Trixie Still Reigns Supreme: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies (Plus a Twofur)

Hallo again, Effurrybody!

Mummy was so impressed by my Nobility and Generosity last week, sharing My Post with My Brofurs, that She agreed it would be appropriate and fitting for Me to lead the J-Cats again this week, on the Caturday Art Blog Hop (hosted by the Wise and Beauteous Athena and her HuMum, Marie) and the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop (hosted by the Effervescently Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet).

So here I am, enjoying an autumn sun puddle on My Royal Couch, by the living-room window:

You can't actually see the sun puddle, but I think you can discern the subtle effect of the sunlight on my normally jet-black furs.

Since this is my second week in a row, I have decided to give you, as a Bonus, another Twofur of the Pesky Mancats My Brofurs, before showing you the artified version of My Selfie:

And now, back to Business. 

For my Caturday Art, We used LunaPic's Coffee Effect at 85%, that beverage being such an impawtant part of Mummy's daily routine (mol) - though to be completely honest, since she caught the Evil Coronavirus, She has been drinking a lot more Tea, which She credits with having played a major role in her recovery!

We then overlaid that with the Stained Glass filter at 45% and placed the whole in an elegant frame, thus:

And now to other News. 
Mummy has an Exciting New Mewsical Project in hand. Together with seven other members of her Caterwauling Club, She has formed a Women's Ensemble which has been named Alma.  That is a word-play. In Hebrew, Alma (עלמה) means a young woman (wishful thinking, Mummy? - mol), but by changing one letter (עלמא), it is also the Aramaic word for the World, and since the repertoire includes Mewsic from all over the World, it is a furry suitable name.  They spell it the second way.  Anyway, tomorrow, they will be appearing for the furrst time, at a retirement home quite near to where We live, in a concert which includes songs from ten countries in almost as many languages. So let us put Our Paws together, and wish Mummy and her Caterwauling Companions, effurry success in their Endeavour.  I expect She will be delivering a full report of the concert on her own bloggie, later in the week.

Before We forget, here are the Blog Hop badges:

                      

And finally, We leave you for another week, with the reminder that the Evil Coronavirus still stalks the Earth, so make sure your Humans continue to exercise the Greatest Pawssible Caution - and you Kitties, keep washing those Paws!

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Tea for Two: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies (and Twofers) with Trixie and her Brofurs

Hallo, Effurrybody!

Here We are again - MOI, Queen Trixie, Furrst of My Name, Empurress of Jerusalem, Israel and the Entire Middle East, Queen of Hearts, Guardian of the Boudoir, Alpha-Kitty Extraordinaire, in Our furrst post of the Autumn.

Since this is Our furrst post of the Autumn, that makes it rather special, so although it is officially My Turn to lead the J-Cats as We join 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 Always Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet), I have graciously decided to share with you not only My Selfie (seen above) - from which We created this week's Caturday Art - but also a selection of twofers with My Brofurs.

Furrst of all, here is My Caturday Art - a pawtrait of MOI in my Magical Tunnel, using LunaPic's Dreaming Art Effect, at 40%:

I know some of you are probably wondering why We seem to use LunaPic to the exclusion of all else, (except, occasionally, PhotoFunia) but the truth is, We think if you have got hold of a Good Thing, and you like it, why change it?

And now for the Mancats.

Here are Caspurr and Shimshi, just settling down for an after-breakfast nap - and purr-bably planning some mischiefs along the way:

And here is a furry, furry rare picture of Me and Caspurr together:

I need to keep A Watchful Eye on him, lest He decide to pounce on Me. Those pesky mancats have NO Respect for My Rank as Queen-Empurress!

And finally, here is one of Me and Shimshi. I have been a bit wary of him too, lately, because he has been having these funny attacks when he goes all hissy and growly and then pounces on his own tail - but I am always afraid he is going to pounce on Me!

Next, here are the Blog Hop badges:

                

Tomorrow, Monday, is the last day of the Sukkot (Tabernacles) festival, followed on Tuesday by Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. Outside of Israel, these two holidays are celebrated on successive days, but here in Israel, they are concurrent.  If you want to learn more about them, you can go to the link above.

For those of you who celebrate the Mewish holidays, once again We would like to wish you Chag Sameach (חג שמח - A Happy Holiday).

Last, but by no means least, We want to remind you (as if anyone could forget) that the Evil Coronavirus is still furry much among Us, and so you and your Humans should continue to exercise Caution and take all necessary measures to remain healthy.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Dallying With The Dollies: Shimshi's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo there, Effurrybuddies!

It's Me again, the Mighty Shimshon (aka Shimshi aka The Little Purrince) - Guardian of the Queen's Mischiefs and Captain of the Guard.

I am all better (well, except for a minor episode of hissing and twitchy tail now and then) and ready to lead the J-Cats on this week'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 Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Here is My Selfie, in which I am enjoying a pleasant interlude with the Delightful Miss Dorothea Dolly:

She and her Sisters are part of Mummy's pawcelain doll collection. They come from all over the world. Some of them Mummy bought herself, others She received as gifts. Some of them are from here in Israel, others come from Britain, America, Russia, Azerbaijan and various countries in Europe. They all have interesting stories to tell of the lands from which they came and many is the summer evening, or the stormy winter night that My Fursibs and I have whiled away in their company, listening to tales of the faraway places where they were born.

We artified this picture with LunaPic's Watercolour Art Effect, at 60%.

Do you like it?

Tomorrow evening (Monday) is the start of yet another Mewish holiday - Sukkot, or Tabernacles, which is one of Our Favourites.
We certainly have a lot of holidays this month!  Mummy loves them because it's a chance for all the family to get together (especially now that Mummy has now recovered from the Evil Coronavirus and is no longer in quarantine - which ruined the planned Family Get-Together at Rosh Hashana).  So Chag Sameach (חג שמח - Happy Holiday) to you all!

Speaking of the Evil Coronavirus, before We start out on the blog hops, We want to remind you that it is still with us, so, whether your Humans are vaccinated or not, they should remember to observe all the other, sensible precautions like wearing face-masks when in an enclosed space with many people, and social distancing, and, of course, frequent hand-washing (We Felines can set a good example there, as you all know).

Now, before I Mummy forgets, here are the blog hop badges:

             

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Caspurr the Snuggle Bug: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurryone!

And your Host today is ME, Sir Caspurr the Courageous, the Caspicatious, Furrst of My Name, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces, King of the Tigger-Tabbies. Or, as Mummy has taken to calling Me - Caspurr the Snuggle Bug.

That is because, while all three of Us love to curl up next to Mummy and be petted, I am the only one who will climb into her lap and snuggle in her arms. But keep it a Secret, please. "Snuggle Bug" is not a furry dignified name for the Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces, don't you agree?

Speaking of Mummy, She has fought off the Evil Coronavirus that dared to attack her and now has the added advantage of not having to have a Third Dose of the Vaccine, because She has, instead, the Natural Immunity con-furred by overcoming the disease.

And Shimshi also seems to be better, except for the occasional twitch of his Tail, and shying away when his Rear End is petted. Mummy gave him a Nip Sock which seems to calm him down.

As usual, We are pawticipating in the weekly Sunday Selfies Blog Hop, hosted by the darling Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet. That is My Entry, above. You mustn't think I was being lazy. Far from it. I was exhausticated from guarding Mummy all morning, as you can see below from my Caturday Art.  It was furry hard to choose between three different versions of My Guard Cat pictures, and to pick which of them will be Our Entry in the Caturday Art Blog Hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie.
Purr-haps you can help Us decide.

Furrst, this one, using LunaPic's Lily Art Effect, set at 30%:

Next up, the same picture, this time using LunaPic's Connections Art Effect, also at 30%:

And finally - still with LunaPic - the Devilish Art Effect (because I am devilishly handsome, Mummy says), once again at 30%:

And here are the Blog Hop badges, which We nearly forgot!

                                           

Before We go, We would like to remind you that, even with the Vaccine, your Humans are not completely safe from the Evil Coronavirus, so they need to carry on with all the other Precautions such as Social Distancing, Masks and Frequent Washing of Paws Hands (about which, it goes without saying, We Felines neeed no Reminder).

Be Well. Be Safe. We love you all.

And since Yom Kip-purr, the Mewish Day of Atonement, starts on Wednesday night, We wish you all a Favourable Final Sealing in the Book of Life.

גמר חתימה טובה

G'mar Hatima Tova

The Week of the Dreaded Lurgi: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Greetings, Effurrybody!

It is Moi, 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 whose lot it has fallen to report on this past week's mishaps.

It started off last Sunday with Shimshi being hauled off to the Evil, Stabby Place to get his shots, with which he was sadly behind, and to try and remove the matted fur on his back, caused (said the V-e-t) by being so overweight, he couldn't reach said area with his tongue to give himself a propurr bath. She tried to shave it off but even then, couldn't manage the whole lot. Hmmm - purhapps it's not surprising he saw fit to omit that from last week's post!

The following day, Mummy started developing a Bad Cold, which got steadily worse, so We three Purrymedics had to look after her. She has had worse colds, by the way, but She felt bad enough not to go down to feed the homeless kitties all week. Step-Grandma gave her all sorts of Granny Medicine prescriptions, but when her tempurrature reached 37.8 C (100.04 F), she thought maybe it was time to take one of those PCR-COVID tests, to make sure it really was just a cold. So on Thursday, on her doctor's advice, She took a taxi to one of the drive-in testing sites and had the test done and then came home. The following day, She got the results and, oh my, kitties! It was, indeed, the Dreaded Lurgi. 

Yes, Kitties! Mummy succumbed to the Evil Coronavirus! The symptoms all but disappeared by Saturday, but Mummy has to remain in quarantine for ten whole days, counting from the day She took the test. So now, the family supper She had planned to have in the garden with Grandpaw and Step-Grandma, and her sisters and brothers-in-law and nieces and nephews, is totally off the cards, because she visited Grandpaw and Step-Grandma a couple of days before the Dreaded Lurgi made their appearance, and they, too, have to be in quarantine, for two weeks from the day of contact. Now Mummy feels horribly, horribly guilty for ruining the Rosh Hashana (Mewish New Year) meal for the whole family, who haven't had a chance to dine together for months - as well as feeling really, really worried that She might have passed on the virus to Grandpaw and Step-Grandma!

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, on Friday afternoon, Shimshi started behaving really strangely. He became terribly aggressive, hissing and snarling and baring his teeth at effuryone and effurrything, as well as at nothing at all. And then he would loudly yowl and pounce, mostly on his own tail!  Now, it's not the furrst time he has tried to catch his own tail and it usually looks furry funny and cute, Mummy thinks - but he seemed really angry at his tail this time. And that went on for hours and really scared Mummy. She thought he was going to attack her. So she shut him up in the guest room with food and water and one of the litter boxes, and he is still there now, though by this morning, he seemed to have calmed down quite a bit. Mummy tried to call the v-e-t and left messages for her on her phone, and with the receptionist, but the v-e-t has still not returned her calls. Mummy is furry disappointed with Dr. Einat. She has no idea what was/is wrong with Shimshi. At furrst, She was afraid because he was behaving like an animal with rabies - but common sense tells her that can't be the reason since (a) he is vaccinated (b) he is a strictly indoor kitty, as are we all (c) he couldn't possibly have been bitten by something like a bat because a bat couldn't get in, there are screens on all the windows and Mummy would have noticed if one of them had a hole in it. Anyway, he is eating and drinking his water, and his pupils react normally to light, and he is pooping and (she thinks) peeing. So then she wondered if maybe he was having a Bad Reaction to his shots - but that's also unlikely as he had his shots on Sunday and the Weird, Aggressive Behaviour began on Friday. Mummy spoke to a Family Member in the US, who is a v-e-t, and sent her a videoclip of Shimshi's strange behaviour and She said he just looks really angry and it could be from stress but it could also be from something like an anal gland issue (as he kept attacking his own rear end), or maybe a UTI or inflammation of the bladder which often is linked to stress. Of course, as she said, it's impossible to tell without examining him, so Mummy should call the v-e-t. 
Which, of course, Mummy has been attempting to do, but getting no answer! Besides which, Mummy is in Quarantine because of the Dreaded Lurgi and hasn't been able to find anyone who can take Shimshi to the v-e-t. In any case, as I said, Shimshi seems to have calmed down a lot so Mummy is going to leave him one more night in the Guest Room Purresidential Suite and if he seems okay tomorrow and She can be sure he is purrforming all his propurr functions, We will forgo what would no doubt be a Stressful Visit to the v-e-t.

What makes effurrything so awkward, besides the fact that Mummy is herself confined to the house, is that tomorrow evening marks the start of the Mewish New Year and the High Holy Days, when, in any case, the v-e-t's clinic will be closed. We hope there will be no need to seek out an Emergency V-e-t who doesn't even know Shimshi.

So please, keep purring and purraying that Shimshi's condition will continue to improve and that Mummy has indeed overcome the Evil Coronavirus - and that nobody else in the family has caught it from her, especially not Grandpaw and Step-Grandma, with whom She visited only a day before the symptoms furrst appeared.

And now, dear furriends, it is time to join 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 adorable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet, as We do effurry week.  

My Sunday Selfie is the picture you can see at the top of this post. In it, I am waiting for that sunbeam which you see on the sofa, to move my way and bathe Me in a sunpuddle - my furry own sunpuddle - as I recline on my Magical Flying Carpet under the coffee table.
Well, you surely don't expect The Queen to get up and run after a sunpuddle, do you? It is for them to come to Moi.

Since Rosh Hashana and the High Holy Days actually signal the start of Autumn, My Caturday Art takes an autumnal theme from Photofunia:

It's a pity there wasn't one with pomegranates, which are traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashana, but We think it's quite pretty - although the weather here is still anything but autumnal and the tempurrature is expected to remain hovering around 30C for the whole week.

Here now are the blog hop badges:

                    

All that now remains is to wish you all a Furry Happy Mew Year - SHANA TOVA - and to pray that the awful, horrible things that have been happening all around the World this year will go away, and that next year will be a year of Good Health, Bounty and Kindness for Us all.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

לשנה טובה תכתבו ותחתמו

Leshana Tova Tichatevu Vetihateimu

May you be signed and sealed for a Good Year.

Me and My Medal: Shimshi's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!

Well, the Cat-O-Lympics ended in a Blaze of Glory for Me and My Fursibs! Trixie brought home the Gold in the Counter to Cupboard high jump, and set a new World Record in the process. And Caspurr and I took  the Gold in the Synchronised Sleeping Technique event - a furry demanding competition, requiring Creativity as well as Stamina.

After the award ceremony, each of the Gold Medalists had their official pawtrait painted and the paintings will hang in the Cat-O-Lympic Hall of Fame for effur more.

Here is mine - and it has a beautiful gold frame, to match My Medal!



                                                                                                                                  

Since it is My Turn, this week, to represent the J-Cats in the Caturday Art Blog Hop, hosted by the Wise and Beautiful Athena and her HuMum, Marie, We thought there could be no more appropriate choice than this.

Athena has not been feeling at all well this past week, as you can see from her bloggie, so please join us all in purraying for her and for her HuMum, Marie and in sending them healing vibes and POTP.

Next up is the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop, hosted by the Charming and Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet. Once again, they do not appear to have posted this week, but We shall go back later and see if that has changed, and if it has, We shall link up to them.

Here is My Selfie then, as I take my morning Pole Chair Dancing exercise. I am thinking of taking up this new sport on a regular basis, especially if it is adopted by the International Cat-O-Lympic Committee and becomes an official event in the next Cat-O-Lympics, which, let Me remind you, are only THREE years away.

And here are the Blog Hop badges:

                         

Before I go, I will take this oppurrtunity to remind you all, once more, that until this horrid, Evil Coronavirus is banished from the World, We must all continue to take propurr precautions - and make sure our Humans do likewise.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

It's Too Darn Hot: Caspurr's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie

Hallo again, Effurryone!

It is time to pawticipate in the Caturday Art Blog Hop, hosted by the lovely Athena and her HuMum, Marie,  and the Sunday Snoozies Selfies Blog Hop, hosted by the darling Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

And repurresenting the J-Cats this week is ME - The Caspicacious Sir Caspurr the Courageous, Furrst of My Name, Commander-in-Chief of the Impurrial Forces, King of the Tigger Tabbies.

To tell the Truth, Dear Furriends (and one should always tell the Truth, I suppose - shouldn't one?) - I feel too sleepy to write a long blog this week. It's so hot, I really don't have the energy to move (although I was tearing around the house like a Madcat last night, chasing my fursibs). I need to conserve My Energy for later in the Week. Well, We all do, actually. It's the last few days of the Cat-O-Lympics, which end on Furriday - and We are all three of Us through to the finals in Our Respective Events. So, if you want to know the rest of the News about what's going on in Our Neck of the Woods, you should read Mummy's own, purrsonal blog.

I myself will get straight to the point i.e. the Blog Hops.

The picture above is My Sunday Selfie (Leave My Tummy Alone! Only Mummy can smooch me!)

And here is the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop Badge: 

  

We artified it using the Van Gogh filter, from LunaPic, set at 75%:

That is probably why one of my ears appears to be missing. But don't worry. I didn't cut it off. It's still there - hiding (mol).

Here is the Caturday Art Blog Hop badge:

And here is a Jigsaw Puzzle We made of Our Artsy Fartsy self:

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Before We go, We would remind you that all around the World, the Evil Coronavirus is still raging. In some places, your Humans are starting to emerge from Lockdown, in others, they are scurrying back into Lockdown. It's all furry confusing. They will need your Help and Guidance. So make sure you are all furry careful and don't take any Unnecessary Risks. 

Caution is Our Watchword.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.