Purring and Barking for Peace in the Ukraine - Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

 Hallo again, Effurryone!

This week, I, Sir Caspurr the Caspicacious, Furrst of My Name, the Snuggle Bug, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces, King of the Tigger-Tabbies, will be leading the J-Cats on the weekend 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 Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Furrst of all, here is My Sunday Snoozie Selfie. As you can see, I was rudely awakened from sleep by My Human. I don't know how She could do that, considering We have none of Us - including her - yet recovered from having an hour of Our Beauty Sleep stolen last Fursday night when the Humans put their clocks forward!

Please take note, in the background is My Our Tunnel,  which bears the colours of the Ukrainian flag - blue for the sky and yellow for the sunflowers which grow there in such abundance.


And this week's Caturday Art, also in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, is of Our Woofie Uncle, Messi.  We used LunaPic's Starry art filter and added a frame in the Ukrainian national colours.

Which brings Me to this week's Third Blog Hop - Blog4Peace Ukraine, hosted by Mimi Lenox, founder of Blog4Peace.

We have all heard that Russian President Putin is a dog lover. So We have invited  Messi to send a special message to him. Over to you, Messi.

Thank you, Caspurr.  Well, here goes then...

Dear Mr. President Putin.

They say you are a dog lover. Well, if that is the case, I would like to ask you, in the name of Us Woofies, throughout the Ukraine and Russia, and, indeed, all over the World, to stop this Stupid War!  Think of all the Woofies and Other Animals in the Ukraine who are getting killed, or who are starving or who have been abandoned, or whose Humans have been killed, simply because you can't think of a better way to settle your differences with the Ukrainians!  Think of all the Russian Woofies whose Humans won't be coming home because they have been killed in your horrible War! Do you seriously think your own Woofies would approve of that?  Be very sure that they wouldn't. Ask them, they'll tell you. We Woofies aren't enemies!
Humans think they are smarter than Animals - but what you are doing isn't very smart, is it? And it isn't very Human(e) either!

So stop it. Just - stop it. 

(Signed) Messi

Thank you, Messi. We think that puts Our Point of View furry clearly.

Now here are the blog hop badges:

                                             

                  

Finally, before We go, just a quick reminder that until the Evil Mutant Ninja Coronavirus is defeated, make sure your Humans continue to take all necessary precautions. 

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

         

                                                   

Looking Forward To Spring: Trixie's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

We are back to taking turns again for the weekend 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 Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

So, this week it is My turn - 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.

Since tomorrow, March 21st, is the furrst day of Spring, and since we will be putting the clocks forward the night between Fursday the 24th and Furriday the 25th, We have chosen a Spring-like theme for Our Caturday Art, using LunaPic's Flowers art effect, at 80%:

We even made a jigsaw puzzle: 

99TrixieAfterPurimFlowers80pc

Now for this week's update on the status of the Evil Mutant Ninja Coronavirus here in Israel. After having a few cases of people infected simultaneously with the Omicron and BA-2 variants, yet another mutation has appeared - an Omicron/BA-2 hybrid! And, unsurprisingly, considering that almost all Social Distancing restrictions were lifted, the transmission rate, which had been falling for the last two months, is now on the rise again and as of this morning, it stands at 1.1, meaning it is spreading again. There were 7,783 confirmed new cases in the past 24 hours - and that's when we had got down to about 5000 new cases daily. Mummy is afraid We will be in lockdown again by Pessach (Passover) if something isn't done fast.

We have heard that other countries are also seeing an upswing in the transmission rate. That being the case, before We start out on the bloggie hops, We want to remind you all, once more, to make sure your Humans continue to take all necessary precautions.

Before we go, here are the blog hop badges:

         

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

More Smiles and More Tears: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybody

It seems there is no end  to the Sorrows besetting Us. Scarcely had We written last week's blog post in which We bade a sad farewell to Winston, when the furry next day, We learned that yet another beloved kitty, sweet, gentle Dolly from the Brian's Home Blog had been called, most unexpectedly, to the Rainbow Bridge. It was a Terrible Shock to Us, and even more so for her grieving pawrents and her fursibs. We are sure most of you have already been to leave your Condolences, but if not, be sure to do so - and to wish Dolly's Cat Daddy, Terry, a full and swift recovery from the emergency surgery he had the furry next day.

It feels somehow out of place to switch so suddenly to one of the most joyous holidays in the Mewish calendar, but this Thursday (or Friday, for those of us who live in Jerusalem) We celebrate Purr-im, when We are commanded to rejoice and be merry. We usually have a Big Pawty in the Enchanted Forest, as you know, but this year,  We are too sad for that, with all the Bad Things that have been happening this month (which isn't even half way through) so We shall celebrate quietly, en famille.

We are, of course, taking part in the weekend 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 Effur Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Since Thursday, as We mentioned, is Purr-im (as well as being St. Patrick's Day, for those of you with the Luck of the Irish), instead of picking just one of Us to repurresent the J-Cats in the bloggie hops, each of Us has contributed a selfie, and We have even consented to appear in Fancy Dress, as is the custom at Purr-im, in the artified versions.

So let's start with Queen Trixie (ladycats furrst, naturally).

Trixie is dressing up this year as Queen Esther. A Queen is always a Queen, after all! She does it with real style, don't you agree - although she flatly refused to let Mummy put a dress on her!

We used LunaPic's Floating art filter, at 45%, for the artification process.

Next up is Caspurr.

Caspurr, who keeps forgetting Miaow Like A Pirate Day until it's too late, decided that this year, he would be sure to make up for it at Purr-im.

So here is a pawtrait of the Pirate King - with a little help from Lunapic's Devilish filter at 70%, overlaid with the Dark filter at 45%.

Last - but by no means least - is Shimshi, Our Little Purrince.

In his capacity as Master of the Queen's Mischiefs, it is Shimshi's job to keep Us all entertained even when We are feeling distinctly Down in the Dumps, rather like the Court Jester in mediaeval European courts. Shimshi took his job description as ins-purr-ation and this (using LunaPic's Brave filter at 65%) is the result:

Next, We must add the bloggie hop badges:

                    

Last, but by no means least, a word or two about the Evil Mutant Ninja Coronavirus. Mummy still thinks the daily number of new cases is too high to get back to normal, but She hopes to resume attendance at the rehearsals of her Caterwauling Club after Purr-im. However, now there is another worry. Last week, a case of polio was discovered in Jerusalem, for the furrst time in about a zillion years. About 98% of the population is vaccinated (including Mummy, of course) but this was a four-year-old whose parents, apparently, refused to have their child vaccinated. 

If it's not one thing, it's another, Mummy says!

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Smiles and Tears: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

This morning we learned, with great sadness, that yet another dear furriend has crossed the Rainbow Bridge - sweet, handsome Winston, of the Stillness at Cherith blog. We knew, of course, that he had been feeling poorly, but We neffur imagined that the End was so close and it was a Terrible Shock to Us, when Mummy turned on her meowbile phone this morning and read her messages, to be greeted with this news. So many anipals and humans have been taken from Us over the past couple of years - and not even by the Evil Mutant Ninja Coronavirus! Mummy also lost two friends from her Caterwauling Club, within the space of less than a month.

May you fly free now, Winston Kitty, free from pain and safe in the Paw of the Great Cat in the Sky. Someday, We shall all meet again. Hugs and kitty kisses and purrs of comfort to your Human, Maggie, and to your sisfur, Miss Emily.

We continue to purray for the Humans and the Critters in the Ukraine. It is so terrible, what is happening there. We have a family connection there, because Mummy's Grandpaw (her Mummy's Daddy) was born there, as was Our Step-Grandma.

So this week, for Our Sunday Selfies, all three of Us posed in Our Tunnel, which bears the colours of the Ukrainian flag:

These are Our entries in the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop, hosted by Our Dear Furriends, the Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

For the Caturday Art Blog Hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie,  We are honouring Caspurr, the King of the Tigger-Tabbies, whose 9th birthday is Tomorrow, the 7th of March!

We have issued a Gold Coin and a Postage Stamp in his honour:

Here are the blog hop badges:

                               

We haven't heard so much about the Evil Mutant Ninja Coronavirus pandemic since the invasion of the Ukraine, but We do know that yesterday there were still about 5000 new confirmed cases (on the news this meowning, they gave a figure closer to 6000, but the Ministry of Health dashboard which was supposedly updated this meowning at 9:10 a.m. gives the number at 4,562). We have no idea as to the numbers in the rest of the world and We think it's better to be safe than sorry, so before We set out on the bloggie hops, We would remind you to make sure your Humans continue to take all necessary precautions. 

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.