Silvery shadows under a golden dome.
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Pretty in Color
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Tag Archives: cat
Posing in Stripes
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Slow it down, buddy!
My cat, Bendi, would eat himself comatose if I left food out for him. And he eats so fast he gets the hiccups. Every time. (Which is adorable, but probably not a good thing.) He is also not yet 1 year old and is a big cat, so I knew I needed to do something and fast.
First I switched him to a less fattening adult food (his birthday is next month) and then we have been trying out cat food dispensers to slow his intake. So far his favorite is the PetSafe SlimCat Interactive Toy and Food Dispenser Ball.
He has a constant purr as he bats it around like an expert. It is the cutest thing. It has also slowed him down significantly and he appears to be on high alert to every sound in the house (as opposed to laying down – yea, he did that – while eating from his bowl.) He is always pausing and listening. When he is done, instead of hiccuping, he flops out in total contentment.
Ode to a Nut Case Cat
The situation is sad, I admit that, because we had to say goodbye to one of our kitties. Yet Stitches was a nut of a cat that has been the subject of poetry and art work and we can’t help but celebrate her crazy, mixed up world.
She was not extremely old, being only 13, but she had a stack of health issues that were, to put it simply, odd. This cat was on Prozac. No joke! She had so many anxieties she could barely live with herself, so it was a wonderful thing when the vet prescribed kitty Prozac for her. It fixed a lot of problems we had struggled with for years and, while still skittish, Stitches was a more mellow cat and seemed quite happy with her life.
Hyperthyroidism (and more kitty meds!) kept her at 5 lbs, yet with all the hair she looked like a 20 lb cat. It is my opinion that 1 lb was fur, and each foot, which sported 6 toes, was 1/2 a lb each. That left 2 lbs for her body.
Stitches was like a pile of leftovers God threw together. Nothing fit, with a character to match, yet she was amazingly photogenic.
Poems have been written about her as well as stories of her antics in a monthly newsletter. Stitches has also been featured in a book of children’s poetry which I illustrated.
The cat had an unbelievable sense of bad timing, which inspired a poem about a Christmas morning trek to the emergency vet clinic. It starts out as so…
Stitches my cat
Was found with a mat
In a place on her coat where the kitty cat sat.
And ends…
That’s the end of my tale,
It all ended well.
Do you want a nice kitty, I have one for sale.
So while we are saddened, we also can not help remembering and laughing over the crazy contributions she made to our lives these past 13 years. We will miss her and the stories she has inspired will be retold for years to come.
Of Cats and Quilts
One of my hobbies is quilting, and while I have sold some of my quilts, I usually create them for friends, family, or charity. In all my quilting there has been one constant: cats love quilts! And quilters love cats.
So when I discovered my 7 month old kitten in my quilt basket, I was not surprised. I very quickly placed a towel over the quilts though… love the kitty, not so much the kitty hairs.
The quilt he is lying on is a MODA fabric design called Parisian Cats and the quilt was inspired by my Siamese, Tacey, who was all over the sewing table supervising the proceedings at the time of creation. The reverse side is finished of super soft minky material to match the seal points on her pretty face. With a thick cotton batting, it makes for a very warm and cuddly snuggle blanket!
In 2011, this quilt was also used in a homework assignment to advertise a candy. I chose Coldstone Creamery Jelly Belly jelly beans because I liked their colors and the fact that it worked with this quilt. I often used my other hobbies, my cats, my family, and my own photography when creating homework assignments.
Gratitude
I was talking with a friend about one of the best pets I ever had (an alley kitten from the inner city). Having grown up on a farm with a constant array of pets, that is saying a lot.
In searching out a photo to share I was reminded of a design project from a fundamentals class where I chose to use Tacey as my “object”. I am grateful for that class. It gave me a wonderful photo set of a pet who died too suddenly and way too young (12 years old).
She was a beautiful representation of design perfection – with enough design humor (as in the vanilla Hershey kiss on her face) and little artistic surprises to keep the beauty from becoming tedious.
The project was to draw the “object” in various styles. The upper left is a chalk pastel piece and one of my favorites. There is also a line drawing I like (a little Toulouse Lautrec), a comic, colored pencils, photo, sketchy, logo-esque, etc.
What was a simple classroom activity became a frame-able art piece, which will bring back fond memories for years to come.
For more design information, you can read my post in the design blog I kept during school.
My Derpy Kitten
They grow up so fast!
My derpy kitten – June 2012:
4 months later and still derpy (at 7 months of age — how big is he going to get?!):
Having been featured on Derpy Cats more than once, Bendi believes he has an image to maintain.
Little Cat Feet
The back yard was slightly eerie, yet intimate this morning. The fog had not yet fully lifted when we took our morning inspection tour–a favorite poem wafted through my mind.
The fog comes
on little cat feet.It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
–Carl Sandburg
Intruder
During a routine outdoor inspection, an intruder was spotted. He ran from the scene without identifying himself, but it is believed he is a member of the Chipmunk gang. Authorities have been alerted and heightened security measures are being considered.
Getting nothing done
…and if you wonder why, blame it on the office cat.
Innocence
This reminded me of a poem on a blog called Essence.
Where Do Pens Go?
Are all the pens leaving town
For not a one can be found
Perhaps there was a pen revolt
That caused the writing sticks to bolt
Maybe all were whisked away,
They could have gone outside to play
Or maybe they were vaporized
By outer space alien spies.
There will be no writing here today,
For all the pens have gone away.
— Charlotte Franck, 2008
a vacation in my mind 