Ups and Downs: Caspurr's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effuryone!

Here I am again, Sir Caspurr the Courageous, the Caspicatious, Furrst of My Name, the Snuggle Bug, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Guard, King of the Tigger-Tabbies, ready to lead my fellow 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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

I thought this was a purrfectly good selfie, but Mummy made Me wake up and do another one, with My Eyes open, so as a bonus, you also get to see My Terrific Tummy.
You can't resist it, can you? 

Neither can Mummy (mol).

Now, dear Anipals, We have a furry Embarrassing Confession to make. There has been so much happening here (the War and effurrything), that We completely forgot Queen Trixie's Gotcha Day on November 12th. We are so, so sorry - and to make it up to her, We are including a Most Adorable Twofur of her with Shimshi, seated under the dining room table, looking furry queenly indeed, We think.

Shimshi is at Trixie's right paw, because he is Captain of the Guard and his sworn duty is to protect his Queen-Empurress.

We have made some beautiful artifications of all three pictures. 

Furrst of all, the artsy-fartsy version of My Sunday Snoozie uses LunaPic's Dreaming filter at 45%, overlaid with Quirky at 55%:

The next picture, where you can gaze in awe and admiration at My Tantalising  Tummy, was artified using LunaPic's Fairy filter at 80%, topped with Beauty at 40%:

And finally, the twofur of Queen Trixie and the Mighty Shimshi uses a single filter - Dark, at 50%.

And here are the blog hop badges:

        

As far as news of the War goes, you or your Humans have no doubt heard of the Truce, during which a few of the Israeli hostages who were kidnapped on October 7th, are to be returned home (some already have been). This is, of course, a mere Drop in the Ocean. Tomorrow, or later this week, Mummy will write more updates on this subject on her own bloggie. We, ourselves, however, even though We usually post on Sundays only, may pawsibly write an extra post later in the week on the fate of the pets and livestock in the kibbutzim and other Israeli towns and villages that were attacked by the Evil Humans from Gaza, so watch this space.

Till next time.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

It's Looking a Lot Like Autumn: Two Selfies and a Twofur

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

It's Me here, Queen Trixie, Fursst of My Name, Empurress of Jerusalem, Israel and the Entire Middle East, Queen of Hearts, Guardian of the Boudoir, Alpha Kitty Extraordinaire!

This week, it is MY Turn to lead 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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here are the blog hop badges, before We forget:

        

We found it hard to choose this time, so you are getting TWO of Me for the Price of One (mol)! 

Here is the second pawtrait:

In fact, since Shimshi felt rather short-changed last week, because instead of artifying his selfie, We posted artifications of Grandpaw, and since We don't want Caspurr to feel left out either, We are giving you an Extra Special Bonus this weekend  - a Twofur of My Pesky Brofurs!

My furrst pawtrait has been artified using LunaPic's Dark filter, at 77%:

We like this because it has kind of a chiaroscuro effect (Mummy likes to use big words like that, because She is taking an Open University online lecture series on Art). 

For the second picture, We used Smoke at 62%, with an overlay of Our Favourite Art Nouveau effect at 38%.

We didn't think about it at the time, but together, that adds up to 100%! Pretty cool, right?

Finally, for Shimshi and Caspurr's Twofur, We chose Fairy at 50%, topped (once again) with Nouveau at 38%:

Now, just to keep you updated - Autumn seems to have decided to make its belated appearance. Last Tuesday, when Mummy was at the Burial Grounds with the rest of the Family, marking Grandpaw's Furrst Rainbow Bridge Anniversary, the Windows of Heaven opened, skywater poured down in rivers, there were flashes of lightning and thunder boomies that made Mummy jump from shock, they were so loud. It felt like the storm was right overhead. It's lucky Grandpaw is buried in the new part of the cemetery, which is under cover.
Anyway, after that, We had a few sunny days, and today, it looks like it's going to be another stormy one! The sky is all grey and overcast, and the weather app on Mummy's phone says We can expect it to be windy and wet all through the afternoon and evening and all through the night, as well as all day tomorrow.
We really wouldn't care, except that Mummy has to go out this evening to Caterwauling Practice, and if the weather is going to be as bad as they say, it will make it furry hard for her to get a taxi.

For those of you who are interested in the Wider Picture of what is going on in Our Neck of the Woods, you can take a look at Mummy's own bloggie.

Now it's time for Us to sign off and start blog hopping.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Shimshi Remembers Grandpaw: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurrybuddies.

How have you all been keeping? We are all as well as can be expected, considering We have been at war now for five weeks. We try to keep Our Spirits up, each in Our Own Way - Mummy, with her Mewsic and Us, by 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 those Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

This week, it is the turn of ME, 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,  to lead the J-Cats on the bloggie hops.

I proudly present to you My Selfie:

We all have an additional reason for feeling furry sad this week. On Tuesday, it will be exactly one year (according to the Mewish Calendar) since Grandpaw was called away to his Rainbow Bridge. We have been thinking about him a lot. Mummy wonders aloud all the time, what he would have made of the situation here now. As a Holocaust survivor, he was always so grateful for the existence of the State of Israel, where all Jews could find a Safe Refuge - and now, it looks like even that is not to be lightly taken for granted and that some Humans (quite a lot, in fact) think that Israel has no right to exist!

In honour of Grandpaw, Our Caturday Art this week will be dedicated to him. Mummy used LunaPic to make three different artifications of him.

Here is one, using the Psychedelic filter at 55%:

There are two more, one using Sketch4 at 50% with an overlay of Beauty at 25% (right) and another using Monet at 70% (centre). Mummy decided they should all hang in PhotoFunia's National Gallery of Art:

That's all for now, Dear Anipals. We will try to visit as many of you as We can before Mummy goes to lie down and rest, ahead of Caterwauling Practice.

So before We go, here are the blog hop badges:

        

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Caspurr's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie: One Month Into The War

Greetings, Effurryone.

It's been a whole month now since this war started, and further details are still coming to light about the dreadful, awful, horrible things the Evil Ones from Gaza did on that furrst day, October 7th. What makes Mummy even more upset is the fact that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, there are people throughout the world who are denying that it happened at all and claiming that the evidence is fake!!!
We don't want to upset you all, so We aren't going to write about that here. Mummy will save that for her own blog, where She has already posted several articles on the subject, and will write more later this week.

One of the ways We "escape" from all the horrors is by taking part, each week, 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 those delightful, Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet. It is My Turn, this week, to repurresent the J-Cats, so without further ado, here is My Selfie.

I know, I know, I look as if I am snoozing when I should be on guard, but if you biggify the picture, you will see that I have one eye open. And if you biggify it some more, you can even catch a glimpse of my little pink tongue. I know your humans all LOVE glimpses of a kitty's tongue (mol).

We artified this picture with the help of LunaPic. We used the Psychedelic effect at full strength, but We thought it was rather too exuberant for the current situation, so we added an overlay of Sadness at 30%.

We thought it impawtant to keep cheerful, which is why, in spite of Our Subdued Spirits, it's still furry colourful.  However, for some reason, you can't see My Tongue so clearly in the artified version.

As Trixie mentioned last week, We have already put the clocks back, so now, the sun sets at about 4:30 pm and by 5:30 pm, it's already dark. On Wednesday, it absolutely poured with sky water. There was even thunder and lightning. But that only lasted one day. It's back to sunny skies, hardly any clouds and daytime tempurratures in the upper 20s Celsius.  Still, there is a definite nip in the air at night and in the early morning. Hallo, Autumn! Are you there?

Now, before We go (and let Mummy rest till it's time for Caterwauling Purractice), here are the blog hop badges:

        

See you next week. Till then, Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Trixie's Patriotic Sunday Selfie and Exceedingly Spooky Caturday Art

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

Queen Trixie here, Furrst of My Name, Empurress of Jerusalem, Israel and the Entire Middle East, Queen of Hearts, the Panfur Princess, Guardian of the Boudoir, Alpha-Kitty Extraordinaire, leading the 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 the Delightfully and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here is My Selfie.

Do you see My Nice New Box? It came with Our Last Order from Animal Shop and contained 10 bags of the new kind of litter We are using for Our litter-boxes. Mummy saw they had a special offer on crystal litter a couple of months ago, so We tried it and were furry satisfied. It doesn't stick to Our furs or leave dust trails nearly as much as the clay-based clumping litter We were using before, and it controls odours much better. Besides which, it's kind of pretty (mol).  So that's what We are using now.
What do you think? What kind of litter do you prefurr (if that's not too purrsonal a question)?

For Our Caturday Art, We have taken note that Howloween is almost upon Us. We used LunaPic's Dark filter at 77%, and some of their Clipart. Do you think the result is sufficiently Spooky? We certainly do!

And here are the blog hop badges:

            

Last night, We put the clocks back one hour, so Mummy had the chutzpah to think She could sleep an extra hour this meowning and make Us wait for Our Breakfast! Well, naturally, We weren't having any of that so We sang the Song of Our People and did zoomies all over the place, until She had no choice but to get up and feed Us!

Despite that giveaway that Autumn is really here, there is no sign of rain and, in fact, We "enjoyed" tempurratures of up to 30 C over the weekend.  

Uncle D. made it safely back to London, although his departure was marked by a truly fur-raising expurrience. Well, it raised Our furs anyway, though Uncle D. claimed nobody on board panicked. On the afternoon that Uncle D. flew home, there were several heavy missile barrages aimed at Tel Aviv. Uncle D. was one of the furrst to board his airy-plane, and was sitting in his seat talking to Mummy on his meowbile phone when there was another rocket attack from Gaza. They were parked there on the tarmac like sitting ducks! There would have been no possibility to get effurrybody off the airy-plane and into a safe space in the 90 seconds at their disposal, so they just carried on boarding, while the Iron Dome air defence system did its work.  NOT something We would care to expurrience Ourselves! 

Now, It is time for Us to sign off, as Mummy has to have a rest before going to Caterwauling practice. They have started up again, after taking a break during the furrst week of the War, because people felt that singing together would give them strength. And do you know what? Mummy says it really did help. She doesn't caterwaul all over the house like She used to before the War, but She says it did help enormously to be with other people and to be able to detach herself for a couple of hours from the dreadful situation all around Us.

      

Till next time, then.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Shimshi's Solemn Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Hallo again, Effurrybuddies!

As you know, things here in Israel are furry sad and worrying. More and more details are emerging of the terrible things the Evil Ones from Gaza (We can hardly bring Ourselves to call them humans and We certainly wouldn't insult animals by calling them animals!) did in their attack in the south of Israel two weeks ago. Mummy will write about that in her own blog maybe, in the coming days.

I, the Mighty Shimshon (aka the Little Purrince) etc. etc., Shimshi for short, am finding it harder than effur to carry out My Duties as Master of the Queen's Mischiefs. I have to keep Mummy's spirits up, but it is not easy in these dreadful times. I have been snuggling with her a lot - well, We all have - and I do my best to make her smile, but there is little to smile about. So you will all understand why I am looking so solemn in my selfie.

Yes, dear anipals, it is My Turn 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 the Delightful, and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Furrst of all, I need to show My True Colours, as I am also Captain of the Guard:

We don't often use LunaPic's Sadness filter, and certainly not at anything like full strength -  but this week, it would be justified. Still, We would not allow Mummy to give in to complete despair and so it is set at 85%:

Another filter that We don't often use - if effur - is Pen. Here, We set it at 65%:

And here are the blog hop badges:  

            

And now to another reason for Mummy's sadness. Yesterday, October 21st, was Possum's yahrzeit - 11 years since he flew off to the Rainbow Bridge. We wish to honour him by posting his pawtrait here, in remembrance of Possum the MagnifiCat.

Here he is in his kittenhood, shortly after he furrst came to Mummy:

He was so tiny - but he grew to be a Really Big Mancat (just like Me, Mummy says).
He is always in Mummy's heart and will neffur, effur, be forgotten.

One nice thing We can tell you is that Uncle D. is back with Mummy, after having spent a couple of weeks at Auntie N's apawtment. He was meant to fly back to England last Sunday, but his flight was cancelled, because of the War. He managed to book another flight, which was supposed to leave on Friday - the day before yesterday - but that, too, was cancelled. So now he has booked with El Al and is supposed to leave the day after tomorrow (Tuesday). Meanwhile, he is staying here again with Us for a few more days.  He cooked supper for Mummy on Friday - stuffed, roast chick-hen and roast potatoes. She said it was yummy, but they didn't give Us any. Mummy said that's because Uncle D. used a lot of garlic and onion in the cooking, both of which are furry, furry bad for kitties. (We think that's just an excuse. What do you think, dear furriends?)

At all events, it cheered Mummy up quite a lot to have Uncle D.'s company.

And now, Dear Furriends, it's time to sign off. If We don't find time to visit you all today, look out for Us over the course of the week.

Till then, be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Caspurr's Heartbroken Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Greetings, Effurryone!

It is I, Field Marshall Sir Caspurr the Courageous here, repurresenting 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 Our Dear Furriends, the Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet. 

Who would have believed that after Trixie's post last week, things would get even worse?

As you know, we are at war, dear furriends. Since we last posted, bloodcurdling details have emerged of the terrible things the evil humans from Gaza did. Mummy wrote about some of them in her own blog last week. We don't want to write about them here, but We must tell you that the Hamas-ISIS murderers even slaughtered the animals in the kibbutzim which they managed to over-run.

Many people from areas nearest to the borders have been evacuated to safer places, but have been forced to leave behind beloved pets, as well as farm animals. And there were many furbabies who were so terrified of all the rockets and mortars and gunfire, that they fled.  And that's without taking into account the many pet-owners who were murdered and left their furbabies orphans. Volunteer organisations are trying to take care of them.

We are determined, however, to do Our Best to stay in touch with you all and to keep posting effurry Sunday.

So, here is an artified, close-up pawtrait of me. Mummy didn't hesitate for so much as a minute in choosing a filter - LunaPic's Brave filter, at 100%.

And here are the blog hop badges:

        

The heartbreak of the past week is not only due to the War. We also learnt of the departure for the Rainbow Bridge of two beloved Feline Furriends - Brian, the handsome, gentle mancat from Brian's Home, and Sage (aka TKS), the sweet panfur princess from Savannah's Paw Tracks.  Our sincerest and most heartfelt condolences to their pawrents and families. May these two precious furbabies now run free, forever young and healthy again, in the endless nip fields beyond the Bridge, safe in the Loving Paw of the Great Cat in the Sky.

That's all for now, dear anipals. We will try to visit as many of you as We can, over the course of the week.

Meanwhile, be well. Be safe. We love you all.