Sunday, November 27, 2022

Goodbye, Grandpaw

Greetings, Effurryone.


We are heartbroken to announce that Grandpaw, Mummy's Daddy, crossed his Rainbow Bridge on Thursday evening. He was 95 human years old, and had been in failing health for the past year and a half, so it was not unexpected. But, as Mummy says, one always thinks that somehow, there will be a bit more time and when time runs out, it's still a shock.

Mummy was actually speaking to him on the phone a mere quarter of an hour before it happened, when he was  getting ready for bed, and she wished him a good night's sleep and pleasant dreams. Step-Grandma and Mummy's sister, Auntie N. were with him when God called him to the Rainbow Bridge, so he wasn't alone at the end, which is a comfort to Us.

Mummy last visited with him the day before, on Wednesday evening, and She took this picture of him with Our Woofie Uncle, Messi. 















Now that Grandpaw has crossed his Rainbow Bridge, he is young and healthy again, and reunited with so many Loved Ones who went before, including Mummy's own Mummy, and Grandpaw's own parents, and his brother and sisters. But We who are left behind cannot help grieving. Indeed, Step-Grandma says Messi has refused to leave his place beside Grandpaw's armchair, even though he usually used to sleep on the carpet next to her side of the bed.


So, although Mummy doesn't really feel up to blog hopping this weekend, We are going to let Uncle Messi and Grandpaw repurresent Us in the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the wonderful Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet. We also made several artifications of the picture for the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie. We used Art Effects from LunaPic, as we usually do - avoiding the Sadness filter because We thought the picture was quite sad enough without that. Instead, out of half a dozen different art effects, We chose these three:















That was the Scribble art effect.  


The next one is the somewhat similar Sketch2 effect at 85%:














And finally, the rather more colourful Beauty effect - because Grandpaw was a Beautiful Purrson, with a huge and loving heart - about whom Mummy has written in her own blog in the past, and about whom she will most likely be writing again in the coming days.















And here are the blog hop badges:




        

        

We know you will understand if We don't manage to visit much during this coming week, but be sure that We love you all.

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Shimshi Captures The Castle: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurrybuddies!


It is Me again, The Mighty Shimshon (aka Shimshi), The Little Purrince, Furrst of My Name, Master of the Queen's Mischiefs and Captain of the Guard. Today, I am also King of the Laundry Basket Castle, as I got there furrst, pipping to the Post all of my fursibs. I like to sit there after breakfast, because the Utility Room, where the washing machine and the laundry basket are kept, is the best place for catching the early morning sunshine.

Here I am:













Of course, the laundry basket is a furry sought-after spot, so one has to be pretty nifty to get there furrst!


Anyway, seeing as it's My Turn to repurresent the J-Cats in the weekend blog hops - the Caturday Art blog hop, which is hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, and the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Sweet and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet - I decided that a Selfie of Me in My Castle would be just the thing!


Mummy helped Me to artify it, with the help of some of LunaPic's beautiful filters and other artsy-fartsy effects.

Furrst of all, here I am, with the Surreal Painting effect:















The next special effect We tried was Cartoon, at 60%:













And finally, Seurat at 85% with an overlay of Grey, set to 55%:













So tell Us, which did you like best?


As soon as the selfie was done, Mummy made Me get down from my Comfy Castle, so She could put on the Laundry. But I got My Own Back, kitties (and woofies) - don't think I didn't! Mummy accidentally left the bathroom door open and I jumped up on top of the bathroom cabinet. Mummy got such a fright (because I am not supposed to get up there) that She completely forgot to take a picture of The Incident. And She had to climb up on a chair to get Me down. (I actually needed help, because finding a landing point for getting down was not as easy as finding a launchpad for jumping up. But of course, I wasn't going to tell Her that.)

Okay, Now it is time to put up the blog hop badges. Here they are:


        


In other news, We just want to tell you to look out for Mummy's blog sometime later this week, as She went on an "urban tour" last Thursday afternoon in the village of Ein Karem and She thinks She will write about it - as well as about the furry weird, modern piece of mew-sic She is working on with her Caterwauling Club pals.

And just before We set out on today's blog hop visits, We want to wish you a Good Week (שבוע טוב - Shavua Tov).

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Somewhat Sad Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies With Caspurr

Greetings, Effurryone!

We are all kind of sad this weekend, because Uncle D. has gone back to England after his three-month-long visit  :-(  

It's true We are glad to have Our Private Room back, but We do miss Uncle D. and We greatly look forward to his next visit, when We hope to complete his Conversion to a Crazy Cat Daddy (mol).

However, Life goes on and here I am, ready to lead My Fursibs 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 wonderful and eternally Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Out of the many selfies available from this past week, Mummy and I have chosen this one (I am sure you can guess why):













That's right! 
Mummy just couldn't resist that tiny glimpse of my raspy, little pink tongue - and She was sure none of your Humans will be able to either (mol)!


For the artification, We furrst tried something a little bit different - simply turning my selfie into a black and white photo:













We think it gives a slightly different, and rather special, take on the play of light and shadow, which is quite interesting.

Next, We went back to the coloured photo, but added LunaPic's Harsh Lighting filter:














Finally, returning to the original photo, We used two of LunaPic's Art Effects - Daisies at 75%, with an overlay of Sadness at 25%, to express Our Feelings at Uncle D.'s departure.














Oh, in case you are wondering who My Companions are, from left to right meet Snowy the Seal, Edward the Bear and Felix the Cat.

Oh, Mummy wants to apawlogise for not having posted on her Own Bloggie yet about her day trip to the Jordan Valley, which She promised to do last week. We have been having Internet Problems, you see, and blogging on her smartphone would have been a bit much! But the Internet seems to have sorted itself out now, so look for her blog later this week.

There was something else We wanted to mention. Some of you asked for Our eMail address. If you go to Our Full Profile, and click on Contact Me Email, it should appear.

Now it is time to put up the blog hop badges and start visiting Our Furriends:


     


That's all for now. See you next week.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.





Sunday, November 6, 2022

Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies With the Empurress Trixie

Greetings, Effurrybody!

Once again, it falls to Me, Queen Trixie, Furrst of My Name, Empurress of Jerusalem, Israel and the Entire Middle East, Queen of Hearts, Guardian of the Boudoir and Alpha Kitty Extraordinaire, to lead 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 those Adorable and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

There was no shortage of pawssible selfies this weekend, so without further ado, here is the one I have chosen:













With the assistance of LunaPic, Mummy and I chose no fewer than FIVE different artifications of my pawtrait.

Here they are, in no pawticular order.

The furrst one uses the Emboss filter:












Next, We tried the Fantasy art effect, at 50%.












Our third version uses one of Mummy's favourites, the Frida art effect:
















This next variation uses another one of Mummy's favourites, the Surreal Painting:













And finally, a furry dramatic version, using the Smoke art effect, at 65%:












We aren't going to tell you which is Our Favourite, but you are welcome to try and guess (mol)! And tell Us which one YOU like best, too. But if you find it too difficult to choose, don't worry. The curators at the PhotoFunia art gallery were also unable to make up their minds, so they decided to exhibit all five artifications simultaneously:






And you might even prefurr the Original!

Now here are the blog hop badges:




     



Next, We have an update on the Outside Kitties.

On Furriday, Mummy went down to take out the trash and on the way back, can you guess what - or rather, who - She saw?

Yes, you're right! She saw three little kittens frolicking in the shrubbery two doors along. Two of them were peach and white and one was sort of ginger. Of course, Mummy knew right away these must be Melba's kittens, exactly where the neighbour had told Mummy they were. Since She had only gone down to take out the trash, Mummy didn't have her smartphone with her (not so smart of you, Mummy!) so she hurried back home to fetch it. But by the time She got back, of course, the little kittens were gone, so there are no photos of them. Still, at least now We know that there are kittens - and We are relieved that Melba is doing her best to keep them out of sight, because that shrubbery is far too near the road for comfort.

One last piece of News for now. Mummy went on a day trip on Wednesday, to the Jordan Valley, leaving Us in the care of Uncle D. and We are pleased to say that We have got him sufficiently well-trained that he remembered to feed Us at lunchtime without any prompting at all from Mummy (mol). Mummy will no doubt be writing about her outing in Her Own Blog, later this week - so keep your eyes peeled.

And now, all that is left is for Us to wish you all a furry enjoyable week.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.