Thursday, March 28, 2024
art catsBasilBellablack catscatsdaily photofoster catsgiuseppeHamletMariposamimi

Daily Photo: Over the Weekend

five cats at the door
Five at the door.

“Just wow. Mariposa, Giuseppe, Hamlet, Basil, Bella.”

We actually had some sun over the weekend, and Sunday was nice enough that I had the basement door open for two hours—in February!

~~~

As an aside, I can’t believe I’ve gone another week until Thursday and haven’t posted! I have a number of reasons, including cats who need to be rescued in one way or another and taking the time to help the people who are helping them, other professional work coming in and out along with the attached income, and a personal creative challenge. And also I still don’t have a car so I need to borrow one for errands; Denise, who manages the feral colony at the top of the hill and also feeds my cats when I’m away, is so kind that I can borrow her car whenever I need it, and I don’t take advantage of that. But not being able to run out for something when I need it and putting everything into a big shopping trip takes a lot out of a day. For all these reasons, I may continue to miss posting through this month, and hopefully my situation will improve by March.

Also, I still have not had my DSLR fixed so unless I start dipping into previous years’ photos—because, in a way, how much really changes?—I’m stuck with photos from my little phone. But all is not lost because I’m happy to use photos from days when I didn’t have a chance to share them.

I’ll be using Instagram photos for my next few photo posts, though, because it was a great few days for photos!

~~~

Back to a sunny Sunday, now. Mimi and I went out in the back yard because I’d actually hung some of my bedding outside to freshen up when I changed the bed.

“Mimi is ready to explore her back yard, but we need some tick protection before we do that.”

black cat in back yard
Mimi in the back yard.

And then we went around front!

“Mimi greets one of our porch cats with a friendly face rub.”

black cat rubbing on cat basket
Mimi greets one of our porch cats.

Mimi rubbed on everything and I checked my little gardens. The daffodils, crocuses and other bulbs are getting taller each day!

“The sun touched each one.”

sprouting daffodils
The sun touched each one.

 

. . . . . . .

Photos from around this date in previous years

Mariposa Chasing Snowflakes, 2019

Mariposa chasing snowflakes.
Mariposa chasing snowflakes.

Mariposa WILL catch those snowflakes!

Last year at this time she was freezing in an abandoned house and probably trying to catch breakfast on a morning like this. Glad we fixed that.

I wasn’t sure Mariposa would socialize enough to be adoptable but she has integrated as if she’s always been socialized and has actually gotten pretty bold with visitors. She has natural cuteness built in, and mornings like this, when I know life was pretty bad in that abandoned house and last year she wasn’t chasing snowflakes while warm indoors, really bring home the difference you can make when you give a kitty a chance.

From Facebook

Wow the temperature is all the way up to 21°, it’s a heat wave! Mimi and I got some fresh air and sun. I remember years ago when I saw Mimi mincing her way down these frozen sidewalks on those tiny paws of hers. Che gelida manina and all that, Mimi, that’s how you got your name, if anyone knows that opera.

Mimi and me on the front porch.
Mimi and me on the front porch.

Your whites get way cleaner when you wash them in the sun. Mariposa has the most whites around here and is taking advantage of it.

Mariposa cleans her whites.
Mariposa cleans her whites.

Photos from years past.

.

Littered With Cats, 2011
six cats in one photo
Littered With Cats

From January 2011, a sunny morning in the kitchen. Yes, this similar to another recent photo reprise, but this one includes Cookie looking out the door, Mimi having a sun bath, and the Fantastic Four just, well, littering the floor. Something about that January morning sun

What happens when the winter sun shines in the back door in early morning for the second day in a row? Everybody takes advantage of it.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a lasting sunny morning, some bright ones with cold haze, mostly cloudy or overcast covers it before an hour has passed. Yesterday and today were bright blue and sunny; yesterday everyone in the household (including me) stepped into this strange, unfamiliar substance, warm sunlight in the house. Today, all the cats had it down right away and after a brief romp around the house and a sip from the bathroom faucet, all of them came back to the kitchen, collecting in the warmth by the door.

From the front is Mr. Sunshine, crouching, and Giuseppe, sitting up; these two have a way of looking slightly guilty no matter the situation. Then Mewsette is cleaning her foot and Jelly Bean is purringly balled up next to the door. In the far distance, Mimi is on the left, swinging around for a lick on the hip, and Cookie is longingly gazing out into the yard; she and I had been out earlier, but she can never get enough of her outdoors, except when I haven’t managed to make it warm for her. Only Kelly isn’t in this photo; she’s a little intimidated by the Big Four and while she was mingling a bit she left for her other sunny windowsill.

I do have a number of photos of my cats at the back door, but this is the maximum quantity I captured at one time, and very special to me because it includes Cookie, who was by then in deep mentoring with Mimi, her little grasshopper.

The other recent photo is “Enough Sun for Everyone” and the post is “A Very Special Daily Painting: ‘Forty Five Lives’ by Kimberly Kelly Santini”


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pencil sketch of five cats
A Tangle of Cats at the Door, pencil © B.E. Kazmarski

Not that they’d all keep still while I sketched them, instead I wanted to catch their energy, not sure how many or how detailed I’d get I let the sketch build itself and drew them one by one as they moved around at the basement door, looking out at the garden in the morning while I did some work in the basement. Read more and purchase.



Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals 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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Weekly schedule of features:

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Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats

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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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