A Birthday and a Couple of Sad Goodbyes - Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybody!

Queen Trixie here - with extremely mixed feelings this week. On Wednesday, August 12th, We celebrated My 14th Birthday with a Picnic and BBQ up in the Enchanted Forest - but how can we truly celebrate when, in the course of a single week, We have lost two such Beloved Furriends. I refurr, of course, to two of the dearest ladycats We have effur known, the beauteous and feisty Katie Isabella on August 8th, and the lovely and gentle Seal of the Brian's Home blog on August 14th.

It is furry, furry hard indeed - yet We think neither of these Amazing and Adorable Kitties would want their furriends to forego such Impawtant Traditions as 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. In fact, it is even more Impawtant to continue hopping - especially for kitties like Us, who are accustomed to blog only once a week. This is Our Way of keeping in touch - and keeping in touch, even if just to say a quick "Hallo, how are you?" can mean so much. 

So, here is this week's Selfie:

We framed it with the help of LunaPic, which is also responsible for this week's artification, using the Landscape art effect at 56%, overlaid with Dark at 34%.

In addition, a stamp - in Impurrial Purrple - was issued in honour of My Birthday:

Moreover, PhotoFunia's Empurress Winery, (a boutique label, you understand) launched a limited edition of a new champagne named Sleeping Beauty, in MY Honour.

And last, but by no means least, PhotoFunia Publications has just brought out My latest book of Poetry:

I have dedicated the book to Katie Isabella and to Seal.

And now, here are the blog hop badges:

        

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Before We start hopping, We wanted to tell you about something Really Weird! Yesterday, it rained. No, it didn't just rain. It POURED! As you may know, in Israel, it simply does not rain in August. But the weather all over the world has been completely Topsy-Turvy this summer, hasn't it? Europe has been suffering severe drought, due to massive heat waves, bringing the kind of tempurratures We would expect to see in Eilat. Meanwhile, although it's been pretty hot here in Israel (like, the upper 30s Celsius), yesterday, it seemed as if We might need to build an Ark (mol). And what's more, it's extremely cloudy again right now - although still furry hot. Kind of like monsoon weather. Maybe it will rain again this afternoon. Mummy hopes not, because we haven't yet got round to insulating the roof.

Well, I guess that's it for now. We will be back next week, COD-willing - same Cat Time, same Cat Channel.

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

Shimshi the Boxer - Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

I, the Mighty Shimshon (Shimshi for short) am your Host today - the Little Purrince, Furrst of My Name, aka The Baby Mancat, Master of the Queen's Mischiefs and Captain of the Guard.

Last week, We posted rather late in the day and this week, We are prepurring this post on Saturday evening, to be uploaded some time on Sunday, because Mummy has another busy day, with a doctor's appointment in the late meowning and her Caterwauling Club's end-of-season pawty in the evening and She doesn't know if or when She will have time to do any blogging tomorrow.

All in all, it's going to be a busy week ahead - not least because Wednesday (August 12th) is My Sisfur Trixie's 14th Birthday and We are going to have a big pawty for her  up in the Enchanted Forest, at 6pm Israel time, to which you are all invited. As usual, the coordinates will be sent directly to your Transportation Devices. 

It's going to be a Picnic and BBQ kind of pawty, but there will also be an air-conditioned marquee, for those of you not used to hot weather. The weather prophets say it will reach 34 degrees Celsius in Jerusalem on Wednesday, although by 6pm, it should have cooled down a bit.

Now, despite that, it is MY Turn 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 Delightfully and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet. Trixie will have her turn next week, when she might show some birthday pictures.

So, this weekend, I have been having a lot of fun with some of the Boxes which Mummy's Cleaning Lady, Ms. M., regularly provides for Us. That is why Mummy named me "the Boxer" (mol)!

Mummy and I made some lovely artifications, with the help of BeFunky, and framed them with LunaPic. Here, for starters, is one using the Modern Comic GFX+ filter at 75%:

We like this a lot - although it is quite dark, so our next version, with Mosaic Fresco GFX+, is in complete contrast:

Our third artification, created with Crayon GFX, is probably the most colourful of the three:

Do you have a favourite? Let Us know in the Comments section below.

Now, We mustn't forget to add the blog hop badges. Here they are:

        

And that's it for now. We are looking forward to seeing you at Trixie's Pawty on Wednesday - and, COD-willing, We'll be back here again next week, same Cat Time, same Cat Channel. Till then - be safe. Be well. We love you all.

A Double Pawtion of Caspurr - Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurryone!

We're posting this rather late today, as Mummy was out all morning, furrst of all, meeting with the oncologist to discuss follow-up treatment after her opurration. Thankfully, it seems She won't need chemotherapy, just a few radiation treatments and then some kind of hormone therapy to prevent the recurrence of Bad Lumps like the one they took out of Mummy. After that, instead of coming straight home to Us, She and Auntie N. decided to go for coffee and a bite to eat.

Now that She is back home, She is helping Us 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 the Delightful 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.

Since I posed on the dressing-table, right in front of the Mirror, you are getting a Double Dose of Me this week.

Mummy made three lovely BeFunky artifications with the new GFX+ filters - and framed them all with LunaPic's elegant frames.

Furrst of all - Modern Gouache:

Next, Impressionist Soft:

And finally, after all this Colour, something completely different - Ink Brush:

We must confess, We are finding it furry difficult to choose a favourite! Are YOU having any better luck? Let Us know, in the Comments section below.

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

        

Mummy is feeling furry sleepy now (as are We) - no doubt due to the Supurr Hot Weather (We understand many of you, in Europe and North America, are also enjoying enduring above-average tempurratures even for Summer), so We will purrobably not get round to visiting many of you today, although We'll do Our Best. Mummy doesn't have Caterwauling Purractice this evening, but She does have the Annual General Meeting of the Caterwaulers, so She still needs to rest, because discussing Financial Reports is likely to have her yawning. Fortunately, the AGM is on Zoom, so She won't need to go out and leave Us this evening.

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