Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies for Purim

Greetings to all Our Furriends!

Shavua Tov (a Good Week) to you all.

It has certainly been a Good Week for Mummy. She had her hair cut and went shopping for new clothes and for all kinds of fancy foods, and She went on a solitary nature ramble here in the 'hood to a lookout point that overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem (it's just behind the Enchanted Forest) where, every spring, the hill is covered with lupins (which is why, unsurprisingly, it is called Givat Haturmussim - גבעת התורמוסים - Lupin Hill). Mummy will be writing about that in her own blog later in the week.

Today We are celebrating Shushan Purim here in Jerusalem. This year, because Purim fell on a Friday and Shushan Purim therefore fell on Shabbat (the Sabbath), We have what is called "Triple Purim", because there are certain mitzvot (religious duties) that cannot be purr-formed on Shabbat. You can read all about it in the link Mummy added.  Mummy delivered tasty Purim portions to her neighbours (mishloach manot - משלוח מנות) and received many sweet morsels herself. We have NO DOUBT that when She actually opens them up and starts eating them, She will share with Us (hint, hint, Mummy!)

As usual in Our Weekly Post, We are purr-ticipating 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 Delightfully Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

We thought it would be a Good Idea to use the Blog Hops to share with you all the Joy of Purr-im)!

So, furrst of all, instead of the usual Selfie, here is a furry, furry rare Ussie - all three of Us snoozing together on the sofa, in Our Purim Costumes. We think Mummy was furry sneaky and clever to capture this shot:

Then, We popped over to LunaPic, where We artified the picture and turned it into a joyous Banquet of Colour for Purim. Maybe you can imagine it as King Ahasuerus, Queen Esther and Mordechai after a Royal Banquet (mol)!

 

Next, here are the Blog Hop Badges:

                  

Last, but most definitely not least, We want to remind you  that, while more and more people are now receiving the Vaccination against the Evil Coronavirus, We have not yet won the War against this Invisible Enemy, so you should continue to observe the Social Distancing Regulations, make sure your Humans remember to keep wearing their face masks when they go out - and Most Impawtant of All, Keep Washing Your Paws!

Keep well. Keep safe. We love you all!

Saintly Shimshi's Own Sunpuddle: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybuddies - and Shavua Tov (a Good Week)! 

And it really is a Good Week this time. The horrible, wet, cold, white stuff that made life miserable last Wednesday and, to an extent, Thursday, has all melted away, the Skywater has stopped falling and it is gloriously sunny (though still COLD)!

More of the Lockdown restrictions have been relaxed and it is now pawsible, amongst other things, to go to shopping malls and cultural purr-formances (the latter, only if you have a "Green Passport" showing you have either had your two doses of vaccine against the Evil Coronavirus OR have had the disease and recovered). And it is now pawsible also to hold gatherings of up to 10 people indoors, so Mummy's Caterwauling Club can resume activities in small groups, which they will be doing as of this evening. Mummy, however, is in the Second Group and will have to wait until later in the week - so We will have to put up with her caterwauling at home till then (mol).

And Furriday is PURR-IM (Saturday, if you live in Jerusalem, as We do). That is mostly a Good Thing, but We are afraid Mummy will take it into her head, as She sometimes does, to try and dress Us up in Fancy Dress.
We do not like that!!! If She tries, She will have a Rebellion on her hands!

Now, it is time to join this week's Blog Hops - 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 Incredible Kitties Blue and their HuMum, Janet.

We have used the same photo for both blog hops. Here is the original, where you can see Me bathing in one of the many sunpuddles We have been enjoying when it wasn't snowing or raining.   We like it because you can actually see the Sun's rays bathing Me in their Radiance!  It kind of makes Me look like a Saint, with a halo, doesn't it (mol)?

To artify it, We used the Edtaonisl Effect at 50% and a simple, elegant frame from Mummy's prefurred photo-editing website, LunaPic:

And here are the Blog Hop Badges:

                   

   

Before We start blog hopping, We want to remind you, once again, even if your Humans have been fully vaccinated, that it is still terribly impawtant that you and they continue to observe Social Distancing restrictions, wear facemasks and WASH YOUR PAWS as often as you can.

Stay safe. Stay well. We love you all!

        

Caspurr's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie Valentine

Hallo again, Effurryone and Shavua Tov  (a Good Week)!

Last week, We told you Mummy had a special purroject for her Caterwauling Club. Today, We can reveal the details. 

You might remember Us mentioning that, since She and her Fellow Caterwaulers can only meet via Zoom, due to the current Social Distancing Regulations, and that, because there is a limit to the nature and quality of actual rehearsals you can do on Zoom, they decided (so as not to let things get boring) that one meeting a week would be devoted to lectures on various Mewsical subjects. At some point, Mummy suggested that instead of leaving all the work to the Mewsical Director,  others might like to take turns in giving one of these lectures. Having coming up with the idea, when the Mewsical Director asked if anyone would like to volunteer, Mummy felt that noblesse oblige and that She should pick up the gauntlet.  So She offered to give a short talk on Bagpipe Mewsic. The "short talk" turned into a 90-minute lecture and Mummy felt She could easily have talked for a further 90 minutes.

Kitties, did you know that some people "joke" about Bagpipe Mewsic and compare it to the sound of a dying Cat?!
As if the sound of a Cat dying was anything to joke about!!!

Mummy agrees with Us that it sounds nothing like - though She did say it was not dissimilar, sometimes,  to the sound of a Cat out courting (mol).  Anyway, Mummy loves the sound of the Pipes - and She also learned a lot, whilst researching and  prepurring her talk. For example, effurrybody immediately thinks of Scotland when they think of bagpipes, but did you know that many other countries also have a bagpipe tradition and that there are also different kinds of bagpipes - from western Europe (Asturia, Galicia, Brittany) throughout the Balkans, the Mediterranean basin and North Africa (Malta, Libya) Asia Minor (Turkey), all the way to Russia, the Caucasus (Azerbaijan) and Iran?

Like Mummy, however, We like the Great Highland Bagpipe best.

In other Mews - here in Israel, anyone over the age of 16 can now get vaccinated against the Evil Coronavirus (although it's proving a bit of a job to purr-suade younger people that it is at all necessary).

How is it going in YOUR neck of the woods?

Now, it is time for Us (by which I mean ME, Caspurr, King of the Tigger-Tabbies) to join 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 delightfully unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

In honour of Valentine's Day which falls today, I have instructed My Staff to ensure that my pawtrait is suitably embellished with appropriate symbols:

And here is the Magnificent Original:

And here is a Puzzle!

99CaspurrDarkValentine

Last - but not least - here are the Blog Hop Badges:

 

                                                        

And now, before We go, We want to wish you all a Happy Valentine's  Day - albeit a suitably Socially Distanced one.   We hope that by next Valentine's Day, things will be back to normal and We will be able to hold the Valentine's Day Ball, as in the past. That, however, depends on Us all (and Our Humans too) pulling Our Weight, working together and sticking to the rules, so We can defeat the Evil Coronavirus once and for all.

So remember - you and your Humans - to stay home unless you absolutely MUST go out, wear face-masks when you do go out, get vaccinated as soon as you can and REMEMBER TO KEEP WASHING YOUR PAWS.

Be safe. Be well. We love you all.

Trixie's Darkly Impurressionist Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Shavua Tov (a Good Week), Effurrybody!

We hope you are all well and that your Humans are getting stabbed to purrtect them against the Evil Coronavirus, as Our Mummy has done.  Here in Israel, the Strict Lockdown ended at 7 a.m. this meowning.  There are still lots of restrictions, however, and effurryone is now furry confused about what is allowed and what is not!  Mummy is waiting to hear if it is now pawsible to get a haircut, because Heaven knows, She needs one (mol)!!!  It's been five months since her last and She is meowning about Split Ends!

We also hope you are having decent weather, with lots and lots of sunpuddles!

Mummy says She can feel Spring is on the way, because from the living-room window, far in the distance, She can see an almond tree in bloom and this, as effurryone knows, is the furrst harbinger of spring!

This is going to be a short post, because Mummy has taken upon herself a Purrject for her Caterwauling Club (about which We can say no more, for the time being). It will require quite a lot of Work and must be completed by this Wednesday, so We will get straight to the Point, which is that I, Queen Trixie, am repurresenting the J-Cats in the Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies Blog Hops, hosted respectively by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and by the Totally Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here is a pawtrait of My Gorgeous and Impurrial Meowjesty, enjoying a Snoozy Afternoon (until I was rudely awakened by the Pawpawrazzi).

We artified it, courtesy of Our Favourite - LunaPic -with a mixture of two Art Effects: Renoir, and Dark Art at 50%. Then We added a frame and voilà!  The Renoir effect makes Me look furry Impurressionistic, wouldn't you agree?

One other thing, before We start visiting Our Furriends. Today is Grandpaw and Step-Grandma's Wedding Anniversary. Mummy sent them a huge bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of liqueur which She ordered on line. Here it is:

We, too, want to say Happy Annifurrsary, Grandpaw and Step-Grandma! 

OK, Anipals. It is now time for Us to start Blog Hopping. Furrst of all, We must not furget to put up the Blog Hop Badges. Here they are:

                                                        

    

Before We go, We would remind you, as always, to make sure you and your Humans continue to observe Social Distancing rules, wear your facemasks and always WASH YOUR PAWS,  until the Evil Coronavirus is finally driven away.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.