Messing With Messi: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurryone!

We have a Special Treat for you this week. Can you guess what it is?

That's right - a Guest Selfie, starring Our Woofie Uncle Messi!

Strictly speaking, it should be Caspurr's turn to lead his fellow J-Cats on the weekend blog hops today - 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. But Caspurr is a bit exhausticated from all the pawtying this past week, so he is resting up for the next round of pawties. This coming Furriday, April 17th, is Shimshi's 12th purrthday and next week, of course, is Independence Day! We shall be celebrating with Shimshi up in the Enchanted Forest, on Friday afternoon, at 3pm Israel Time. Needless to say, you are all invited. The Weather Prophets say we can expect a sharav, with tempurratures between 28 - 30 degrees Celsius.

So Messi stepped up, like the trouper he is, and graciously consented to stand in for his niece and nephews.

Here he is, sprawled reclining elegantly on Step-Grandma's bed, which was previously out of bounds but because he got really freaked out by all the boomies, and the tension in the air, and has been barred from the Guest Room since Mummy's niece moved in there, as she has a serious allergy to woofie and kitty fur, he has managed to persuade Step-Grandma to let him stay there:

Do you like the frame? Mummy created it with the help of LunaPic.  In fact, all the frames this week are from LunaPic - but the art is by BeFunky this time.

The furrst artification uses the Comic Noir filter at 50%:

Next up - an artsy fartsy version using Polyart GFX:

And finally, a furry colourful rendition, featuring the Impressionist2 filter:

Which is your favourite? Do let Us know in the Comments section below!

Now, just between Us, Caspurr is not the only one to be a tad exhausticated. Mummy is too. She will (hopefully) be going to Caterwauling Club this evening, so She really needs to have her Siesta this afternoon. As for the rest of the week - thanks to the Ceasefire, the nature hikes, which have been on hold since the War with Iran started, are now being resumed (although not in the North, where the War continues against Hezbollah) and there is supposed to be one tomorrow, although Mummy won't be going this time, as She is still in too much pain from her fall the week before last, besides which, She has an appointment with the cardiologist in the afternoon. But since She notified them in advance, She has the right to an alternative outing any time up till August 2027. She assumes her bruised bum will have recovered by then.

Now, here are the blog hop badges:

        

And now, it's time for Us to start hopping. We will try to visit as many of you as We can. And, of course, We will be back next week, COD-willing - same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. 

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

Mummy's Scary Night Plus Trixie in Springtime - Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybody! How are you all? It has certainly been an eventful few days here - starting with Mummy's Scary Episode the night before the Seder (last Tuesday night)! She got up to go to the bathroom and was suddenly overtaken by a dreadful Dizzy Spell. At furrst, She thought maybe She was having a Stroke, but the thought that was uppermost in Her Mind was - what if there is a missile attack right now? There was NO Way she could have made it down to the shelter in that condition. If She had tried, She would purrobably have fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. Fortunately, there was no such necessity. As it is, She lost her balance and fell on the floor on her left side, giving herself a nasty bruise on her thigh and a couple more on her arm, which hit the handle of the shower door on the way down. Somehow, She managed to crawl back to bed, where she spoke to Uncle D. on the phone (no slurring of speech) and tested her coordination (no loss of coordination). This has happened to Mummy a couple of times before, notably about four years ago when She went to the Opurra and ended up spending most of the night in ER at Ichilov Hospital. That was when She was diagnosed as having Atrial Fibrillation, but the Heart Specialist She consulted after that was not convinced that the episode was a result of the AF. She purrobably did suffer a sudden drop in Blood Pressure, but it seems that in 9 out of 10 such cases, they never find out the specific cause of such a drop!

At all events, She seems to be more or less okay now, although She says She feels rather fragile - plus, it still hurts her to sit down. It didn't stop her cooking most of the Seder feast, although Auntie N. helped a lot by making the roast potatoes, as well as the kneidlach (matza dumplings). They had chick-hen, but We didn't get any because Mummy cooked it with a LOT of garlic, which is furry, furry bad indeed for kitties! Anyway, Mummy tried to trick Us and shut Us in the bedroom during the meal. My brofurs fell for it, but I, Queen Trixie, was too cleffur for her and I got to listen to the whole seder service from my seat under the table. I was furry good, too. Not once did I venture out and demand Food or Attention! And I We have been snuggling with Mummy a lot, because I We know that makes her feel better.

Now, it is time to take 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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

So, here is My Selfie. I know you are going to absolutely LOVE this one. I dare you not to (mol)!

The frame - as well as the artwork this week - was created with the help of LunaPic. It features the Israeli flag, as always, lions, in reference to Opurration Lion's Roar, and spring flowers, in deference to the Season.

Here is the furrst artification, using Landscape at 60%:

Artification no.#2 uses a combination of two furry different effects - Grey, at 62%, followed by Psychedelic at 22%:

Finally, We used one of Our Favourite filters - Dark, at 43%, with an overlay of the much more colourful Candy at 23%:

Do let Us know in the comments section below, which one you like best.

Now, We have a couple of Impawtant Dates coming up. Wednesday, April 8th, is Mummy's Birthday. And next Shabbat, April 11th, is Caspurr's Gotcha Day. We shall have a combined pawty for the two of them up in the Enchanted Forest, on Wednesday afternoon at 6 pm, Israel Time. You are all invited, of course and, as always, the coordinates will be transmitted directly to your Transportation Devices.

Oh! And We have just realised - it was exactly 15 years ago, on April 2nd 2011, that this blog furrst saw the Light of Day! We shall be celebrating that too, of course!

Last, but definitely not least, We want to wish all of you who are celebrating it today, a Furry Happy Easter!

Now, here are the blog hop badges:

        

That's all for now, Dear Furriends. COD-willing, We shall be back here again next week, same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. Till then, be safe. Be well. We love you all.

Shimshi Looking Serious: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

Guess whose turn it is this time 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 Delightfully and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet!

Of course it's ME - the Mighty Shimshon (Shimshi for short) etc. etc. etc.

Furrst of all, let Me fill you in on Our week. The wicked ayatollahs in Purrsia are still shooting ballistic missiles at Us - some carrying huge warheads with up to 500 kilos of explosives, most of them carrying cluster bombs, which are smaller but since there are a lot of them (10 - 20), even if the missile is intercepted, they can do a lot of damage as they spread out and cover a very wide area. The ayatollahs' evil proxies, Hezbollah, are also shooting a lot of rockets and longer-range missiles at Us from Lebanon, as well as sending in a lot of drones, especially in the north of Israel and now, it seems, the Houthis in Yemen are joining in. Mummy isn't sure about this last - but a missile is a missile is a missile, no matter who is firing it, when it's heading in your direction!!!

Besides that, poor Mummy is going through a health scare at present and needs to do more tests.

And on top of everything else, Pessach (Passover) starts this week, with the Seder on Wednesday night. Now, this would normally make Mummy very happy, even though She is hosting this year, and the prepurrations involve a LOT of work - even without being interrupted every so often by missile alerts. But instead, it makes her think of Seders past, when the whole family was together and brings it home to her how many will be missing this year. Grandpaw is gone, Auntie Y. and Uncle N. are also gone, their three daughters (Mummy's nieces) will all be spending the festival with their respective boyfriends' families, out of town. Step-Grandma will be away too. Uncle D. can't get here from London because there are no flights due to the war and it will be just Mummy, Auntie N. and Uncle B. - and Us, of course.

No wonder Mummy's eyes are leaking a lot these days...

But let Us pull Ourselves together and get on with the blog hops.

********

Mummy had to run down to the Shelter again about twenty minutes ago (in the rain), but now She is back and We can continue.

Here is My Selfie - framed, like all Our Art this week, with the assistance of LunaPic:

We used Our usual Israel flag frame, and added lions' heads, because in Israel, this war (which President Trump calls Epic Fury)  is named Operation Lion's Roar.

We created three artifications with the help of Befunky. The furrst one uses the Graphic Novel filter:

This next one uses Realist GFX:

And finally, Crayon GFX:

We each have Our Own Favourite, but We aren't going to reveal what it is. Which one do YOU like best?

And now, here are the blog hop badges:

        

That's about it for this week, Dear Furriends. We'll be back again next week, COD-willing - same Cat Time, same Cat Channel.

Till then, Chag Sameach (חג שמח) to those celebrating Pessach. And Happy Easter, to those celebrating this coming Sunday.

Be safe. Be well. We love you all.

Caspurr Lets It All Hang Out: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurryone!

Sir Caspurr the Snuggle Bug here - We'll skip the full list of My Titles this week. You all know them anyway.

It's been a pretty intense weekend, with lots of missile attacks - We actually lost count, there were so many. On Friday (We think it was Friday) a very large piece of debris from an intercepted missile (possibly the warhead)  fell in the Old City of Jerusalem. Fortunately, only one person was injured, and that, only lightly, though it was still rather unnerving.  A couple of hundred of metres to the north, and it would have landed on the Western Wall, not to mention the Al-Aksa Mosque. The Iranians have shown in the past they have no compunction about shooting at their own people - though everyone would have blamed Israel, of course.

Yesterday was the worst day. There were direct hits on apartment blocks in Dimona (34 injured, including a 12-year-old boy in serious condition) and Arad (88 injured, including 10 in serious condition). And this morning, one man from Kibbutz Misgav Am was killed in a rocket attack from Lebanon (Hezbollah) which set two cars on fire. He was trapped inside one of the blazing cars and rescue teams were unable to save him.

Mummy tries not to think about it, but there's no escaping the fact that, although Jerusalem has (so far) been targeted less than other cities, that could change at any moment and We could be next...

We, too, will try not to think about that, however, and, under MY Leadership, will join 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.

Before We start, We apawlogise once again for being very sporadic in Our visits. The situation being what it is, you all understand why by now.

Now, here is My Original Selfie, which is worthy of a centrefold in Cosmeowpawlitan magazine:

And here are three artifications with filters from BeFunky (the frames, as always, were created using LunaPic).

Furrst up, Underpainting 1:

Next, Vector Painting GFX:

And last, but by no means least, Graphic Novel GFX at 55%:

And here are the blog hop badges:

              

That's all for now, dear Furriends. Mummy is feeling terribly distracted and can't concentrate on anything at the moment. Hopefully, things will be on more of an even keel next week, when, COD-willing, We will be back here, same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. Till then, be safe. Be well. We love you all.             

  

                                                              

Consultations: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybody!

I, Queen Trixie, Furrst of My Name, Empurress of Jerusalem, Israel and the Entire Middle East, Queen of Hearts, the Panfur Princess, Purrtector of the Library, Guardian of the Boudoir and Alpha-Kitty Extraordinaire, am delighted to be repurresenting the J-Cats in this weekend's blog hops - the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted, as always, by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Indefatigable and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Before We get down to brass tacks, here is a Brief Update of Our Week.  

Nothing much has changed. The Evil Ayatollahs and their Servants, in Iran and Lebanon, continue shooting rockets and missiles at Us. We had a few days that were relatively quiet here in Jerusalem, although it wasn't nearly as quiet in the north and along the coast. Then, on  Friday night, just as Mummy was about to go to bed, the sirens started blaring - without the preliminary alert We have grown accustomed to - sending her racing off down to the shelter. The following day, Shabbat, it was furry, furry windy! The Weather Prophets said there would be thunderstorms later in the day. Mummy says it can be furry dangerous trying to run down the open stairwell in the rain, because the stairs are slippery. So she goes down as soon as she hears the preliminary alert (which is not always followed by sirens), so as to be able to walk at a normal rate. More people have been hurt falling in the dash to take shelter, than have by actual missile strikes. Anyways, down in the shelter, she heard a Huge Boom, but wasn't sure if it was a missile being taken out by an interceptor outside the atmosphere, an exploding warhead, or maybe just thunder right overhead.  Later in the day, there was another attack and then things were quiet in Jerusalem till just before dawn this morning. Not elsewhere in the country though. The Evil Ones have a new tactic. Instead of firing huge barrages once or twice a day, they fire two or three missiles every hour or so, in an attempt to wear us out and completely disrupt the Economy. We heard on the News that in the North, there were combined Iranian and Hezbollah attacks all night long and even now, every hour or so, or at even more frequent intervals. In addition, the Evil Ones are using cluster bombs, which means a single missile can cause destruction over a furry wide area indeed. We live in Jerusalem, but Mummy has family all over the country about whom She worries no end! 
And to crown matters - Mummy discovered yesterday evening that the Big Boom they heard in the shelter earlier in the afternoon was, in fact, "interception debris" that had landed only a five-minute-drive from here. It had gone right through the pavement between two apartment blocks and into the underground parking lot!
When you hear the word "debris", most people think of shrapnel or small shards, but rocket debris consists of pieces about the size of a bus or even bigger - and in this purrticular case, the part that fell was actually the warhead, which, by some miracle, didn't detonate. Several buildings had to be evacuated until it was dealt with.

Mummy is not sure if She will go to Caterwauling Purractice this evening. Last week, she had Good Intentions, but She chickened out thought better of the idea.
Today - She still has Good Intentions, but, as President Trump is so fond of saying, "We're gonna have to wait and see what happens" (MOL).

And now to the Business in Hand, namely, the blog hops.

Here is My Selfie. I had been deep in consultation with My Pawsselain Dolly Sister, Miss Dorothea, about plans for this year's Seder Night when Mummy called Me to take this selfie.

We artified this three diffurrent ways with the help of LunaPic. Furrst, We used the Storytime filter at 86%, followed by Daisies at 24%:

Furry artsy-fartsy, isn't it?

Or maybe you prefurr this next one, created with Frida at 53%:

And how about this last one, using Smoke at 66%?

And here are the blog hop badges:

        

That's it for now. We will try to visit as many of you as We can - hoping not to be interrupted by more missiles - and those We miss, We will try to reach tomorrow. And if, for some reason, We don't get round to you at all this week, please fur-give Us. We have rather a lot on Our Plate minds at present.

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

A Trio of Two-furs: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings to all Our Furriends!

We have had quite a week! The Wicked Ayatollahs in Iran and their Evil Minions in Lebanon have been shooting rockets at Us all week. Usually, We get an Early Warning from Home Front Command a few minutes before the sirens start wailing, which gives Mummy an extra 2-4 minutes to get down to the Bomb Shelter. But yesterday morning, Shabbat, after a whole day Friday with no missiles (in Jerusalem, at least) the sirens went off at about 5:30 a.m. with no warning at all, and woke Mummy. We have neffur seen anyone who is not a Cat move so fast. She threw off the blankets, grabbed her Go Bag and hightailed it for the Shelter. On her way down, She heard boomies (She thinks it must have been the Iron Dome interceptors) and saw the sky lit up as if by lightning. We, meanwhile, scattered in three different directions. Each of Us has Our Prefurred Safe Place to hide in such eventualities. 

That was definitely a scary start to Caspurr's 13th (Bar Mitzvah) Purrthday!!! Neffurtheless, there has been some easing of restrictions by Home Front Command as of last Thursday, and it is now purrmitted to hold gatherings of up to 50 people, as long as they are held in a venue where there is a propurr Bomb Shelter. So Mummy thinks She will go to her Caterwauling Club this evening, if only to raise Her Spirits.

And now, to Business! It's time 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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet. 

This time, all three of Us will be appearing in the blog hops, in a series of two-furs.  All the art is from BeFunky this week, and the frames were created with the help of LunaPic.

Furrst of all, here is a Rare Sight - Trixie and Caspurr sharing a sunpuddle:

This was artified, using the Realist 1 filter:

Next, Caspurr and Shimshi, practising Synchronised Snoozing Techniques:

Note how the cushions complement their colouring.

Mummy artified this with the Watercolour 1 filter at 55%:

Finally, here are Trixie and Shimshi:

What could they have been asking Mummy for? Can you guess?

Mummy used Polyart GFX to create a furry artsy-fartsy effect here:

And here are the blog hop badges:

        


Now, We will see how many of you We can visit before Mummy takes a Furry Necessary Siesta. As We explained last week, She has to snatch a couple of hours snooze wheneffur She can, as there's no knowing if any of Us will get an unbroken night's sleep. We kitties are expurrts at sleeping under practically any conditions, but poor Mummy is only Human...

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

March Came in Like a Lion

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

The Mighty Shimshon (Shimshi for short) speaking - The Little Purrince, Furrst of My Name, aka The Baby Mancat, Master of the Queen's Mischiefs, and Captain of the Guard. I am 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 Snoozies Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here is My Selfie:

The Original Plan was to have an Ussie, in which all three of Us would be showing off Our Purr-im costumes, as that festival falls the day after tomorrow - Tuesday - or, for those living in Jerusalem, on Wednesday. But Mummy didn't have time to pre-purr anything, as She spent most of yesterday, as well as today, running downstairs to the Bomb Shelter and back, to avoid the rockets being shot at Us by the Evil Ayatollahs in Iran (which used to be known as Purrsia). She tries to play it cool, so as not to alarm Us, but We know that's just an act. She's terribly worried that even the Bomb Shelter mightn't be safe enough. She's just heard that earlier today, an apartment building in Beit Shemesh took a direct hit to the shelter - 9 people were killed and 33 more injured, including children. 

If there are any Purrsian kitties reading this, We want you to know that We love you dearly, and if there is anything you can do to purr-suade your pawrents to take to the streets and protest against their Evil Government (which We know they want to do, but might be afraid to do, because the Wicked Ayatollahs and their servants murdered thousands of protesters less than two months ago), then try to do so - because that is the Best Way to end this war. And then, the Iranian/Purrsian people will be free at last. And so will their kitties.

Under normal circumstances, We would be inviting you all to a huge Purr-im Pawty up in the Enchanted Forest. Because of the War, however (which has been officially named here "The Lion's Roar Campaign"), We have decided to transfer the festivities to Our Secret Underground Bunker, deep in the depths of the earth. The encoded co-ordinates will be sent directly to your teleportation devices immediately prior to take-off, and automatically wiped upon arrival at the Pawty. This will actually be a double celebration, honouring both Purr-im and My Big  Brofur Caspurr, whose 13th purr-thday falls on Shabbat, March 7th. It is his Bar-Mitzvah! So, save the date - Tuesday, March 3rd at 17:30 (5:30 pm), Israel time! And don't fur-get - it's a Fancy Dress Pawty, so remember to come in costume!

Now, here are three artifications of My Selfie, with effects by BeFunky. The frames, as usual, are from LunaPic.

Furrst of all, a mewtiful effect using Graphic Novel (which has become one of Our new favourites), set at 50%:

   

Next, an artsy-fartsy version using the Impressionist 2 effect, at 65%:

And finally, Vector Painting GFX:

In the background, you can see one of My Pawsselain Dolly Sisters, Miss Laura. I was purrtecting her from the boomies.

Which picture do you like best?  Let Us know in the Comments Section below.

Before We Mummy furgets, here are the blog hop badges:

        

We are not sure how many of you We will manage to visit today. Mummy wants to turn off the computer and try to get a couple of hours sleep, as We expect more rocket barrages later on, especially in the middle of the night. At all events, We hope to see you at the Pawty on Tuesday. 

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