Julio flew off there? Shortly before that happened, Smores' Mommy had adopted a kitten called Emilio, to keep him company, and when Smores, too, was awarded his Angel Wings, his Mommy, Ilana, adopted another little kitty, to be company for Emilio. She called the new kitty Julio, after Smores' brofur. But now, Little Julio is terribly sick and his Mommy is sick too, with worry. Please, all of you, send purrs and purrayers and massive doses of POTP for his recovery.

That's all for now, Dear Anipals. See you all next week and don't fur-get, the Evil Chinese Coronavirus is still with us (will it effur go away?), so it is still impawtant to carry on Social Distancing, wearing facemasks and WASHING YOUR PAWS.

Here are the blog hop badges:

    

Now off We go.

Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies With Shimshi (Plus a Special Surprise...)

Hallo, Effurrybuddies!

Here I am Again, the Mighty Shimshon (aka Shimshi aka The Little Purrince), Furrst of My Name, Master of the Queen's Mischiefs and Captain of the Guard, wishing you all Shavua Tov (a Good Week) - and let's hope this time, it really will be a Good Week.

It is My Turn this week to repurresent the J-Cats in the Caturday Art Blog Hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, as well as the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop, hosted by the magnificent Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

So, without further ado, here is My Selfie:

Mummy always has a bit of a giggle when I sit like this, with my Paws tucked under, but by my sides. She says She has neffur seen any other kitty sit like this.

Have you?

She loves that pose so much that, for Our Caturday Art, She decided to purrpetuate it, with some help from PhotoFunia:

And now for the Surprise!  We aren't all that good at jigsaw puzzles, but We see that a lot of you like them, so, this week, for the furry furrst time effur, We decided to add a puzzle for you. It's only 60 pieces, so We are sure many of you will easily be able to beat Mummy's 12 minutes and 31 seconds!!!
(She really needs to purractice more...)

60Shimshi Framed in November




 

Now, before We set out on the Blog Hops, We want to remind you that the Evil Chinese Coronavirus is still lurking out there, so you and your Humans should remember to Socially Distance, wear your face-masks and Most Impawtant of all - Keep Washing Your paws!

Here are the blog hop badges:

                    

And off We go!

Caspurr's Colourful Caturday Art and Sleepy Sunday Selfie

Hallo again, Effurryone and Shavua Tov (a Good Week) to you all.

Except that it isn't!  We have just learned that yet another of our cyber anipals, Smores (the brofur of recently departed Furrsbook furriend, JulioDeCat) has gone to join his brofur at the Rainbow Bridge. 

Please visit his Mommy, Ilana, and leave her some words of comfort.

This year seems to get worse and worse, with effurry day that goes by! We just want it to be over!

We don't feel much like blogging when effurrything is so sad and dreary - but then We remember that the Social Distancing rules are keeping Us all apart physically so it's all the more impawtant to keep in touch by Cyber. Nobody - Feline or Canine or Avian (or, indeed, any other species of Living Creature) should have to feel Alone and Friendless. So, although We often feel We just want to curl up in a ball and be left alone to cry, We are going to join the Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies blog hops, hosted respectively by the wise and beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and by the magnificent Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet, and visit as many of Our Furriends as We pawsibly can. And We most earnestly urge you to do likewise.

So here is Our Caturday Art, featuring a collage from LunaPic of pictures of Me, Caspurr the Courageous. 

The art effects used are (clockwise from top left):
Sketch2, Beauty (which I purrsonify, Mummy says), Dreaming (which I no doubt was) and Monster (which I am not! Although sometimes, Trixie - and even Mummy - call Me one...).

It proved such an attraction that We were contacted by the management of the Burlington Arcade off Piccadilly in London (that's a swanky shopping mall, where Mummy likes to go window-shopping whenever she's in England - but could neffur afford to buy anything there, it's So Expensive!). They wanted to display the collage there.  Of course, We agreed.

This is the original picture, and it will serve as my Sunday Selfie this week. I was having a little snuggle in Mummy's lap (you see, She doesn't really think I'm a monster!), enjoying head and chin scritches and - if I remember rightly - Tummy Rubs too.

Here are the blog hop badges:

        

There is one more thing We want to mention before We go. A furry wise Human named Albert Schweitzer once said that there are two means of refuge from the sorrows of this world - Mewsic and Cats. Of cats, We have spoken at length. As for Mewsic - you remember that last week We mentioned that Mummy and her Caterwauling Club would be pawticipating in a concert at the weekend? Well, for those of you who weren't able to watch the concert over the live link on MewTube, here is a link to a recording of the concert.  (Mummy will probably write about it herself on her own bloggie later this week.) The broadcast starts at 3:09, there are a couple of interviews (in Hebrew) with the people responsible for producing the concert and the concert itself starts at 18:08.
Enjoy!

See you all again next week - and remember: observe all the Social Distancing rules in place for your purrtection and the purrtection of your Humans, make sure they wear their facemasks when they go out, and most impawtant of all - keep washing your Paws!


PS. We have tried to link to both blog hop hosts and failed - whether because of a glitch at Our End, or at theirs. We will try again later, or tomorrow.

Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies with Queen Trixie

 Hallo again, Effurrybody!

Shavua tov ( a Good Week) to you all.

It is I, Queen Trixie, Empurress of Jerusalem, Israel and the Entire Middle East, Queen of Hearts, Guardian of the Boudoir, Alpha-Kitty Extraordinaire, here again to welcome you to Our Bloggie and to update you on what's happening in Our Corner of the World.







As you may remember, last week, We were telling you about the pleasant weather and the lack of any water from the sky. Well, would you know it, within a few hours, the heavens clouded over and We were treated to a son-et-lumière display of magnificent dimensions! Lightning lit up the sky. Thunder-rolls from afar followed. Only one thing was missing - Skywater! That didn't make its appearance until later in the evening and when it did - boy, oh boy! 
It came down in BUCKETS. No. In BARRELS.  Mummy waited till it was quite late and She thought it had tempurrarily stopped, before going out to feed the Homeless Kitties - but She soon discovered her mistake. It had NOT stopped. It had merely changed to a fine drizzle. 

Anyway, it went on for several days, almost without paws, although it wasn't cold at all. Then it stopped and We have had several days of sunshine - only it's colder than it was when the skywater was falling, so yesterday, Mummy decided it was time to take down the eiderdown quilt from the top cupboard. It isn't a genuine eiderdown, because Mummy is allergic to the feathers, so the Evil Birdies are quite safe - from Mummy, at least (mol).

We hear that a lot of you are going back into Lockdown, just as here in Israel, We are starting to come out of it (but Mummy is sure we'll have another one in December, because they aren't waiting enough time between stages and the downward trend in new infections seems to have halted). At least it gives one plenty of time for reading - and if anyone wants some suggestions for what to read, Mummy made a few in Her Own Bloggie.

They are still not allowing public concerts here, because of the Evil Chinese Coronavirus, so this coming Saturday evening, Mummy's Caterwauling Club will be purr-ticipating in a Virtual Concert with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, of works by Mr. L. Van Beethoven: the Egmont Overture, the Fifth Piano Concerto and the Fantasia for Piano, Choir and Orchestra. If you would like to see the concert, it will be streamed live on the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's Mewtube channel and their Furrsbook page. It is free, but you have to register in advance here.

Despite the Good News above, these past few days have been furry sad, kitties, with the departure of two more of Our Furriends for the Rainbow Bridge - sweet, beautiful Raven of the Indulged Furries blog and sweet, handsome Pipo of the Meezer's Mews and Terrieristical Woofs blog.  In fact, 2020  has been a purrfectly HORRIBLE year - what with the Evil Coronavirus, and so many anipals flying away to the Rainbow Bridge. We are hardly in the mood for blog hopping - but, on the other hand, the loss of so many of Our Furriends has taught Us how impawtant it is to stay in touch with those who are left, and not tell Ourselves that We can visit them another day. Because, all too often, that Other Day never comes.

So, as We do effurry week, We are joining the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie. Here is their badge:

And We are also pawticipating in the Sunday Selfies blog hop hosted by the sweet and indefatigable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.  Here is their badge:

You can see my Sunday Selfie at the top of this post. I was enjoying a beautiful sun-puddle there when Mummy came and disturbed Me, insisting I cooperate and star in this week's blog hops.

And here is the artified version - for which We used the Watercolour effect from LunaPic at 45%. With the help of PhotoFunia, We then placed it in a gallery where it can be admired by Humans of Good Taste.

Now, before We go, We would remind you once more to stick to all the Social Distancing rules designed to purr-tect you and your Humans, wear your facemasks and remember to keep washing your Paws. That way, you will be safe from the Evil Coronavirus.

See you next week.

Shimshi's Autumnal Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Hallo again, Effurrybuddies!

Shimshi here, wishing you Shavua Tov (a Good Week).

Well, Halloween has been and gone - not that it's celebrated here in Israel, except for sometimes showing some scary, Halloween-themed films on the TeeVee. Come to think of it, even that seemed to be missing this year. Oh! Wait! Maybe that's why they screened the opera "Macbeth" by Signor Giuseppe Verdi, based on the play by Mr. William Shakespurr. It's got the Three Witches in it, hasn't it? BUT - all those humans caterwauling away? Now THAT'S what We call scary (mol).

The weather is still not what you would call autumnal. The tempurratures are in the lower twenties Celsius and there is, as yet, no sign of skywater - but they say We might see some later in the week. Not that it really affects Us. It might affect Mummy, though, as the Second Lockdown is now starting to open up. And, of course, they are making the same mistakes as last time. The Humans are incapable of sticking to a Plan. There is always some special interest group putting on pressure to make them an exception to the rules and if they also have Pawlitical Clout - they get their way!

There is some Good News, though. This meowning, at two hospitals in Israel, they are starting clinical trials of a vaccine that has been developed against the Evil Coronavirus.

As usual, We are purr-ticipating in the Caturday Art blog hop hosted by the Beautiful and Wise Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and in the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the sweet Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

You can see my Sunday Selfie above. Mummy gave it a seasonal touch with the Autumn art effect from LunaPic, and then added the final polish by using the Autumn Frame effect from PhotoFunia.

Now, here are the blog hop badges:

              

Finally, We want to remind you (not that you need reminders, but maybe your Humans do, Humans being notoriously furgetful) that the Evil Coronavirus is still with Us, so it is impawtant to observe all the Rules put in place for your purr-tection, keep Social Distancing, and most impawtant of all - Wash Your Paws furrequently.

And now, it's time to start hopping between those bloggies!
Off we go!!!

                                     

Back To Business: Caspurr's Caturday Art And Sleepy Sunday Selfie

Hallo, Effurryone!

Shavua tov (a Good Week) to you all.

Sir Caspurr the Courageous here, Furrst of My Name, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces and King of the Tigger-Tabbies!

Well, last night We got back the Hour that was stolen from Us earlier this year, when the clocks were put back one hour and Summertime officially ended. I got to sleep an extra hour, as you can see, but I have to say, it's furry depressing when it gets dark so early. However, the weather is still summery - it's expected to remain in the upper 20s Celsius all week.  We did have one day last week when it rained heavily and there was thunder and lightning for a couple of hours - it was beautiful and the smell of the rain was sweeter than any purr-fume, Mummy says - but it was still warm. However, instead of the endless blue skies of summer, there are now little clouds in the early morning and towards evening, which make for beautiful sunsets, like this one:

Please note the birdie up at the top in the centre - a lucky shot of Mummy's.  It's a pity the birdie didn't come a bit closer, however. We would have liked to be able to "play" with it (mol)!

Now that We have Our internet connection back again, We are taking part, as usual, in both the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by our dear  Furriends the Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here are the blog hop badges:

    

        

You can see my Sleepy Sunday Selfie above. Mummy was thinking about how lovely it will be when the museums and art galleries finally open up again and that must have influenced her sub-conscious when she created this week's Caturday Art (with a little help from PhotoFunia):

Now, as usual, before We go blog-hopping, We want to remind you all that the Evil Chinese Coronavirus is still with Us, and so it is furry impawtant for your Humans to keep Social Distancing and wear their facemasks (prefurrably with kitty faces on them).
And Most Impawtant of All - Wash Your Paws furrequently!

See you next week.