Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies with the Little Purrince

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

Today, I, The Mighty Shimshon (Shimshi for short), a.k.a. The Little Purrince, a.k.a. The Baby Mancat,  Furrst of My Name, Master of the Queen's Mischiefs and Captain of the Guard, will be repurresenting 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 Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

We chose two selfies this week. Furrst of all, here I am, looking rather traumatised, purrobably because We were watching the news and hearing about all the rockets and drones that the Evil Humans in Gaza and Lebanon were shooting at Us!

We artified this with a couple of filters from LunaPic - Metallic at 37% with an overlay of Illusion at 18%.

In the second picture, I am somewhat calmer, as you can see:

The artsy-fartsy version of this one was achieved with two more LunaPic filters - Dark at 28% followed by Homer at 43%:

I just want to say that I may have looked calmer in this second picture, but this does not attest to any let-up in the missile and drone attacks, which, in fact, increased in intensity over Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)!!!

Another piece of impawtant news is that Uncle D. is back in Israel and staying with Us (in the Guest Kitty Room). He couldn't get here in time for Auntie Y. and Uncle N.'s funeral or for the shiva, because so many airlines have cancelled flights to Israel, but he will be here for the unveiling of the tombstone, at the end of the month.

Wednesday evening sees the start of the Succot (Tabernacles) festival, usually one of the most joyous in the Mewish calendar. It is hard to imagine much joy this year, however.

However, for those of you who will be celebrating, We would like to wish you Chag Sameach (חג שמח).


And now for the blog hop badges:

        

That's all for the time being. See you next week. Till then - be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Caspurr's Sad Selfie and Caturday Art

Greetings, Effurryone.

Well, it's time, once 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 Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

This week, it is My Turn to lead the J-Cats on the blog hops.

As you can tell, I am still furry sad at the Untimely Departure of Auntie Y. and Uncle N. for their Rainbow Bridge - and added to that is the grief of the whole nation as we mark one year since the terrible attack on our country last October 7th.

And to top all that, there are still Evil Humans trying to kill Us all and firing  missiles at Us, and shooting and stabbing people in Our Streets!
So if I am not my usual bright-eyed and bushy-tailed self in this picture, you will have to fur-give Me.

That is also why the furrst artification of My Selfie uses a 50/50 combination of Lunapic's Sadness and Floating filters:

The second one combines Rembrandt at 45% with an overlay of Dreaming at 25%:

And now, here are the blog hop badges:

        

Before We go, We want to remind you that this coming Shabbat (Saturday) is also Yom Kippurr - the Day of Atonement. So if We have hurt or offended any of you, We ask your fur-giveness. And We wish for all of you that you may be written and sealed for a Good Year.

גמר חתימה טובה - G'mar Hatima Tova

Heartbreak

Greetings, Effurryone. 

Many of you must have been wondering where we were last Sunday, when We failed to post Our usual Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies, in the blog hops hosted by (respectively) the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie and the Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

The reason is so pawful that even now, Mummy has difficulty in finding the words to tell you what happened. But (gulp) here it is.

Ten days ago, Mummy's youngest sister, Auntie Y. and her husband, Uncle N., were involved in a dreadful car accident on their way to the airport. There was a multi-car pile-up and their car, which was in the middle, was crushed. Auntie Y. and Uncle N. who were on their way to board a plane to Corfu for a short holiday to celebrate their wedding anniversary, never had a chance. We understand they were killed instantly. We pray they didn't suffer. 

Mummy still can't quite believe it. None of Us can.

Effurrybody has been so kind. Auntie Y. and Uncle N. left three orphan daughters, Mummy's nieces, and it seems as if the whole neighbourhood - nay, the whole city and beyond - has rallied round to support them. Hundreds of people attended the funeral. One of Auntie Y.'s best friends, Auntie A., whose daughters are close friends and about the same age as Mummy's nieces, invited Mummy, her nieces and Step-Grandma, for Shabbat supper the day before yesterday, so they wouldn't be alone with their Grief. She is a lovely lady and she is also a Cat Purrson. She has seven cats and a little woofie - a chihuahua. One of the cats, Lily, is deaf and almost blind and suffers from epilepsy. 

None of Us is in the mood to pose for selfies yet, so We thought We would invite Lily and the woofie - Bambi - to pose for guest selfies.

Here is Lily. We are so happy for her that, with all her disabilities, she has a good and loving home:

We artified Lily's selfie with LunaPic's Beauty filter at 60%, and then added an overlay of Dreaming at 25%:

And here is Bambi:

Bambi's selfie was artified with LunaPic's Candy filter at 80%, with a Dark overlay at 35%:

And here are the blog hop badges:

        

We will do Our best to visit as many of you as We can in the coming days, but in case We don't get to you all, please understand why. Mummy feels so emotionally drained that She has been avoiding social media as much as possible and only turning on the computer thing when absolutely necessary.

Before We go, We want to remind you that the Mewish New Year - Rosh Hashana - starts on Wednesday night, so to all who celebrate it, may you be signed and sealed for a good and sweet year.
In fact, may you all have a good and sweet New Year.

 לשנה טובה תכתיבו ותחתמו  (Leshana Tova Tichatevu veTichatemu)

Trixie in Yellow: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

Mummy has returned from Foreign Parts and so things can get back to Normal again (or as Normal as pawssible in Our Neck of the Woods).

Mummy went on a Nostalgia Trip to London, where She was born. She and her brother, Uncle D. (who lives there), spent most of their time revisiting their Childhood Haunts. Mummy will, no doubt, tell you all about it in her Own Bloggie, later this week. Meanwhile, We are furry happy to be able to pawticipate once more 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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

So let's cut straight to the Chase. Here is My Selfie. You can tell how happy I was to see Mummy again, can't you? Even though We managed to get more Treats out of Ms. M. who looked after Us while Mummy was away (not too many more, though. Mummy had given her furry precise instructions about Our Various Diets).

The yellow inner frame refurrences the yellow pin worn in solidarity with the families of the kidnapped Israelis still being held hostage in Gaza by the Evil Terrorists.

The black outer frame symbolises Our mourning for those murdered on October 7th last year in the Hamas terrorist attack. And the Israeli flag is self-explanatory.
We make no apawlogies for being pawlitical.

We artified this photo with LunaPic's Starry2 effect at 40%.

And finally, We used PhotoFunia to hang my New Pawtrait in the Melbourne Gallery:

Last, but definitely not least, are the blog hop badges:

        

That's all for now. See you again next week, same Cat Time, same Cat Channel.

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

Shimshi Couchant Affronté: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

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, here 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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

I was just telling Mummy this meowning that a Noble Mancat such as Myself deserves to have My Own Coat-of-Arms. She promised to think about it and remarked that maybe each of Us should have a Coat-of-Arms, as well as a Royal Standard. I suppose I will have to remind her effurry now and then, but in the meantime, here is an "ordinary" selfie (not that there is anything "ordinary" about Me, Mummy says).

Huh!  I think She is just trying to butter Me up so as to make Me forget her Cruelty in putting Me on a D-I-E-T!!!

And as if that wasn't bad enough, she keeps coming after Me with that Furminator thing! Oh, the trials We kitties have to endure!

Oh, I have just noticed something! Look at the coffee table in the background. Can you see something dangling down right behind my left ear? That is Trixie photo-bombing MY selfie with her floofy tail!!! Such impurrtinence!

I hope it is less noticeable in Our Artifications, all created with LunaPic.

Furrst of all, here is a beautifully restrained pawtrait, with minimal embellishment using the Illusion effect at 30%, overlaid with Dark at 15%:

Next, an exuberantly colourful celebration of Me, using the Flash Gordon filter at 47%:

And finally, a bright and sunny Piece of Art, using Gorky at 54% with an overlay of Crayon, at 13%:

And here are the blog hop badges:

        

Now, I have an impawtant announcement to make.

We shall not be here for the next couple of weeks, because Mummy is going away on vacation. Her Our Cleaning Lady Ms. M. will be coming to look after Us, but She doesn't have the Passwords to the Computer Thingy or the Blog, and We can't type with Our Paws, so We will be back in three weeks time - same Cat Time, same Cat Channel.

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

Tu b'Av and Time for Love: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies with Caspurr the Snuggle Bug

Greetings, Effurryone!

Caspurr here, repurresenting 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 Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Before I go any further, let's just wrap up the week's mews, shall We?

Furrst of all, We hope you enjoyed the pawty yesterday, to celebrate Trixie's Birthday and Black Cat Appreciation Day. Today, you can rest - as you can see from My Selfie, I certainly need to - but tomorrow, We're having yet another pawty, to celebrate Tu b'Av, sometimes called "the Jewish Valentine's Day". 

Another pawty, you say?! Well, yes. You know Us. Any reason is good for a pawty, don't you agree? And LOVE is the Best Reason Of All!

So, We hope to see you all once again tomorrow, Monday August 19th,  at 2 pm Israel Time, up in the Enchanted Forest (where else?), where there will be Food and Drinks and Dancing (and We will be happy to teach you all some Israeli folk dances, if you like).

Now, for the Furmily Mews. Mummy took Shimshi to the Stabby Place last week, for his annual shots, and the v-e-t said that the Baby Mancat was dangerously overweight and had to be put on a diet right away. Shimshi isn't too happy about that, as you can imagine, but it's got to the stage when he can't reach his back to groom himself there propurrly and his fur was getting matted because of that. Mummy now tries to furminate him twice a day - and he doesn't care much for that either. The v-e-t says Shimshi got fat because he was eating the same kidney care diet as Trixie and Me (on the advice of Our old v-e-t, who did not think to warn Mummy that the kidney care diet is fattening to cats who don't have kidney problems. That's another reason Mummy decided to change v-e-ts).

So now Shimshi is getting Hills Prescription Diet for Weight Loss (R/D) which has to be precisely measured out to him, with no treats and no exceptions - though Dr. Ran says if Mummy would like, he can get special treats intended for kitties on a weight loss diet.  As I said before, Shimshi is not best pleased about this turn of events but he doesn't seem to hold any grudge against Mummy, because he comes and snuggles up beside her when She goes to bed, just as he has always done.

And now for Our Art. We took today's Selfie over to LunaPic, where Mummy made three furry different artifications of it.

The furrst one uses a favourite of Ours - Dark, at 53%, overlaid with Dream FX at 34%:

Next, We tried Cartoon, also at 53%, after which We added Sketch2 at 15%:

Last, but by no means least - Landscape at 75%, with an overlay of Dreaming at 28%:

And now for the blog hop badges:

        

That's all for now. We'll be back again next week, same Cat Time, same Cat Channel

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

The Great Doping Scandal: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies with Trixie

Greetings, Effurrybody!


Trixie here - and what more appropriate way to celebrate My Twelfth Birthday, which falls tomorrow, than for Me to repurresent 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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet?

But, before I do that, I simply must give you an update on the Cat-O-Lympics, now in their final day (don't miss the Clawsing Ceremony this evening)!

As you know, all three of Us competed in multiple events. Shimshi told you last week about Our Successes in a couple of them. Now for the rest of the tail Tale!

Both Shimshi and Caspurr took Gold in their respective weight classes in the Wrassling. Meanwhile, I had quite a fight on My Paws with the Counter-to-Cupboard High Jump, but eventually won the Gold by the merest breadth of a Whisker!

The Great Drama came in the Pole-Dancing event. Caspurr and Shimshi won the Pairs Event - and then it was time for the Ladycats' Individual Pole-Dancing Championship. I was greatly disappointed to find Myself only in 2nd place - but then, the Bronze Medallist appealed the results, leading to a general investigation, during which it was discovered that the Gold Medallist was doped up to the eyeballs on valerian. No wonder she was able to roll about and twist herself into such incredible contortions!!! It goes without saying that she was disqualified (and now, pending further investigations, faces a Lifetime Ban). However, the happier result was that I received the Gold Medal (no more than I deserve, even if I do say so Myself), the Bronze Medallist (a most observant and intelligent little tuxie) was "bumped up" to Silver, and the Bronze Medal went to a charming calico kitty who greatly reminded Me of CalliCallou.

So We have a lot to celebrate this week - and We are going to do all of that this coming Saturday, August 17th, which also happens to be Black Cat Appreciation Day!

In honour of the latter, Mummy tried her paw hand at creating some AI-generated art, using CoPilot, which has mysteriously appeared on her computer.

The results are quite amewsing. The app appeared to have a lot of trouble understanding Mummy's instructions, especially as She speaks the King's English like an Englishwoman. She had to fake an American accent to get it to do what She wanted (mol)!

Here are the results:

I don't know about you, but Mummy and I prefurr the artifications We made of My Selfie, using LunaPic. Mummy feels it allows her to be more creative. Judge for yourself.

The first artification uses the Dark effect at 45%:

Next up, We used a combination of Tuscany at 90% and Storytime at 62%:

The Final Version uses Nouveau at 60% with an overlay of Quirky at 30%:

I really like the way I seem to be surrounded by a halo of light in all of these (though I admit I'm no saint - MOL).

We do seem to have an awful lot of Art this week, don't We?

And We're not finished yet - because We still have to show you My Birthday Stamp (courtesy of PhotoFunia):

Last, but not least, here are the blog hop badges:

        

Now, before We start hopping, you will no doubt have guessed that, with so many things to celebrate - Our Cat-O-Lympic successes, My Birthday, and Black Cat Appreciation Day - a Pawty is in order.  And, of course, it's going to be a Big One. Absolutely Huge!

No prizes for guessing where, of course. Where else but in the Enchanted Forest, overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem?

When? Saturday August 17th, starting with a BBQ at 2 pm, Israel Time and carrying on all night long. The co-ordinates have, as usual, been sent to your tele-transportation devices. If anyone has not received them, please let Us know.

See you all at the pawty! 

And if you can't make it to the pawty, We'll be back here again for next week's blog hops - same Cat Time, same Cat Channel.

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