S.S.T.

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

It is I, Queen Trixie, Guardian of the Boudoir and Alpha Kitty Extraordinaire.
I want to update you on some furry impawtant news. Perhaps the Most Impawtant News of the Year!

You remember a few months back, I told you that I had been made a           Purr-fessor of S.S.T. at the Feline University of Jerusalem? (That's Synchronised Sleeping Techniques, for those of you who haven't been paying attention.)
Well, last week, my furrst students passed their end-of-year exams with such success that the University Administration has decided that the course - an experimental one, which has never before been offered at any university - will become a purr-manent fixture and, as a result, I have been granted tenure!

What do you think of that, kitties?

For those of you unfamiliar with S.S.T., I am going to explain the concept, with the assistance of my two best students - Caspurr and Shimshi.

You may have noticed that when two or more kitties live together in close proximity, their sleeping patterns tend to be similar. Not only do they sleep at the same time but they have a tendency to sleep in similar positions.

Thus:

Not quite identical, but furry, furry close, as you can see. 

Not only that but, when one kitty moves in his or her sleep, changing positions, there is a high probability that the other kitty will mirror the moves of his or her companion.

These mirror moves don't always turn out quite right:

The goal of my S.S.T. course is to enable companion kitties to perform in-sleep manoeuvres simultaneously and in complete synchronisation.

It was not easy at furrst, I have to admit. My students required individual tutoring and close snoopervision:

Not quite, this time - but Caspurr learned fast, and by the end of the semester, his moves were nearly purrfect:

Shimshi required a bit more coaching, as his attention often wandered:

Indeed, there were times when I almost felt like giving up:

However, I purr-severed, and I am glad that I did. I realised that Caspurr could be invaluable as a Teaching Assistant. Here we are working together, to demonstrate a purr-ticularly tricky position to Shimshi:

I found that the two of them worked well together, as this next photo shows:

Note the small details, such as the way both cats have the tail firmly held in place by the extended forepaw.

So well did they work together, in fact, that I was miaowtivated to invent some new manoeuvres especially for them, one of which I am demonstrating here:

Finally, no less impawtant that the Synchronised Manoeuvres while sleeping, are the Wake-Up and Stretch Techniques to be purr-formed at the end of the exercise. Here, we can see Caspurr demonstrating an advanced Touch Your Toes exercise:

So pleased are We with the success of this course that our hope is to have S.S.T. included as a Recognised Sport at the next Kitty Olympics. We are therefore asking you all to join Us in lobbying the International Feline Olympic Committee (IFOC) to that purr-pose. There is only just over a year to go. Can we count on your support?

I will leave you now with best wishes for a pleasant weekend. 

Shabbat Shalom from Moi, Queen Trixie and from my brofurs, Caspurr the Tigger Tabby and Shimshon the Mighty (aka Shimshi).

Laser Eyes

Hallo there, Effurryone!

We are stlll waiting for the Cat Condo Mummy promised to get Us when We moved into our new palace.  She now says that will have to be put on hold, as she has to replace her Sucky Monster (must you, Mummy?) and her Microwave Oven, which got dedded, somehow. She needs to use the money she would have used for Our New Condo. 

And We are tired of the rubber balls and mousies with feathers, because, in any case, Shimshi keeps stealing them and hiding them and then fur-getting where he hid them.

So we invented a new game. You know that game where the Human flashes a laser light point around? Well, We've gone one better. We discovered that Shimshi has really powerful Laser Eyes and he can cast light spots on the walls for Trixie and Me to chase. 

Look!

We ran around after those light spots so much, I am quite exhausticated!
Now I am off to watch TV with Mummy and my fur-sibs. At least - they can watch TV. I am going to have a(nother) nap.

Have a Good Week!

Caspurr the Tigger-Tabby King

Impawtant Dates to Remember

Hallo again, Effurrybuddies!

This is Me, the Mighty Shimshon. I just wanted to remind you all that today, May 15th, is my Gotcha Day. 

Sort of. 

It is exactly one year since Step-Grandma brought me to live here, with Mummy and with my fur-siblings, Trixie and Caspurr. But, as you may recall, Mummy wasn't sure at the time that She could look after Three Kitties and so it was more than a month till I was Officially Adopted into the J-Cat Family.

However, We are going to celebrate my Gotcha Day tomorrow, so we can, once again, combine two celebrations in one. Sunday is Yom Yerushalayim, the 48th anniversary of the Liberation and Reunification of Jerusalem in the Six Day War. That was a furry, furry long time ago, even in Human Years - let alone Cat Years! It was long befurr I was born. Long befurr Caspurr and Trixie were born. Long befurr Possum and Pixie or even Minxie (who lived in the pre-blogging era) were born.

Jewish holidays start the evening before and Shabbat falls right between My Gotcha Day and Yom Yerushalayim, so - out of consideration for The Staff - we are going to have just one (furry big) combined pawty.

You are all invited, of course! We are going to have a Fish Barbecue, with plenty of salmon and tuna and trout and cod and seafood. And mice-cream for dessert. And nip cocktails. We shall start in the late afternoon, when it gets cooler. So let's say five pm Israel time. Anyone who wants to come early to help us get set up, will be most welcome. It's going to be on the (sort of) Patio...
And then we shall have a Disco Dance.

Trixie says we need to dance in order to work off all the calories We shall have consumed. I don't know why girl-cats are always thinking about dieting and so-on, do you?

Anyways, We are looking furr-ward to seeing you all tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Have a nice Shabbat!

In Loving Memory - Nerissa (Nissy)

We are all so sad to hear that our Dear Furriend, the amazing Nissy, has left us - far too soon and way before his time -  and flown away to the everlasting nip fields at the Bridge.  We are too shocked and grieved to be able to write about anything else and anyway, Mummy's eyes are leaking too much to be able to see the keyboard properly.

We wish we were clever at graphics like the wonderfully talented Ann from the Zoolatry blog, who created this beautiful memorial badge in Nissy's honour: 

Alas, we have no such talents, neither does Our Human. We are only good with words, not pictures. But even here, we think the best tribute We can pay to Our Beloved Furriend Nissy, is to adopt the word he himself invented, and thus keep his memory alive furr-ever, wherever the English Feline language is spoken.

What else can one say, anyway, when one is at a loss for words?

MOUSES!

A Double Celebration

Hallo, Effurrybody!

Well, as I mentioned last week, on Shabbat afternoon, We had a Huge Pawty to celebrate Shimshi's Coming-of-Age (he is now One Year Old) and Caspurr's second Gotcha Day. 

Shimshi is a furry impatient kitty. When Mummy gave him the Prezzie She had bought him, he practically tore it out of her paws hands and then tried to climb into the bag it was in:

And when he saw what it was (a lovely, bouncy rubber ball with lots of fevvas), he ran off with it before either Caspurr or I could so much as get a look at it! It's lucky Mummy was there with her flashy box to show you what it was like before Shimshi could pull all the fevvas off!

Naturally, Caspurr was off in a flash after Shimshi and the pretty green ball:

But Shimshi was having none of that so Caspurr had to make do with an old sock of Mummy's filled with catnip. That was an exceptionally good toy, because it smelled of both Mummy and nip (purrs).

As for Moi, I was so exhausticated from all the pre-purrations for the Pawty, I just had to have a rest!

I just hope my brofurs truly appurreciate all the Hard Work Mummy and I put in to make their Joint Pawty a Success!

Now - lest you should think We are done with celebrations for a while - We are looking forward to Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Israel's Independence Day) which is celebrated this coming Thursday! The traditional way of celebrating that is with a Barbecue in the garden or yard. So We shall be having another Pawty in just Four Days Time - at 3 pm Israel Time.

And, of course, you're all invited!

Festivals, Birthdays and Anniversaries

Hallo, Effurybody!

What a busy time it has been this past fortnight! Furrst of all, there was Pessach. We had to snoopervise all Mummy's Pessach cleaning, and shopping - especially when She decided to get some treats for Herself!

Then, on Chol Hamoed Pessach, Mummy had her Hebrew birthday and two days later, on April 8th, it was her birthday according to the Civil Calendar. So She got two birthdays in the same week! But She doesn't get to have a Gotcha Day like We do (although, in a way, She, too, was Gotcha-ed). And talking of Gotcha Days, yesterday, April 11th, was Caspurr's. It's exactly two years since he and Mummy decided they were made for each other - and I, Trixie, finally got the Little Brofur I had been waiting for!
We didn't have a Pawty (I'll explain why in a minute) but he did get to choose what We would watch on the Big Screen:

Now, the reason there was no Pawty was that this coming Furr-iday, April 17th, is Shimshi's Birthday! He will be exactly One Year Old. So, we have decided to have a Joint Pawty for the two of them - Shimshi's Coming-of-Age and Caspurr's Gotcha Day Pawty.

But since Mummy is now a few hundred years old, by Our Reckoning, and her Human Family are having a "Surprise" Birthday Pawty for Her that day and since We need Her help to prepare Our Pawty really, really want Her to come to Our Pawty, We are going to have Caspurr and Shimshi's Pawty the following day, on Shabbat afternoon - and, of course, you are all invited.

We shall have it at 6 pm, so you can all enjoy the beautiful sunset.

I suppose it will be a lot of work for Me to pre-purr, but being an Alpha-Kitty Extraordinaire does carry with it certain obligations.
Noblesse Oblige, as they say.

So that's it for now. We are looking forward to seeing you all on Shabbat afternoon.

Have a Good Week!

A Fun-Filled Weekend

Hallo again, Effurryone!

It is I, Caspurr the Tigger-Tabby King!
I am completely exhausticated by all the festivities we've been having over the past few days!

Furrst of all, there was Purr-im. Mummy made Us dress up in these silly hats for the Purr-im Pawty. Trixie said She didn't see what I was getting so uptight about, nobody minds being a little undignified on Purr-im. You are supposed to dress up in funny costumes and take part in the miaowsquerade, and even get a little tipsy. 

It's all very well for Her to talk. She got to wear an elegant hat and look even more ladycatlike than usual!

And even Shimshi didn't look too silly, in his Cossack hat:

But the hat Mummy picked out for Me was not one that a self-respecting Mancat would agree to wear. The fact that I did so can point to only one thing:

I must have had a couple of niptinis too many!

Either that, or somebody (I shall name no names) spiked my Silvervine Cocktail (mol).

No sooner was Purr-im over, then it was My Birthday!

Yes, kitties! On Shabbat, I was Two Years Old.

I had Salmon and Shrimp Fancy Feast for lunch and I also received this nice Mousie as a Birthday Prezzie from Mummy.

Of course, no sooner had Mummy given it to Me, than Shimshi tried to steal it! So Mummy had no choice but to put Me and My New Mousie in the Boudoir (much to Trixie's annoyance) and to shut Shimshi out. He wasn't best pleased with that, but at least I got to play with My Prezzie and make sure it was thoroughly imbued with My Own Scent.

Instead of having another Pawty, We decided to go out to a nightclub to celebrate. I pointed out that this might be a bit of a problem, what with Shimshi being underage and all that, but Trixie said She had a furr-iend who could fix him up with a fake ID.

Our furrst stop was Kitty's Cave, but Trixie decided the floor show there was rather too risqué for Shimshi's baby eyes.  It's true that the Chorus Kitties there are Real Hot Numbers and it was My Birthday, after all, but We do have a responsibility to our little brofur, so We left and went to the Pussycat Parlour, where they prepare the best Catmint Juleps in town - and the food is good too. Their floor show isn't bad either - and I have a Date with their Star, the beauteous Miss Pussy Galorious, later this week. (Purrs).

All in all, it's been a Pretty Good Week - with the Promise of an even better one to come (mol).