Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Daily Photo: Mlle., Let’s Have a Family

two black cats
Giuseppe shows Bella the good birdwatching spots.

Mademoiselle, I must say I am enjoying a new kittenhood in mentoring our current foster kittens. Here I am showing our little Bella the best places to observe wildlife outside the window. She is a prime birdwatcher, so quick and observant! And such a nice girl too, never talks back, so respectful of all her elders, my brothers and sister and our Mama Mimi. The time passes so quickly as I show her all the wonderful things we learned when young from Mama Mimi and our elders. I even had the rare chance to show her the best way to catch a fly after she’d chased it all over the windowsill! And, of course, what to do with it afterward…

black cat at window
Giuseppe catches the fly…

Do not be concerned that I will fall for the wiles of a graceful young house panther! For one thing, this one is absolutely guileless and innocent, so serious in her studies. She tires me out, along with her fur brother Smokie, though I’ve been having a lot of fun chasing him, and letting him chase me, and think he’s cornered me…

two black cats
Smokie chased Giuseppe and cornered him!

…and I have been caught in a little ninja dance now and then…

black cat
Giuseppe does a ninja dance.

…and I must rest for a full afternoon each day. I far prefer the company of a mature ladycat!

black cat
Giuseppe naps under the throw while his brothers nap on top.

Oh, Mlle. Daisy Emerald wouldn’t it be wonderful if you and I could have a family? Mentor some little house panthers together? There are so many little ones who have no family at all and they need the firm paws of an experienced adult to teach them how to be proper house panthers! Everyone would want to adopt them!

two black cats
“Ninja in training.”

We hear you are soon moving to a new city! I shall no longer sing to you in Verona but to Hamilton, a city very much like my own city of Pittsburgh, and much closer. We will be Steeltown cats! And I’m sure between us we’ll find plenty of young black cats who need our wisdom and experience.

I hope you are having a lovely autumn evening, my most precious flower, even in that detestable town. I send you my purrs, and purr-haps you will hear me singing into the moonlight this evening. You are forever my fairest emerald-eyed love.

Nuzzles and purrrrrs,
G.B.V.

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FeteNationale-wflags-heart

Read about Mlle. Daisy Emerald and the long-distance affaire between the mature French-Canadian feline ladycat and the young American opera star.

They so enjoy writing florid Victorian-style letters to each other, sometimes the poets, sometimes the artists, sometimes the bonneted Mlle. Daisy Emerald and the beplumed Giuseppe Verdi in their Revolutionary roles.

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Giuseppe’s useless human apologizes for neither sending his magic messages nor leaving a computer available to Mr. Sunshine so he can transcribe his brother’s purple prose melodrama loving thoughts to his ladycat. Giuseppe is sure his beloved will never speak to him again and I am under surveillance for possible correction if she indeed does not, but I have assured him that her heart is true. They have passed their third anniversary! Surely that means something important is between them!

You can also read about Theo in A Christmas Eve Rescue.


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What other photos have I shared on this date?

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Others’ Fine Felines: Don’t Touch My Geranium
orange and white cat on chair
Lucky guards his neighbor’s geranium.

This is Lucky who lives up the street, and though he has a home, he considers the whole neighborhood as his home. In fact, in this photo, he’s not at his own home, he’s on the neighbor’s porch, but it all belongs to him anyway. He’s playful, friendly, goofy and very polite, the kind of kitty I totally worry about when he’s outside, and he’s also the one who lies in the middle of the street, but I really do like to see him when I’m walking on errands and I just hope for his safety.

I photograph him on a regular basis because he likes to have his picture taken. You’ve seen him several times before, most recently in The Glowing Eyes—he’s the orange kitty on the sidewalk in the top photo. He was also part of the gang on the porch in Cats in My Neighborhood.

. . . . . . .

Giuseppe Verdi Celebrates His Namesake’s Birthday, 2012
black cat in shadows
Giuseppe sings his aria in the stairway.

Today is the birthday of Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, and Giuseppe Basil Verdi will perform a special tenor aria in his honor.

Why is Giuseppe an opera signer? Well, because his name is Giuseppe Verdi.

And why is his name Giuseppe Verdi? Long story, but it began with his mama…I named Mimi (accent on the second syllable, in the French way) for the lead soprano in the opera La Boheme, my favorite opera (doesn’t everyone have a favorite opera?), the beautiful and delicate embroiderer who falls in love with Rodolfo, the poet, as they all live the Bohemian lifestyle in late 20th century Paris. Mimi was wandering the streets out in my neighborhood, hardly Parisian, but she was tiny and delicate and as they described the people of that day and time “keeping rather loose morals”, resulting in a number of kittens.

So when her children came along they had to have some connection to their mama’s heritage, though she was forever a spayed and happy house cat once she came here.

Combine that with the fact that, in order to tell them apart as nearly identical little fluff balls I dabbed a spot of tempera paint on the right ear top of three of them. Giuseppe’s color, totally by chance, was green. Green…Verdi? Opera? Giuseppe Verdi, famous opera composer? Get it?

Giuseppe turned out to be a perfect name for the guy, though when he was a little peanut the name seemed way too big for him and I called him Joe Green, and I called him Joey. But he eventually grew into his three syllables and he loves his name, Giuseppe, or as I sing it to him: Gee-you-seh-p-e-e-e-e-e, and we sing together! Not only that but he sings in the stairway to the second floor on a regular basis, and he sings out the window now and then as well. And he loves ravioli.

Giuseppe sings a favorite aria

Giuseppe sings best when he thinks of his belle femme Mlle. Daisy Emerald Marguerite, and he chose this aria from Verdi’s Don Carlos from the first time he sees his Elisabeth, and also because there is a French character in the opera with Mlle.’s surname.

Fontainebleau! Immense, lonely forest!
Could any gorgeous gardens, full of flowers and light,
replace this frozen earth for Don Carlos, happy here
where his smiling Elisabeth has passed by?
Leaving Spain and my father’s court,
risking Philip’s fearsome anger,
hidden among his ambassador’s staff,
I have managed to see her at last, my lovely betrothed,
who has for so long ruled in my thoughts,
and from now on will rule in my heart!

I have seen her, and in her smile,
in her eyes full of bewitching fire,
my heart, filled with emotion, has understood
what bliss it would be to live and to love her.
A future full of tenderness!
Our days spent beneath blue skies!
God smiles on our youth,
God blesses our chaste love!

Found on Verdi: Don Carlo

Pour toujours, Mlle.!


Browse some rescued cats and kittens—browse here or visit PittsburghCAT!

cats and kittens
Gallery view of Pittsburgh CAT cats for adoption.

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 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.


© 2014 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

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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.

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