Friday, March 29, 2024
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Daily Photos: Time to Explore!

Time to explore!
Time to explore!

I love all the photos I’ve captured of her walking between the trees, but this one is exceptional for how I finally caught her precious little shape, including the curled tail.

The weather has been amazing, balmy and even sunny. I thought it would only last a day or two but it’s been almost a week. The yard is drying out some and, best, a friend has come along to cut up the large section of the tree trunk to use as solid cherry firewood. I have a few pieces I can use to sit on in the garden, or maybe have someone else come along and cut up. The work can begin, first a lot of cleaning around the fences, then replacing the fences, then getting my garden set up. So Mimi and I go out and walk around. I plan, she explores.

A little more exploring. Mimi knows every inch of her yard.

A little more exploring. Mimi knows every inch of her yard.
A little more exploring. Mimi knows every inch of her yard.

Gracefully weaving her way. No, Mimi, you are not camouflaged.

Gracefully weaving her way. No, Mimi, you are not camouflaged.
Gracefully weaving her way. No, Mimi, you are not camouflaged.

From around this date in previous years

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Wordless Wednesday: Looking Up

Basil's Looking Up
Basil’s Looking Up

Whiskery Dream Catchers

Ophelia enjoying the sun this morning.
Ophelia enjoying the sun this morning.

Whiskers are suncatchers, especially if they are as long and wavy as Ophelia’s.

I found Ophelia’s whiskers catching the sun to be so beautiful, and then when I took the photos the lens caught the sun at an angle that refracted the light, and there were those rainbows again. The photo above was shared on Instagram and Facebook, the one below is a bonus photo just for people who read The Creative Cat!

Extra whiskers!
Extra whiskers!

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Other daily photos shared on this date

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Four Cats on a Cloud, 2014
four black cats on a kitty beanbag
“Four Cats on a Cloud”

Clockwise from about 7:00, Mimi, Sunshine, Mewsette and Bean all crowd themselves on the “cloud bed”, the old fleece kitty beanbag bed that’s filled with snips of upholstery foam. I had put it away when they tired of it a couple of years ago and recently brought it back out and washed and aired it. It is, for now, a cat magnet. There have been no cats on my desk because, well, there they are. I have even been nearly alone in my studio and, strangest of all, in my bed, because of the novelty of this cloud.

Typically three of them share it, Mr. Sunshine, who thinks it belongs to him, Mewsette and Bean. Mimi joined them today, and has ended up at the bottom of the pile. I haven’t yet had all five on this thing, and lest it look as if there is no way they could all fit, there is always room on top. Only Giuseppe is missing—he was posted on Mousewatch in the kitchen, one of the cabinet doors under the sink slightly open so he could peer inside.

I bought this bed at a yard sale in the late 90s just because I couldn’t pass it up, even though my cats have never been big on beds—they tire of them easily and I’m stuck with big foam constructions that take up space and aren’t used, when all I need to do is fold a blanket and set it down and immediately it’s covered in cats, or begin to work at any desk or worktable. Or just sit down and I’m covered in cats. They do tire of this one, but it has a fond memory. The day I brought it in the house and dropped it on the floor until I decided what to do with it Kelly saw it, her eyes grew even larger and rounder than usual, and she began talking about the new bed in the house, cautiously walked over to it, sniffed and circled it, then stepped onto it, and it was hers. Until Moses discovered it, and since we all knew Moses was incredibly special Kelly was honored to let Moses have the bed.

So was I because Moses had taken to sleeping under my desk chair—formerly feral, a little uncertain, she loved me but wanted to feel safe, so under my chair felt good to her but I could not move for fear of running over her. Moses climbed on the bed with Kelly one day and I inched it closer to my desk so it wasn’t in the middle of the floor. Kelly gave up her claim and the cloud bed stayed next to my desk chair downstairs until after Moses died in 2006. I still remember looking down at her and seeing her blink up at me, tap her tail and purr a little harder.

Kelly used it again after that in the winters, but it’s been away since she’s been gone. I have found no photos of either of them using it, but I’m sure they are somewhere. Seeing it there is probably one of the reasons I decided to share Kelly’s story today, since her attachment to the bed was fairly early in her time here. For me, it’s not just the joy of seeing four black cats all tucked together and purring on their section of the cloud, it’s also the memories that are tucked into the cloud itself.

Plus, they inspired today’s sketch, which I’ll post a little later this evening.

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Click the title or the photo to go to the original post.

Mimi on the Catwalk, 2012

It felt sweet and warm as Mimi and I were outside today, and while the yard is still snow-covered she strolled the catwalk, just like this photo.

black cat on deck railing
Mimi, on the catwalk.

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The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse

The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse
The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse

“Okay, lady, just shut up and hand over the food. It’s The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse.”

They hate it when I talk to them when I should just be serving their food.

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From Facebook and Instagram

To be purr-fectly honest, the photo above was posted on Facebook first. I couldn’t wait.

Life is an Adventure

Ophelia looking out the window.
Ophelia looking out the window.

Ophelia was peeking at me from behind the pillow, but I didn’t catch that. I caught this instead, and she is very beautiful.

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Other daily photos shared on this date

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Choices, Choices, 2015
black cat looking at toys
Smokie tries to decide from the array of toys.

First world kitten dilemmas.

What to do? All the toys look enticing in the sun, even to the human, and Smokie just can’t choose which one to start with—because you can be sure he’s going to play with all of them before the morning is done!

He chooses the green sparkle ball and with great skill and agility paw-handles it among all the other toys as Bella watches. And you can be sure she’s going to steal it from him before the morning is done!

black cat playing
It’s the green sparkle ball as Bella looks on.

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Other daily photos shared on this date

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Mimi in a Mood, 2014
two black cats fighting
Mewsette is not sure what to do.

Mimi has been feeling pretty frisky lately, much to the consternation of her children. She crouches under my scarves on the landing at the bottom of the stairs and leaps out at anyone who comes by. I caught her chasing Giuseppe, more than twice her size, and he with a confused expression running away. What would you do if you mom hid in the corner and leaped out and chased you around the house?

Then today I heard thundering on the steps along with Mimi’s bells jingling and turned to see Mewsette leap from the steps to the top of the wardrobe followed by a triumphant Mimi, ears pinned back, at the top of the steps. Then on the windowsill.

Mimi has to work hard to provoke Mewsette who wants no parts of scuffling.

two black cats fighting
It takes a lot to get Mewsette upset

She waves a paw at Mimi hoping Mimi will get the idea. I can tell Mimi is not getting any ideas than the one she started out with.

two black cats fighting
“Stop that, mom!”

Then Mimi takes advantage of the situation!

two black cats fighting
Mimi gets a shot in!

“Stop it, mom!”

two black cats fighting
Mewsette gets her “licks” in.

The paw on the forehead always calls a truce. But I love it when Mimi plays. Sometimes she likes to be a “bad girl”.

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Camouflage, 2013
black cat and vase of paintbrushes.
Mimi crouches behind the paint brushes to watch a bird outside the window.

A chickadee has landed in the tip of a branch right outside the window and Mimi quickly ducks behind the vase of paintbrushes so the bird won’t see her. Clever use of her environment! I guess if nothing else is available a vase of brushes can mostly hide a cat.

This is the one window in the house where there is no bird feeder within view—unless you can look straight down to the one outside the dining room window—but birds perch in the big spruce and in the river birch which finally reaches to the edge of this window. Birds also land in the maple just a glance away and even on the front porch roof, just to the left, and in summer they perch on the casement windows when they are open, so we have plenty of birds to watch, but no bird feeder.

I still have the open feeder just outside the window but really should take it down. Birds check it out regularly though I haven’t filled it for over a year. When certain kitties saw the birds in it—and this included Cookie and Kelly as well—everything on the windowsill ended up on the floor. I don’t mind removing things, but then things started to get shuffled around on my drafting table, and I have no place else to put those things, but I could manage to rearrange.

The real reason is because, as I was quietly working at my drafting table one day and the birds were happily feeding, two cats raced in the room from the landing just outside the door and leaped over me, landing on the artwork I was working on. It was not a pretty result. So, that particular bird feeder stays empty, but I have to crawl partway out onto the window ledge to take it down. No hurry in that.

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Live Animals, 2012
three black cats around cat carrier
Live Animals?

You can see that Giuseppe is asking where the live animals are. And why I need more when I already have several perfectly good live animals. They are not ordering a live human, but perhaps they should consider it, since there is only one human is she is sometimes woefully inadequate. Even Mewsette looks a little perturbed, though Jelly Bean is just sort of hanging out because that’s where the action is.

They looked carefully inside the black thing and did not see anything at all. Perhaps this human is playing a cruel joke on them.

Anything I add to their environment becomes a prop, even if it’s unintentional. They explore everything, that’s their job. In this case Peg Bowman brought back the carrier we had used for Skeeter when we took him to the vet, and I had no other place to put it at that moment than on that table. And because the Feline Inspection and Quality Control takes their job very seriously and will drop everything to perform their duties at a moment’s notice, the carrier was immediately covered and surrounded by cats. I left it there for a few days waiting for a good shot. There was a second from today, different; perhaps I’ll post that tomorrow.

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Big Sister Is Watching, 2011
black cat looking down from shelf
Mewsette is Watching

Mewsette likes high places. This shelf is nearly nine feet off the floor and used to hold some larger trailing houseplants that got a lot of sunlight from the window at the top of the stairs. Now it holds Mewsette. When the first plant landed loudly on the floor and turned into quite a mess, I moved them all to other places.

She’s discovered she can launch herself from the top of a small armoire and will sometimes spend the entire day up there, especially in the winter when heat rises and is trapped in the corner I imagine it’s quite cozy. I knew she liked to be up there, but the first few times she decided to spend the day there I ran around the house in a panic trying to find her.

Jelly Bean will sometimes venture up there with her, but for all their swaggering neither Mr. Sunshine nor Giuseppe will try it. I’m not unhappy about that.

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Boys, 2011
two black cats by sunny window
Boys

Yesterday it was the girls putting their heads together, today it’s the boys, likely planning their day’s events. Perhaps they’re just soaking up some sunshine and not planning anything at all. Giuseppe in the background, I never know with those intense eyes. Jelly Bean, though, I’m pretty sure he just relies on being cute to get through the day.

I enjoy all the warm tones in this photo, the pale yellow sun in the window, the cream lace curtain, the mahogany tones in the boys’ fur and the deep rose through the thin skin of their ears, even the dark shadowed areas are filled with warm tones of bright late winter sun filtering only through bare branches.


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The Huntress: Intent, framed.
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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

—

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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

2 thoughts on “Daily Photos: Time to Explore!

  • B..another possible option for the remaining stump///trunk pieces….lay them; the trunk pieces flat
    on the ground and cut//saw a hole in the center; not overly large; fill with dirt//topsoil and use as
    a planter for herbs; annuals or perennials…you can do the same with the stump instead of
    digging it out or leveling it even ~~ L ♥♥♥

    Reply
    • Great idea, Tabbies, but the cherry wood is as hard as a rock. I’d love to keep some to make a sculpture, but even the chainsaw has trouble!

      Reply

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