Heatwave! Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies with Shimshi

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

Yes, once again, it is I, the Mighty Shimshon (Shimshi for short) aka The Little Purrince, Furrst of My Name, Master of the Queen's Mischiefs and Captain of the Guard, here to repurresent my fellow J-Cats in this weekend'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 those oh-so-Delightful and  Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

And before I fur-get (as the extreme heat is making My Head go all Fuzzy), here are the blog hop badges:

                                    

        

Kitties, when I said "extreme heat", I was not kidding! No, sirree!

We are expecting tempurratures in the mid to upper 30s Celsius (the 90s, Fahrenheit) to continue till next weekend at least. Now, it's not unusual for Jerusalem to expurrience tempurratures in the 30s during the summer. What is unusual is for them to continue unabated for several weeks at a stretch, instead of dropping back after 3 or 4 days to a more comfortable 28 or 29 or even 30. What we are getting here is day after day of what the Israeli Meteorological Service calls "Extremely Heavy Heat Load".

In other words - it's TOO DARNED HOT!  

It's lucky We don't live in Eilat!!! The tempurrature there is in the 40s!!!

And the Air Conditioning is still on the blink.
Try getting a A/C technician when EVERYONE needs their services.

We kitties find that lying in the shade, on the uncarpeted part of the floor is quite a good solution:

Mummy can't do that, of course - the floor is too hard for her aged bones.

Fortunately, she also has ceiling fans in the bedroom and guest room plus a couple of furry effective floor and table fans.

We have heard that most of Europe, and much of North America, is also expurriencing extreme tempurratures. How do You (and your Humans) keep cool in this weather?

Mummy artified all of the above photos with the help of LunaPic. The closeup shot, which serves for today's Sunday Selfie, was left almost unchanged. All We did was blur the background somewhat (90%) and add a frame. The only trouble is, it seems also to have blurred my whiskers on one side!

The next artification used the Waves filter at 60%, overlaid with the Water filter at 45%:

Last, but most certainly not least, the picture of Me by My Cubby was enhanced using the Surreal Painting effect, topped with Dreaming at 20%:

Which do you like best?

Time for lunch now (We don't have that much of an appetite in this heat, to tell the truth. Nor does Mummy.)

And afterwards, We shall set off on Our blog-hopping.

Till next time then!

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Caspurr Being Cute: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurryone!

Yes! I'm back again - the Courageous Sir Caspurr the Caspicatious, Furrst of My Name, the Snuggle Bug, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces, King of the Tigger-Tabbies!

And once again, it is both My Purr-ivilege and My Pleasure to lead My Fellow J-Cats on this weekend'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 those oh-so-Delightful and  Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here are the blog hop badges, before I fur-get:

        

And here are the artsy-fartsy versions of My Selfie:

For this fursst one, all We did was use LunaPic's Borders setting to turn the Original Photo into a vignette.

For the second artification, We filtered the photo with Nouveau at 47% and then added a blurred border:

Do you have a favourite?

Kitties, We were furry remiss last week in failing to point out that Friday the 14th of July would have been Angel Pixie's birthday. 

Now, as you may recall, although Pixie was a Stay-At-Home kitty, She always loved to hear about faraway, exotic places, so she would have loved Our Oneg Shabbat on Friday evening.  It was both fun and educational.  Of course, We dedicated it to Angel Pixie. And also to Angel Grandpaw, who would have been 96 years old the day before, July 13th. Do you think they celebrate birthdays at the Rainbow Bridge? If they do, We are sure Grandpaw was celebrating with a great, big, cinnamon cake made by his own Mummy. It was his favourite cake when he was a little boy, only none of Us knew exactly how to make it.

Anyway, to get back to the Oneg Shabbat. We had an Azerbaijani evening. We started off with a lecture and slide show all about Azerbaijani culture and history. Then We had an Azerbaijani-themed supper, followed by Azeri songs and dances purr-formed by two more of Mummy's Collection - Lala and Ismail:

Mummy brought Lala and Ismail back with her when She visited Azerbaijan five years ago. They were a pair of star-crossed lovers, you see. They were in love but their families wanted them to marry other people. Mummy has a soft spot for star-crossed lovers so She asked them if they would like to come with her to Israel, where they could be together, and of course, they said "Yes!".

If you would like to read more about Azerbaijan and Mummy's visit there, you can do so here.  

And now it is time to sign off so that I can get back to my favourite activity - Napping (mol). Indeed, at 37 degrees Celsius, and with no sign of a drop in tempurratures in the next ten days, what else is a kitty to do?!

See you again next week then.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

A Beautiful Package: Trixie's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Hallo there, Effurrybody!

Here I am 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.  It is MY Turn to lead My Fellow J-Cats on this weekend's blog hops - the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Divinely Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

We received several new Boxes this past week. Mummy's Cleaning Lady, Ms. M. brings them especially for Us. She understands how impawtant it is for Us to have a Regular Supply, as it takes Us Shimshi barely a heartbeat to rip them to pieces with his sharp, sharp, little claws! He is such a Destructive (not so) little Mancat!

(I say, Sis, that's not fair. Those boxes are expressly designed for Us to give Our claws a workout - unlike the living room sofa which you single-pawedly retextured! - Shimshi)

Not just destructive - but a Telltale to boot!  And you should see what he has done to the wooden framework of the Bed!  

Anyway, I digress. When Ms. M. brought last week's batch of boxes, I immediately laid claim to one of them:

And, of course, Mummy quickly whipped out her phone and took a picture, to preserve My Beauty in Purr-petuity.

So, this is My Selfie for this week.

We had some difficulty artifying it, because for the past few days, two of Our favourite photo editing sites - PicResize and LunaPic - have been acting up and timing out before We manage to edit Our Pictures. That's why there is only one Artsy-Fartsy LunaPic version of the pawtrait:

We used the Landscape art effect from LunaPic, at 60% and added the Vignette border with the edges faded, plus a regular picture frame.

After several attempts at using other filters, which kept timing out, We went over to another favourite site, PhotoFunia, to prepurr the pawtrait for its appearance in the Israel Museum, where it will be on display all summer.

And here are the blog hop badges, before We fur-get:

        

Mummy's Caterwauling Club is now in Summer Recess till September, so this evening, instead of leaving Us all alone to go off to Caterwauling Purr-actice, maybe She will finally finish writing up her own bloggie, on which She has been working for several days. She has a couple of Bible archaeology field trips and no fewer than three concerts to write about and She has actually written most of it, but things kept on happening - like a couple of terrorist attacks - even as She was writing. Not to mention all the action on the pawlitical front.

So She begs your indulgence and hopes (but no promises, okay?) to post her own blog either tomorrow or the day after. (Yeah, We know. You've heard that before.)

In the meantime, here is a puzzle to keep you busy.

 96

********

Till next week then.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Shimshi's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurrybuddies!

Once more, it falls to Me to lead My Fellow J-Cats on the weekend blog hops - the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Divinely Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

I could not choose between these two selfies, so you must tell Me which you prefurr.

Furrst up, here I am chilling out in front of the Tee Vee with Mummy. That is to say - Mummy was watching Tee Vee - and I was keeping an eye (just one - MOL) on Mummy!

Now, you see the box on the kitchen floor in the background?

And you remember the old adage - If it fits, I sits - don't you?

We prepurred three different artifications for each of these selfies, all using filters from LunaPic.  

Let's start with Me chilling out with Mummy in front of the TV:

The furrst one uses the Connections filter at 60%, with a fairly heavy overlay of Sadness at 40%. We don't often use Sadness because it's - well, Sad, you know. But in this case, I was sad. Why, I hear you asking. Well, because Mummy is being too strict about My Diet! She says if I don't lose weight, I won't stand a chance in the World Pole-Dancing Championships later this year! So not only has She cut My Rations, but She won't let Me scoff what Trixie leaves over.

(I don't "leave over" anything. I like to take My Time over MY Meals, and to be able to take a break and then come back to them without greedy mancats stealing them while I'm not looking! - Trixie)

Next, We used another one of Mummy's favourite combinations - the Surreal Painting effect with an overlay of Tuscany at 75%:

And last, but not least, We tried a combination of Waves at 55% washed over (most suitably, as We don't want another repeat of the Titanic disaster) with Floating, at 35%:

Do you have a favourite among these three?

We also artified My Boxy Picture - furrst of all with Frida (one of Our Favourites) at 85%:

Our next version used Van Gogh at 65%:

For Our Final Artification of the day, We used Sketch3 (a black and white filter) but only at 40%, thus leaving just a hint of colour:

Now, since Mummy is appearing in a concert this evening with her Caterwauling Club, in which She has a So-Low, We will finish up now and let her get some rest. Well, lots of rest, because last night, she only managed to get about 3 or 4 hours sleep. She just couldn't drop off (and no, it wasn't Our Fault!!!).

She has another concert tomorrow evening too, and since only She has the Computer Passwords (and the Opposing Thumbs which are so necessary for typing), We might not be able to visit as many of you this week as We usually do - but, of course, We'll do Our Best.

Meanwhile, here are the blog hop badges:

     

That's all for now then, Dear Furriends. See you next week!

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Caspurr Being Adorable: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Hallo there, Effurryone!

Mummy had no hesitation whatsoever in picking out the Best Picture of Me for this weekend'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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Nor did choosing suitable artifications take as much time as usual!

Using Our favourite photo editing site (LunaPic, of course!), it was quite easy to choose suitable filters. 
Tell Us in the Comments section which is your Favourite!

This furrst one uses the Grey filter,  at 85%:

Our second choice uses the Floating filter, at 60%:

And last - but certainly not least - Sketch2, which is basically black and white but to which We added the faintest hint of colour by using it at 80% only:

All three of these can be seen in the Kitty Cat Pawtrait Gallery, in the Enchanted Forest.

Now, before We forget, here are the blog hop badges:

        

Mummy was furry busy last week because She appeared in a concert with her Caterwauling Club and She even had a So-Low. She had been meaning to write about it on her Own Blog later in the week, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of Mice and Men, don't you?  (Why do they say that? Why MICE?)  Any way, something truly horrible happened last Tuesday, so Mummy felt She had to write about that instead. Hopefully, She will find time this coming week to write about the concert and also about the last two Bible-themed field trips She took.

She has another concert (and another So-Low) in a week's time, so We shall let her have a nice, long afternoon Nap (just like a Cat!) before this evening's rehearsal.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Oneg Shabbat: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

Trixie here, ready to lead my Fellow J-Cats on this weekend's blog hops - the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Divinely Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

But before We do that, I want to explain to you what an Oneg Shabbat is. Literally, it means "the Delight/Joy of the Sabbath". It's a way of extending the joy of the Sabbath evening meal and get-together far into the night, with songs and storytelling (and maybe a few snacks as well - MOL). Like all good Mewish cats, We have a an Oneg Shabbat effurry Furriday evening, after Mummy has gone to bed. I suppose you could see it as a furry special kind of pawty (as you know, We J-Cats LOVE pawties of effurry kind). But it's not just about scoffing loads of noms. We also have an artistic programme, which is both fun and educational. In order to make sure things are done propurrly, We have a committee of five to arrange effurrything. Our Committee consists of three (semi) purr-manent members, elected for a two year period, and two rotating members, who change on a quarterly basis. The current purr-manent members are three of Our Pawselain Dolly sisters, Miss Dorothea, Miss Laura and Ms. Lottie, whom you have met before, many times. The current rotating members are My Brofur, Caspurr and another member of Mummy's Collection - Mr. Twizzle, to whom We shall introduce you later on.

Now, as I said, We like Our Oneg Shabbat pawties to be both fun and educational. Last Furriday, We had a Comic Conjuring routine by Mr. Twizzle.

After that, We heard a furry interesting lecture by Miss Natalia about her native St. Petersburg. She told Us all about the world-famous Hermitage Mewseum and the Cats who live there. 

If you are interested, you can read about Mummy's 2017 visit to St. Petersburg with her Caterwauling Club, on her own blog.

Mummy has been a source of Ins-purration for Us with her Caterwauling - so much so, that several members of her Collection have sought to e-mew-late her by founding their own mewsical ensembles. Thus, the Oneg Shabbat concluded with a delightful purr-formance by the Von Katz Family Singers:

After that, I was totally exhausticated and fell into a deep, sweet slumber:

I slept through most of the following day, in fact and refused to get up even to take a Selfie - which is why you will have to content yourselves with this picture of Me, peacefully snoozing.

Mummy also made two artifications of My Sunday Snoozie Selfie.

The furrst one uses LunaPic's Ceremony filter at 70%, washed over with Floating at 30%:

The second version uses Connections at 40%:

Now it is time to put up the blog hop badges:

     

That's all for this week, dear furriends.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Memories of Minxie: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybody!

Today, We are taking a break from Our usual Order of Purrecedence. Strictly speaking, it should be Trixie's turn to repurresent the J-Cats in this weekend'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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

However, tomorrow, June 12th, is the Yahrzeit, or Rainbow Bridge Annifursary, of Mummy's furry furrst kitty, the Legendary Minxie, who, sadly, lost her battle with an Evil Cancer and received her Angel Wings 28 years ago, just three days short of her 15th birthday.

So today, We are honouring her memory and making her Our Repurresentative in the blog hops.

Since Minxie became an Angel long before Mummy had a blog - or even a computer - she neffur had the oppurrtunity to enjoy the Fame she undoubtedly deserved.  So We are going to remedy that in some small measure. 

Here is a picture of Minxie taken, Mummy thinks, sometime in 1993. Mummy thinks that, because it's in the same photo album as the pictures from Mummy's furrst visit to Malta in the summer of that year. It isn't all that good a picture, because it was taken on one of those Prehistoric Cameras, which had film in them and which had to be taken to a Photography Shop to be developed. But it does give you an idea of Minxie's Beauty, doesn't it?  We hope so, because We are using this for Our Sunday Selfie this week.

Mummy and Minxie had absolute, complete and utter trust in one another. Minxie used to lie full length on Mummy's chest and tummy when Mummy lay down on the sofa and watched TV. And when Mummy went to bed, Minxie would snuggle in her armpit and go to sleep with her little chinny-chin-chin resting on Mummy's shoulder.

And one of the most adorable things about her was the way she would sit at the table and have breakfast with Mummy:

We used a pawtion of this second picture as Our Caturday Art. As usual, We made three furry different artifications.

The furrst version uses LunaPic's Surreal Painting effect, overlaid with Fantasy at 50%:

Next, We tried Cartoon at 80% and then played about with the light levels:

Finally, We thought We'd go for something in black and white, so We opted for Escher - also at 80% - but then decided to add a bit of colour with a light brushing of Tiedye at 30%:

So there you have it. Of course, if Mummy had had a fancy digital camera back then, She would have been able to do better justice to Minxie's Beauty and Sweetness, but Mummy's Memory is the best camera of all and in Mummy's Memory, Minxie reigns forever, young and bright and beautiful. We LOVE hearing about her. She is Our Spiritual Ancestress. Single-pawedly, She made Mummy - who had neffur had ANY pet before - into a Cat Purrson.

Now, We shall light a Meowmorial Candle for Minxie, as is the Mewish custom:

And here are the blog hop badges:

        

Now, it is time to go and visit as many of Our Furriends as pawssible!

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.