Happy Hanukkah from Shimshi and the J-Cats

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

Do you know what tonight is? Yes! It's the Furrst Night of Hanukkah. Tonight, we will light the furrst candle of the holiday, and every night thereafter for 8 days - er, nights (mol). And there will be yummy Hanukkah foods like sufganiyot and potato latkes (at least, Mummy says they are yummy, but We will have to take her word for it as We have neffur been allowed to eat them, because they are - so Mummy says - furry unhealthy. So why does She eat them, We'd like to know?)

At all events, We are going to have a Hanukkah pawty on Saturday evening, the Night of the Seventh Candle, up in the Enchanted Forest, to which, of course, you are all invited. It will be at 6pm Israel Time. And We are going to have tuna and trout latkes and sufganiyot with salmon mousse and cream fillings and all sorts of other goodies. And We will play with the dreidel or sevivon and there will be prizes for the winners! In short, it's going to be a Whole Lot of Fun!!!

As today is My Turn to repurresent the J-Cats in 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 Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet - I have chosen to submit a Hanukkah card, adorned with menorot (Hanukkah candelabra) and dreidels.

Can you see my Pawsselain Dolly sisters, Miss Dorothea and Miss Laura, in the background?

We made three different artifications and We hope you will let Us know in the Comments section which is your favourite. All the artwork this week comes from LunaPic.

Furrst of all, We tried Fairy at 63%. We liked it so much that We left it at that, without combining any other effects, as We often do.

Next up - an artification using Watercolour at 50%:

And finally, a furry artsy-fartsy combination of K3 at 55% and Clown at 33%:

And here are the blog hop badges:

        

Before We go, We would like to give you the heads up that We might not be able to blog next Sunday, because Mummy and her caterwauling friends have a big concert next Sunday evening with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and She has to be at the concert hall in the afternoon already for balance checks on stage. So We might not be able to post till next Monday. In case We don't manage to post next week at all, We will take this oppurrtunity, besides wishing you all Happy Hanukkah, also to wish you a Merry Chrissymouse. At all events, whenever Our next post happens to be, We say be well. Be safe. We love you all.

UPDATE: Since posting the above, We have learned of the wicked, murderous attack by evil anti-semitic terrorists on the Jewish community who were celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. So far, We know of 12 people murdered. We send hugs and purrs of condolence to their families and purrayers for the full recovery of all the wounded. Despite the hatred directed at the Mewish people, We will remain undaunted and unbowed. They will not defeat Us. 
When you light your Hanukkah candles tonight, pray for the souls of the victims,  for the recovery of the injured - and for swift justice and punishment of all those responsible.

Am Yisrael Chai!  עם ישראל חי

Caspurr's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurryone!

How are you all today?

Here in Jerusalem, We had some rain overnight - but nothing like they had in Eilat, where it normally hardly rains at all! They had floods, the roads were blocked and the city was completely cut off! It's furry lucky that Mummy's nieces, who live in Eilat, had come up to Jerusalem for Shabbat!!!

Speaking of Mummy's nieces, one of them is going to move in with Step-Grandma. So Step-Grandma had to move all the books out of the Guest Kitty Room, to make room for a wardrobe. But there wasn't enough room then for all the books at Step-Grandma's house, so Mummy and her sister N. took a lot of them. Mummy didn't have enough shelf space for all the books She took, so She had to take a book-case as well. And that meant Mummy had to move a small sideboard from the living-room into Our Room, to make room for the "new" book-case in the living-room. Which, of course, means that Our Room is that much more crowded. On the other hand, it now looks more like a guest room than a Random Collection of Furniture (Mummy says).

Now, to more impawtant matters. I, Sir Caspurr the Courageous, the Caspicatious, Furrst of My Name, the Snuggle-Bug, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces, King of the Tigger-Tabbies, am the Face of the J-Cats today, for 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 Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

As is Our Custom, We have chosen a trio of selfies. They were all framed with LunaPic, but the artifications this time are from BeFunky. We like variety every now and then, you see.

Furrst of all, here is a shot of Me with some of My Friends - Snowy the Seal, Edward the Bear, Felix the Cat Who Purrs When He's Cuddled (like Me) and Mycroft the Mouse (who is hiding behind Snowy).

The artified version uses the Underpainting effect at full strength.

In the next picture, you can see how Our Room has been rearranged with the small sideboard and next to it, Shimshi's little cubby (it belongs to all of Us but it's too small for Me now and Trixie doesn't use it much either).

When it came to artifying this one, Mummy discovered that it is pawssible to combine more than one Effect with BeFunky, just as She usually does with LunaPic. So behold - here I am all artified with a combination of Inkwash at 50% and Oil Painting, the latter at full strength.

Finally, Mummy sneakily snapped Me when I was snuggled up next to her under the lovely warm duvet:

Of course, to do that, She had to turn back the coverlet and let all the Cold Air in!!!
Still, We made a mewtiful artsy-fartsy version of this with the Watercolour GFX effect:

Which one do you like best and why? Let Us know in the Comments section below.

Now here are the blog hop badges.

        

That's about it for now. We will be back, COD-willing, next Sunday, same Cat Time, same Cat channel. Till then, be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Queen Trixie's Leisurely Weekend - Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybody!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving (those of you who celebrate it).  I, the Queen-Empurress Trixie, am having a lovely, lazy leisurely Weekend and I hope you are too. 

We are still enjoying fine, sunny weather here, though the tempurratures have come down and are now "normal" for this time of year (daytime tempurratures in the upper teens). The weather prophets did say there might be scattered showers over the next couple of days. We hope that won't spoil Mummy's field trip tomorrow.

Speaking of Mummy and her trips, She has now posted the third episode about her vacation in Greece on her own bloggie.  She says the fourth episode will have to wait a couple of weeks because She wants to write about the opurretta She took part in (The Flying Mousie) and, hopefully, about tomorrow's field trip.

Now, to the business in Hand. I, Queen Trixie, will be repurresenting the 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.

Here is the Selfie We have chosen this week:

And here is the Sunday Selfies blog hop badge:

And here are the artifications which We made - this time, with the help of BeFunky. The frames were by LunaPic.

Furrst, Vector Pop GFX, set at 70% to tone down the colour slightly:

I can see why it's called Vector Pop. It certainly makes My Eyes pop out, doesn't it (MOL)?

Next, one which We haven't used before - at least, not on its own. Pen Art 2:

And finally, Graphic Novel:

And here is the Caturday Art blog hop badge:

So tell Us, which of these do you like best - and why?

Now, you know the drill. We shall visit as many of you as We can today, before Mummy takes her Siesta (as usual, She has caterwauling practice this evening). Those we can't get to today, We hope to visit later in the week.

So, let's get hopping. COD-willing, We will be here again next week, same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. Till then, be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Shimshi's Weekend: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

Wow, it's a rollercoaster here! After the heavy Skywater last week, yesterday We had tempurratures up to 28 degrees Celsius in Jerusalem - and in the Negev and Eilat, it was even hotter.  Today it's down to a maximum of about 25 degrees, but on Mummy's weather app, it warns of thunderstorms tomorrow night. Still, it's furry warm for November!

Last night, Mummy appeared in the fourth and final purrformance of The Flying Mouse by Mr. Strauss (Die Fledermaus), and hopefully, she will, at last, find the time to write about it and share some pictures and videoclips from the show on her own bloggie. Meanwhile, it is time for Us to join the weekend blog hops - the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Divinely Beautiful and Wise Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

As you can see, I, the Mighty Shimshon (Shimshi for short), aka The Little Purrince, Furrst of My Name, aka The Baby Mancat, Master-of-the-Queen's-Mischiefs and Captain of the Guard, will be the one leading my fellow J-Cats on the blog hops this time.

Once again, We made three different artsy-fartsy versions of My Pawtrait, with the help of LunaPic. Furrst up, here is one using the Frida Effect at 65%, with a Dark overlay at 30%:

Next, We chose Beauty at 41%, then added Scribble at 19%:

For Our final artification, We revisited Gorky (which We haven't used in a while) at 52%, and then gave it a light wash of Pen at 18%:

All three of these artifications are now on display at the PhotoFunia Art Gallery in London, as well as the Katz Gallery in Jerusalem:

Do let Us know in the Comments section below, which is your Favourite - and why?

Now, We are running a bit late because Mummy didn't get up till almost 9 am this meowning, so exhausticated was She after last night's purrformance and getting home at midnight. I swear, what with having to feed Us (and the Outdoor Kitties) supper and all the other Stuff She does before going to bed, She didn't get to sleep till almost 2 am! So We might not be able to visit all of you today, as She must have her Siesta before tonight's rehearsal (did We mention She and her Caterwauling friends have another concert next month?) If We don't get round to you today, We'll try to do so tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are the blog hop badges:

        



And now it is time to say Au revoir, Auf wiedersehen, Arrivederci - or, as We say in Hebrew, Lehitra'ot.

COD-willing, We'll be back next week, same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. Till then, be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Winter is Here (Sort of) - Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies with Caspurr

Greetings, Effurryone!

We had almost given up hope, but the Skywater finally arrived. It started last Fursday, with a short, heavy downpour. On Furriday, there was some more, especially in the evening - but then, on Caturday, the Windows of Heaven opened with a vengeance, the tempurratures plummeted, Mummy brought out the warm, flannel bedlinen - and even turned on the central heating. The sudden, heavy rains caused flooding, which led to power cuts (although in Our Street, there was only one, lasting for about five minutes. But Step-Grandma, who lives just a couple of streets away, says it was on and off all evening). It's still rather cloudy and overcast, but the Sun breaks through effurry now and again, and the forecast for the rest of the week is for plenty of sunshine, as well as steadily climbing tempurratures, reaching the upper 20's Celsius.

The downpour last Fursday occurred while Mummy was on her way with her caterwauling pals to take part in the furrst of four purrformances of Die Fledermaus, which is an opurretta by Mr. Johann Strauss Junior. An opuretta is kind of like a mewsical - that's what they called them in the 19th century. Mummy will no doubt write about it in her own bloggie, as well as continuing the story of her adventures in Greece, although she probably won't have time for any of that until after the final purrformance of Die Fledermaus, next weekend. Meanwhile, as a preview, here is an artified selfie of her in her costume (using BeFunky's Impressionist filter - with a frame from LunaPic).

And meowing of artified selfies, it is time for 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.  This week, I, Sir Caspurr the Courageous, the Caspicatious, Furrst of My Name, the Snuggle Bug, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces, King of the Tigger-Tabbies, will be repurresenting the J-Cats on the blog hops, with this mewtiful picture of Me doing the Most Obvious and Sensible Thing to do on a Cold, Rainy Evening - Snoozing!

We made three different artifications, as is Our Wont - all of them using LunaPic. Furrst of all, We tried a combination of Candy and Watercolour, at 26% and 14% respectively:

No. #2 used a blend of Courtisane at 48% and Redblush (32%):

Finally, for no. #3, We used Fairy (45%), with an overlay of Gauguin3 (25%):

Which one do you like best? Let Us know in the Comments section below.

Next, We shall put up the blog hop badges. Here they are:

        

And now, it is time to start blog hopping.  COD-willing, We will be back here next week - same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. Till then, be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Trixie at Leisure: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybody!

Well, here We are again, all raring to go 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! I, Queen Trixie, Furrst of My Name,  Empurress of Jerusalem, Israel and the Entire Middle East, Queen of Hearts, the Panfur Princess, Guardian of the Boudoir and Alpha Kitty Extraordinaire, have the honour of leading my fellow J-Cats this week - not, however, before updating you on Our News.

November is when it all starts here - new lecture courses, new field trip courses, the o-purra and concert seasons (in which Mummy is involved both actively and passively) and so on. Mummy was supposed to go on one of her field trips tomorrow, in the Negev, but She has a hurty knee and has to forgo it this time. There is no way she can even contemplate a 10 km hike in such a condition. The furry thought makes her wince in pain.  No, She must rest as much as pawssible, so as to be well enough to take part in the furrst purrformance of Die Fledermaus later this week. 

Mummy said to tell you that She has now posted the second chapter of her adventures in Greece on her own bloggie, in case you missed that.

And now, dear furriends, let Us get down to business. We have no fewer than THREE new selfies for your Delectation today, all of which were artified and framed with LunaPic.

Furrst of all, here I am looking at things from a New Purrspective i.e. upside down. I do this quite a lot. I find it enables Me to see the World, which has been a furry Topsy-Turvy place of late, more clearly:

The World has not only been Topsy-Turvy, it has been quite Dark for a long time and We are not sure yet if We can see a Light at the End of the Tunnel, or whether that Tunnel is being blocked by the Terrorists who are hiding out there - which explains why We used the Dark filter for the artification, at 62%:

In this next picture, I am still in My Contemplative Pawsition, but this time, you can just catch a glimpse of My Raspy Little Pink Tongue:

The artsy-fartsy version combines the Pen effect at 29%, with the Scream filter at 51%:

  

 

Finally, here I am stretched out on Mummy's My  the Bed, waiting furry patiently for Mummy to give Me Tummy Rubs:

For the artification here, We used K2 at 100%:

I am not really satisfied with any one of these. I do not think they do Me justice at all! What do you think?

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

        

And now, Dear Furriends, it is Time to cut the Cackle and get on with the Business, as Grandpaw used to say. In other words, time to get Hopping. We'll be back here, COD-willing, next week - same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. Till then, be Well. Be Safe. We Love you all! 

Shimshi in November: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo there, Effurrybuddies!

Once again, it is time to join 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 I, the Mighty Shimshon (Shimshi for short), Furrst of My Name, a.k.a. The Little Purrince, a.k.a. The Baby Mancat, Master of the Queen's Mischiefs and Captain-of-the-Guard, who has the honour of leading My Fellow J-Cats on the blog hops.

Before I do so, howeffur, I want to give you a quick update on what is going on in Our Neck of the Woods. As My Big Brofur, Caspurr, told you last week, We have put back the clocks and it is now officially Autumn. Howeffur, Mother Nature does not seem to be aware of that Fact, as We are looking at tempurratures in the upper 20's Celsius all week, sometimes hitting 30 degrees. And still no sign of Rain.

We are also losing patience because the Evil Hamas Monsters in Gaza, who were supposed to return all the hostages within the furrst 72 hours of the so-called "ceasefire" taking effect, including the dead ones, so that they can receive a propurr burial, are still playing games with us three weeks later, as Mummy wrote in her own bloggie last week. Since She wrote that, they have handed over three more bodies, none of which were of any of the remaining dead hostages. 

As I said, Mummy wrote about this in her own bloggie last week, but She also wrote about her Vacation, which, We can now reveal, was to Greece. If you, too, enjoy gallivanting to Faraway Places, you are invited to join her there.

********

And now, to business.

Here is My Selfie. I was kind of photo-bombed by one of My Pawcelain Dolly Sisters, Miss Dorothea, but you can hardly see her:

As We so often do, We made three different artifications. All the artwork, plus the frames, used LunaPic.  The yellow inner frame is, again, a gesture to the dead hostages still in the hands of Hamas, echoing the colour of the yellow Bring Them Home ribbon.

This fursst artification uses the Psychedelic filter at 65%, with an overlay of Dreaming, at 20%:

Next, We tried Nouveau - one of Our Favourites, as it's so colourful - at 68%, to which We added Yarn at 40%. We think that makes it look like a tapestry. Do you agree?

Finally, We achieved a furry artsy-fartsy look with this combination of Saber at 63% and Dawn at 34%:

Which one do you like best? Let Us know in the comment section below.

Now it is time to add the blog hop badges:

       

Before We get hopping, We want to remind those of you who live in the UK, to stay safe indoors on Wednesday night and try to find a quiet spot away from the horrible boomies. If you have soundproofed windows, the fireworks can be furry purrty to look at, but Oh! so noisy! 

We will be back here next week, COD willing - same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. Till then, be well. Be safe. We love you all.