Purrs for Pessach: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurrybody!


We are so excited! Tomorrow evening  (April 22nd) is the seder night  - the start of Pessach (Passover). And Uncle D. is here for a whole month. Well - he isn't exactly HERE with Us for the whole time, but here in Israel. He is staying with Us for a fortnight and then he will go to Auntie N, Mummy's and Uncle D.'s sister, for the rest of his stay. Meanwhile, of course, that means that, once again, We are barred from the Guest Room - but, since We are quite successfully training him to be a Cat Purrson, We have decided to acquiesce gracefully. You can't turn a Human into a Cat Purrson in just one day, and since he is not here all the time, pawtial relapses are only to be expected. 

Now, getting back to the seder - for the furrst time in about a gazillion years, Mummy will be hosting it here, in her Our own Home. Meanwhile, We furries shall be having a com-mew-nal seder  for all Our Furriends up in the Enchanted Forest at 8 pm Israel time tomorrow evening. We hope to see all of you there. Precise co-ordinates have, as usual, been sent directly to your transportation devices. If you have not received them, let Us know.

Okay, now down to the Immediate Business of 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.

Since tomorrow evening is Pessach and We all wanted to wish you Chag Sameach, all three of Us posed for selfies this week, and Mummy helped Us artify them all, with the help of those clever cats over at LunaPic.

Furrst up - Trixie, the Queen of Hearts. You cannot escape her Melting Gaze, can you?

This was artified using the Flowers filter, at 48%:

We think this was a furry suitable choice, considering that Pessach is a Spring festival.

Next, We have Caspurr, the Snuggle-Bug, all pink tongue and tummy.

For Caspurr's artification, We used the Sunshine effect at 73%, overlaid with Grey at 27%:

Finally, Shimshi, the Master-of-the-Queen's Mischiefs, in a pose which shows off his toesies and his pink and grey pawpads to purrfection.

Shimshi was in a really artsy-fartsy mood and chose the Pen effect at 42%:

Here, now, are the blog hop badges:

        

Oh, and if you want to read in more detail about the scary night We had last weekend, Mummy wrote about it in Her Own Bloggie.

Now, it is time to wrap things up and start blog hopping. To those who celebrate Pessach, We wish you חג שמח (Chag Sameach - Happy Holiday). We look forward to seeing all of you, even those who don't celebrate Pessach, at Our Com-mew-nal Seder (which, apart from the Ceremonial bits, includes a bang-up Feast - featuring, amongst other things, plenty of gefillte fish and plenty of other Goodies).

To all of you, We say - Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

White Night: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies With Shimshi

Greetings, Effurrybuddies!


Boy, oh boy! What a fur-raising night We had!

Evil humans in Purr-sia (Iran) tried to kill Us last night. They shot hundreds of missiles and sent drones to attack Us. We knew they were coming but on the radio, they said the drones would arrive between 2 - 4 am. Mummy went to bed, thinking that if and when they arrived in Jerusalem, She would be woken by the sirens. But She couldn't fall asleep and at about 1:40 am, She thought She heard loud boomies overhead. She sat up, not sure if that was what She had really heard and THEN, the sirens started (NB: the app in her phone that was supposed to warn her of an impending attack did NOT go off!!!). There was no time even to think about running down to the shelter. Mummy grabbed her phone and a bottle of water and a pillow and rushed into the inner corridor which is the safest place in the apawtment (no outer walls or windows) where She lay down on the floor. It's a good thing Uncle D. had suggested the pillow earlier in the evening. The floor is hard and cold.  Civil Defence instructions were to wait 10 whole minutes in the "Safe Space", but Mummy waited half an hour, all the while texting family and neighbours, because there were quite a lot more boomies. As far as We know, only the neighbours on the ground floor went to the shelter.

After that, She turned on the TV and listened to that a bit, before returning to bed. That was when it became clear that the boomies were the result of ballistic missiles being intercepted over Jerusalem! As a result, Mummy got only about four hours sleep, so We are going to keep this post brief and let her try to catch a couple of hours more Shut-Eye before going to Caterwauling Club this evening.

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In the midst of Our Own Troubles here, We would like to take a moment to pay tribute to a Dear Furriend who departed last week for the Rainbow Bridge - a furry handsome, sweet woofie, dearest Lightning, of the Chronicle of Woos blog, who received his Angel wings last Wednesday, leaving his Humans and his fursibs, Misty and Timber, as well as his many friends here in the blogosphere, heartbroken.

Run free, sweet Lightning, now made young and healthy again, to bask in the Eternal Sunshine beyond the Rainbow Bridge.

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It is My Turn, as you have no doubt realised, 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 Selfies blog hop, hosted by the Delightfully and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

We picked out three photos of Me and artified each one with a different filter from LunaPic. We have also made mewtiful, pawtriotic frames for them all:

In this furrst one, I am enjoying a really nice, big sunpuddle: 

 

The artification uses the Dark filter at 62%, topped up with an overlay of Brave at 33% (because I am - I'm the Mighty Shimshon, after all). 

Next is a picture of Me trying to have My After Lunch Snooze (and not being allowed to, till I cooperated and agreed to pose for a Selfie):

The artsy-fartsy version of this one uses just one filter - Picasso, at 68%. It makes Me look much more like a tabby, doesn't it? And just look at my snaky-looking tail!

And finally, here is a close-up of Me, taken in honour of My Upcoming Birthday, this Wednesday, April 17th:

We artified this one with the Quirky filter. We liked it so much, and think it expurresses My Purr-sonality so well, that We left it at 100%.  It completely changes My Colouring and makes Me look much more like My Brofur, Caspurr.

And here are the blog hop badges:

     

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As We said, this Wednesday, April 17th, is My Birthday. I will be 10 years old! That is a furry impawtant number, isn't it? And naturally, We will be celebrating up in the Enchanted Forest, from 6 pm Israel time on that day. As always, you are all invited (and anyone who can get there a bit earlier to help set up the Bar - and the Barbecue -  will be most welcome).

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Now it is time to wrap this up and start blogging. We might not get to visit as many of you as We would like today, because We are all furry tired and need to catch up on the sleep We lost last night, so if We don't visit you today, We will continue hopping tomorrow.

One last thing - purrhaps the most impawtant of all - We would like to thank all of you who reached out to Us last night and earlier this morning, on WhatsApp, Fursbook and E-Mail, as well as via this blog, to make sure We were safe. It is most comforting to know We are not alone and that We have such good friends, both furry and human, all over the world.

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Caspurr Prepurrs For Gotcha Day: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Greetings, Effurryone!

How are you all? Are you ready to pawty? I hope so - because this coming Thursday, April 11th,  is My Gotcha Day and you know what that means, don't you? An all-night pawty, starting at 7pm, Israel Time. 

Where?

Well, in the Enchanted Forest, obviously! Where else?! Co-ordinates will be sent directly to your Transportation Devices. We are looking forward to seeing you all there. 
If it should happen to rain (unlikely, but at this of year, early Spring, anything is pawssible), We can repair to Our Castle. Mummy is going to the Opurra that evening, so She will be safely out of the way (mol).

Meowing of Mummy, tomorrow is Her Birthday and She will be spending it on another one of her field trips, once again in The North (does She think this is Game of Thrones, or something?). Which reminds Me, She finally got round to blogging about her previous field trip, last month.

Now, as I am sure you have guessed, it is My Turn to lead My Fellow 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 Deliciously and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

We chose a series of three photos of Me, shot in quick succession. In the furrst, I have just woken up and am enjoying a refreshing stretch:

In the next, I am waiting for Mummy to snorgle My Tummy and give Me some well-deserved Tummy Rubs:

And in this last one, I was already rather bored and wishing Mummy would just let Me get back to snoozing:

We used filters from LunaPic for all three artifications. For My stretchy picture, since I was still half asleep, We chose Dreaming, at 65%:

For My tummy rub picture, We used Tattoo, at 75%:

And the picture of Me yawning was artified with Dark, at 85%:

Mummy says the expression on My Face in this last artification reminds her of The Scream, by Edvard Munch, only upside down (mol)!
What do YOU think?

Now, let Us put up the blog hop badges:

        

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Oh, We almost forgot! We heard that tomorrow, the Sun is going to disappear for a few hours! This was a furry alarming piece of News, but it seems We won't be able to see this Phenomenon here in Israel. Nevertheless, We think it is Highly Significant that it is taking place on Mummy's Birthday! That must mean something Impawtant, don't you think?

Right, time to finish up here, and start blog hopping. See you next week. Till then - Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Springing Forward With Trixie: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo, hallo, hallo again, Effurrybody!

It must really be Spring now, because they stole an hour of sleep from Us over the weekend! Don't you just HATE it when they do that?!

Still, there is other evidence that the Winter is over at last. It's been a furry hot weekend, and, according to the Weather Prophets, this coming week is going to be even hotter, with tempurratures up to 29 degrees C.

And if you want still more proof - the geraniums and petunias in Mummy's window-boxes are starting to bloom.

Before We get down to the business of blog hopping, We want to take a few moments to pay tribute to a dear Furriend who received her Angel Wings last week at the furry venerable age of 18 and a half - the beautiful and much loved Joanie of the 15 and Meowing blog. We send hugs and purrs of condolence to her HuMom, Ellen, her fursibs - and her beloved toy, Gremmie. Fly free, sweet Joanie, safe in the Loving Paw of the Great Cat in the Sky.

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Now ... it is time to join the weekend blog hops!
That's right - 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.

Mummy and I chose three photos of Me, and artified each of them with different filters and effects from LunaPic. The pawtriotic frames are also courtesy of LunaPic.

Furst of all, a photo showing Me in a slightly annoyed mood, due to having been woken up for the Purr-pose of Posing:

I do think Mummy might have waited a bit and let me compose Myself. I don't want to appear to My Fans as a Grumpy Cat!

Still, it didn't look so bad once We artified it using the Homer effect at 90%, with an overlay of Tiedye at 21%. We don't think We have used Homer before, or if We have, at least not for a long time:

Our next effort shows Me all curled up in a round, furry ball. Mummy LOVES this kind of picture. What do you think?

This was given an artsy-fartsy touch with the Dark filter at 50%, overlaid with Nouveau at 17%:

I am furry pleased with the combined effect.

And now for the third selfie:

The artification here uses Beauty at 62% with an overlay of Smoke at 11%.

We remembered, at the furry last minute, that today is Easter Sunday. As it isn't something We celebrate ourselves, Our usual Clue is that Pessach (Passover) is almost upon Us. But Pessach is rather late this year, due to it being a Leap Year according to the Mewish calendar, so Easter kind of surprised Us. However, We do want to wish Happy Easter to all of you who do celebrate it, so here is one more artification, this time, using PhotoFunia's Easter collection:

And here are the blog hop badges:

        

Have a wonderful Easter. May you find gazillions of Easter eggs and may the Easter Bunny bring you lots and lots of treats!

Till next week then - Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

It's Pur(r)im Once Again! - Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies

Hallo again, Effurrybuddies!


Today is Purim - well, except in Jerusalem, where We celebrate it a day later in what is known as Shushan Purim (explanation in the link). So, naturally, We will be having a pawty this evening up in the Enchanted Forest. It will be an all-night pawty, so you will all be able to come, despite the time diffurrences. We will start at 6 pm Israel Time this evening - Sunday March 24th. (We have not yet put the clocks forward). The co-ordinates have been sent to your Transportation Devices, as usual. If you have neffur been to one of Our Pawties, or are new to this blog, drop Us a line in the Comments Section and We will send details directly to whichever of your Teleport Devices you choose!

Since it is Purim, all three of Us have contributed Selfies and Caturday Art 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 Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.  And Mummy helped Us make beautiful frames, in honour of the festival.

Furrst of all - Queen Trixie.

Trixie always goes as Queen Esther, so here she is, wearing her crown, in a furry colourful artification. We started with LunaPic's Flowers filter at 60%. Then, on top of that, We added the Surreal effect at 80%:

Next up is Caspurr, the King of the Tigger-Tabbies:

 

If you are thinking to yourselves that one of his Fangs seems to be missing - you would be right! He had a loose tooth a few months ago, and the v-e-t didn't want to remove it under anaesthetic because of Caspurr being - well, no longer a spring chicken - but it eventually fell out on its own. Caspurr wants to say that he is still awaiting a gift from the Tooth Fairy, but the trouble is, the Tooth Fairy expects a Tooth in exchange for her gift, and since nobody noticed when the tooth fell out, We don't know where it is!
Anyway, here is Caspurr's Purim artification. He, too, is wearing a crown. We used the Cheetah filter at 60% and then added Tuscany at 65%:

Last, but by no means least is Shimshi, the Little Purrince:

Shimshi's artsy-fartsy Purim picture uses LunaPic's Nouveau effect, at 88%:

Here now are the blog hop badges:

        

In other news -  you will have gathered, by now, that Mummy made it safely home from her trip up north last week, to Yodfat and Magdala, without being bombed or getting shot at. She hasn't yet written it up in her own bloggie, because last Thursday, She decided to write instead about mewsic and its role in daily life here in Israel. But She hopes to rectify that later this week, so look out for it.

Well, that just about wraps things up for now. Time to sign off and start blog hopping. 

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

And for those who celebrate it - Purim Sameach (פורים שמח) - Happy Purim.

Shimshi's Caturday Art and Sunday Selfie For St. Patrick's Day

Okay, okay - Full Disclosure. We do not celebrate St. Patrick's Day. However, We know that many of you do, so I, The Mighty Shimshon (Shimshi for short) aka The Little Purrince, aka The Baby Mancat (even though I am nearly 10 years old!), Master of the Queen's Mischiefs and Captain of the Guard, decided to make a gesture to that festival as We prepurr to 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 Delightful and Predictably Unpredictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

My Selfie, therefore, has a Green Shamrock frame. Tasteful and not too fussy, We think.

For the Caturday Art, We used LunaPic's  Garden effect, which has a lot of green in it, at 55%, to further enhance the St. Patrick's Day theme:

We made a second artification with the Quirky effect, this time at 60%. Which do you prefurr?

We have been spending a lot of time snuggling with Mummy or curled up on her lap, and She could not resist taking photos of Us while We were doing that, so here, as a Bonus, is another Selfie of Me (you can also see a bit of Caspurr's back, because We were sharing Mummy's lap at the time):

We artified this one as well - furrst, with the Grey filter at 75%:

And secondly, with Frida - one of Our Favourites, which We haven't used for quite a while:

I don't know about you, but I think this last one makes Me look older than I am. What do you think?

And here, before We forget, are the blog hop badges:

       

Next week is Purim, and We hope to celebrate it (despite the furry subdued and un-celebratory mood in the country, because of the war and the hostages still being held in Gaza) up in the Enchanted Forest. Details in next week's post.

Meanwhile, Mummy did manage to post about last week's field trip in her own bloggie, which you and your Humans are invited to read. These trips are happening at an alarming rate (for Us, anyway, as We don't like being left alone at home all day) - and, in fact, She has another one tomorrow, up north (paws crossed that the Bad Humans over the border there don't start firing rockets and things in Mummy's direction)...

And now, it's time to start blog-hopping. See you all next week. Till then, Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you who celebrate it. 

Be well. Be safe. We love you all.

Caspurr the Birthday Boy: Caturday Art and Sunday Selfies - and Some Sad Goodbyes

Greetings, Effurryone!

It is Me again, Caspurr the Tigger-Tabby King, here to repurrysent the J-Cats in 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 Deliciously and Unpredictably Predictable Kitties Blue and their HuMom, Janet.

Before We do that, however, We have a Trio of Sad Goodbyes to make. 

Last week, just after posting, We learned that dearest Dai$y, the all-powerful Matriarch of Trout Towne, had gained her Angel Wings. We send purrs of Condolence to her grieving family, Human and Furry.

Then, today, We learned that two more old furriends had received their Angel Wings. The feisty and opinionated Cathy Keisha (CK) has, after a long and eventful life, now been reunited with her loving Mom, Pattie (aka TW or "The Woman"). Purrs of Comfort to her Dad, Fred (aka Pop).

And LouLou, the lovely LouLou, the French kitty with something to say on just about anything - she too has crossed the Rainbow Bridge and left her Mama and Papa heartbroken. We send them Our heartfelt purrs of Condolence.

We are devastated at the loss of so many beloved furriends and not really in the mood for art or selfies, but We had already prepurred the pictures, so here they are.

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This is Me, relaxing after My Birthday Pawty. It was a lovely pawty and I received lots of prezzies - but it was also exhausticating. Hey, I'm a Senior Kitty now, so they tell Me. I'm entitled to take life Easy! 

We made two different artifications of this picture - both of them furry artsy-fartsy indeed!

Furrst of all, this one uses LunaPic's Ink art effect at 40%, lightly washed with a Dark overlay, at 20%:

In complete contrast, this second, furry colourful artification uses the Yarn effect at 85%, topped with Paisley at 15%:

Now, here is My Official Birthday Pawtrait. Do you think I look sufficiently Dignified for a Tigger-Tabby King?

The only Problem with this one is that I was snuggled up with My (not so little) Brofur, Shimshi, so you can see his Butt (which is not inconsiderable in size) in the lower right of the picture.

However, in the gold coin struck in honour of My Birthday, as well as in the new postage stamp (yes, We still use them in Tigger-Tabby Land), that has been dealt with and all you can see is My Own Handsome Face:

For those interested in the technicalities, We created these with the help of PhotoFunia.

Here, now, are the blog hop badges:

        

Before We start on Our Visits, We wanted to answer a question some of you have asked, about the view from the window which appears in several of Our Photos. We have been asked if Our Apawtment is high up. The answer is - Yes and No. Our building is on a slope, so that from the street entrance, Mummy only has to walk up one and a half flights of stairs. But most of the rooms face in the other direction, and on that side, We are five floors up and We face out over a valley, so it looks much higher.

One final word before We set out on the blog hops. Mummy finally posted on her own bloggie, about her Caterwauling Club's concert last month and about her field trip to Masada a fortnight ago - so, if you haven't taken a look yet, do go and read it.  Besides lots of pictures, there are also video clips from the Concert.



Now it really is time to sign off. Mummy must rest before Caterwauling Purractice this evening - and before that, She needs to prepurr her knapsack and some Sandwiches for tomorrow's field trip.

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