It’s Great, We’re Eight!

It’s a big day in our house! Guess whose birthday it is? I can’t believe it’s been 8 years. They didn’t actually arrive at my house with their mama Mimi until July 29, which is an even bigger day for us, but today we celebrate their arrival in the world and the birth of Mimi’s last litter! But everyone just wanted their breakfast this morning so no big smiles, and now they are really tired of me playing with my phone. We are going to have treats because why not? Happy birthday Mr. Sunshine, Giuseppe, Jelly Bean and Mewsette, Mimi your children are as sweet as you, and thank you Lucy in memory for guiding them all to me.

July 26 was the big birthday! It was a calm and quiet day for everyone here, just the way a good kitty birthday should be, with lots of naps and little treats between meals. I started out making them wait for their breakfast, though—I had to get one photo of them all together to post for the day! Here they are, though some kitties weren’t happy about the wait. A bonus that Mimi, who is usually looking longingly out the back door, was looking out the front window, so she could celebrate with all of them. I used the clever filter on my phone to write all over this photo—after they ate, I wouldn’t make them wait for that!—and that was fun though sloppy, but their birthday photo looks festive.

So far, so good with the birthday celebration. Jelly Bean and Giuseppe have been snuggling since they were tiny little beans.

All the kitties in the house got a lucky break yesterday, and maybe that was the best birthday gift of all! I’d intended to photograph them napping 🙂 and post photos periodically during the day, then post them all last evening along with a few other posts, but ended up not posting at all anywhere, just playing with kitties all day.

I’m down to one computer of three (office, studio, kitchen). The oldest hand me down in the kitchen bit the dust a few weeks ago, and that’s the one where I typically do my social networking and reply to comments, and often my writing as well, standing up while I cook or just take a break in there. The studio computer refuses to connect to the internet and for all I know about wireless connections, which is a lot since I built computers at one time and trained a number of people on their use, I cannot get the computer to connect, so I can’t use it for anything on the internet. That leaves me with the computer in my office downstairs, which is the nicest computer I own but I physically can’t spend all day at this computer anymore without a lot of discomfort in my hands and shoulders and neck and back. Using my phone cramps my hands too much. Doing just my design work here is about all the time I can take, but using the other two computers for social networking and photo and art editing worked so wonderfully I’ve been spoiled!

But after a long week working last week, I just couldn’t sit at this computer any more at all yesterday, and so I didn’t. Regular readers will also notice that I haven’t been posting “on time” or replying to all my comments for the past few weeks either. All things in good time, the computers will be fixed or I will find another hand me down or inexpensive computer. But not one kitty complained about the extra playtime yesterday! One of these days I’ll edit and post the little videos of Bella chasing three tails at once, and…”bubbles”. Giuseppe is too darned cute!

July 29 is the next big day—that’s the day they all came here, and we’ll celebrate more then. In the meantime, enjoy some photos and posts from birthdays past!

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Seven Years Old!

HAPPY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY to Giuseppe, Mr. Sunshine, Mewsette and Jelly Bean!

They are enjoying a scattering of treats on the table—before breakfast! I have plenty of group photos of them on other days, but I always like to get a group photo on THE day, something different each year, and though all my attempts were a little blurry I thought I’d play around with this one and I think it’s pretty festive. I had wanted something colorful and actually looked for multi-colored treats and considered dying some with food coloring for this, but a little Photoshop magic did the trick. Counterclockwise from the left it’s Mr. Sunshine, Giuseppe, Mimi, Mewsette and Jelly Bean.

Just after midnight, the lovely and thoughtful Mlle. Daisy Emerald Marguerite sent a magic message to Giuseppe in celebration of his birthday:

*sigh* Could the day be any more complete?

Most of the cats who shared my life had a birthday that I assigned as I had no idea when they were born or even how old many of them were. The Four weren’t born here, though I do know they were born in the early afternoon on July 26, 2007. Mimi usually had her kittens indoors in my neighbor’s house as she did with this litter; later she would usually move them outside, but these four never had a chance at that. I had my house ready but it wasn’t until July 29, the day they came here, that I learned the kittens had been born already.

I had taken the time to thoroughly clean and scrub after we lost Lucy on July 10, though FIP is not itself contagious and the coronavirus that would have infected Lucy was most likely long gone, if there was a genetic link to FIP and any possibility there was a molecule of it floating around here I was taking no chances.

Because it’s common for symptoms to develop in the first year, though the disease itself is difficult to diagnose, I thought it was an achievement to have them be spayed and neutered and reach their first birthday with no signs at all of FIP, no odd symptoms or unexplained conditions, no upper respiratory infections, minor injuries, questions, nothing at all except that they were a little small, not underweight, just small, for their first few months. My veterinarian noted that their mom was also small. They were just a quartet of healthy and active and social and affectionate kittens, and the first collective name I gave them was the Curious Quartet. They certainly made up for their size later.

It was in sadness and grief and worry that I met this wonderful family, but their mere presence dispelled that in time. They are one of the most wonderful things that have ever come into my life.

On Tuesday, July 29 I’ll celebrate their Homecoming Day, and especially celebrate Mimi because that was a very important day for her, and for me. But for now we’re just planning a kind of a quiet, easy day.

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Other Birthdays

Birthdays six, five, four and three are linked to the posts here on The Creative Cat after I’d begun blogging. Their second and first birthdays are photos you may recognize.

Happy Sixth Birthday to The Fantastic Four!

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Five!

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The Big Four at Four

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Woo-whee, We’re Three!

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Second Birthday

On the day of their second birthday, July 26, 2009, I was just beginning to blog, but we were still grieving Namir and I forgot all about it, but here’s a photo from right around that date that you may recognize from a number of posts—and probably something they did on their birthday for real!

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One Year Old!

This was the best I could do that day—we didn’t have our methods for photographing five black cats figured out yet!

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Browse some rescued cats and kittens!

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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.

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Inspired by felines you know! Visit Portraits of Animals on Etsy.

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Weekly schedule of features:
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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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