Daily Photo: Sienna is Ready for Her Closeup

Bernadette October 26, 2023October 27, 2023 2 Comments cat art, cat photographs, cat photography, cat photos, cats, tortoishell cat

Sienna is ready for her closeup. But she wants me to hurry it up so she can close her eyes and doze off again.

There is nothing like a sunny window. They wait all year for the sun to come around to the dining room window, and then they wait all day until it gets there, and enjoy it as long as it’s available. I knew this was important to them so I made sure they’ll have a table in front of the window to sit on and enjoy it when the new kitchen is all finished..

What other photos did have I shared around this date?

Feline Advice, Humans Need More Sunpuddles, 2022

two cats in sun — Warm sunpuddles make sharing easier.

Sienna and Basil would like to share something with the humans of the world: It’s far easier to share things when you’re both sitting in a sunpuddle. You’ll find some kitties who would never be near another kitty at all, ever, but if they both find themselves in a sunpuddle they will stay there. Cats are legendary for fighting over the least infraction. But with a sunpuddle, it’s like magic, they’ll just hang out, even territorial kitties. Sienna and Basil get along okay, but they don’t generally choose to be near each other, let alone touching each other. But when the sun is coming in the window onto the cabinet in the kitchen, they’ll melt into each other, as they are about to do. So we’ll just let them and their slanty sleepy eyes be in this special sunpuddle and move on.

Don’t forget the lesson: Humans need more sunpuddles. Then they won’t be fighting so much. Then kitties can have more lap time and play time and such.

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From Instagram

Changing weather, time to pull out the cloud bed for kitties who want to snuggle in on my basement studio worktable. Mimi was right on that. She is so tiny, it always makes me laugh to see her own this big bed.

I gave the basement a once over and reorganized and stored things away and finally cleared off my work table. I keep the cloud bed on there because they love it, but there isn’t a whole lot of space in this house where it fits. I do use this work table frequently, but not all the time, and not all of the table either. So it serves a good purpose for all of us, they get to use their favorite cloud bed, it’s right under the furnace vent in the basement, and when I work on my table they stay on their bed but they can still #supurrvise me, which is very important to them, even if they’re sleeping.

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After giving it a thorough and strenuous test, Mr Sunshine has approved of this shelf. The better to #supurrvise me on my exercise bicycle.

He had a bit of a bad day over the weekend. He vomited once, had a fever, didn’t eat, and I was afraid we were going back to the same thing that happened to him 3 weeks ago. But I had some medications and fluids on hand and either it wasn’t the same thing, or I managed to head it off before it got too bad. Either way he was feeling tip top shape by Monday morning when I worked my way through the basement. I’m so glad he felt well enough to give me his point of view about things.

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Basil, Giuseppe and Mariposa have a go at testing the shelves. And I wonder why it seems to take me so long to get things done. But they are happy.

From the Garden and Beyond

Roots Rock

What other photos did have I shared around this date?

Sleepy Whiskers, 2021

two black cats in basket — It’s a whisker fest.

When these two get together for naps it’s a whisker fest. Jelly Bean developed serious white whiskers first among the family of Mimi’s kittens; Giuseppe developed one white whisker at about six months, and had one off and one on one side or the other for years. Mewsette went quite some time before hers, but now she is just as white as Bean. Mr. Sunshine was the last holdout of the litter. None have fully white whiskers, and surprisingly Mimi was the last one to develop even one, and just last year! But I’ve noticed that they all have more on the right sides of their faces than the left.

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From Instagram

Good morning.

Scene along the way.

At @northhillsartcenter to pick up my artwork from the show, and I love this mural on the side of their building, spectacular against a blue autumn sky.

Good morning.

From the Garden and Beyond

“Surface Tension”

Set down what you carry, take back only what is yours.

The light and I were at the right angles to discover the tension in the scene. It’s in the birdbath in my front yard. What are the chances I’d see this as I was turning around to go in the door?

That morning shower sure feels good even if it does mess up your hair.

Synchronized leaf fall.

Pokeberry purple, matches my clothes. Wish it created a dye that color, but it’s only a faded violet shade. But it’s time to wash it off because it’s toxic! On your skin is, okay, just don’t eat it.

What other photos did have I shared around this date?

Mewsette’s Nose, 2020

I just think Mewsette’s nose is adorable. She was back at the lemongrass and enjoying tickling her nose with the tips of the grass and now and then biting one. Here eyes really do match the color of the greenery. She is so guileless, never plotting anything, just living in the moment, or so it seems. When they were kittens I had decided I would keep her because she seemed so distant, but I knew there was a lot going on in that creative head of hers. Below are a few more photos of the same incident.

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From Instagram

I am REALLY not sitting down today. The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse are having a slumber party on my chair. Mewsette is a bit miffed that she can’t fit but solved that by lying down on top of them all.

When they put their heads together…they fall asleep.

From the backyard and beyond

Etched into the concrete sidewalk outside my dentist’s office.

Cry of the Ancestors.

I met this tree on a walk down Main Street today. It had a lot to say to me.

I permitted myself to take my DSLR on my walk down to the dentist and back today. That always means I’m going to return with a few gigabytes of photos of whatever inspired me as I walked along. This twisted, long dead, bare naked tree was full of conversation as big clouds sailed quickly over head on an alternately sunny and dark autumn morning. More to come.

Since 1886.

Main Street, Carnegie.

Wildflowers don’t care where they grow.

Thanks, Dolly.

From around this date in past years

Find Bella in This Picture, 2018

Can you find Bella in the photo above? She’s impurrsonating a handmade cat to fit into the shop display in my office. If you’re not entirely familiar with my cats, I’ll tell you right off that the big black kitty on the left is Giuseppe, who thinks he’s the subject of this photo shoot.

Purrhaps the photo below will help.

That should make it a little bit easier, and possibly you’ve found her already.

If not, you can’t miss her, below…

Isn’t she darling? Not bad for a formerly feral kitty who wasn’t so sure about people. She loves attention and is quite the model now!

I knew when I set up this display that my cats’ reaction would determine whether or not it remained in place. I set up the shelves first and everyone slept in them. After they got tired of that I started adding larger items in the display first, then filled in with smaller things, including the jewelry display. Bella was quietly very excited and inhabited the area for about two weeks off and on as in her photos in the last two weeks’ Marketplace posts where she is posing with the Bella! bags behind her, and of her modeling, sort of, the handmade cards and notebooks.

Yes, I held my breath as she wove herself in and out of the area around the jewelry display and gave it a little more support at the top so it can’t tip forward. She loves it back there, and she visits the display at least once each day. I’ll have more photos of her in there as well.

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Photos I’ve shared on or around this date

Total Relaxation, 2016

I’d say they’re pretty relaxed. Hamlet sleeps in the basket in every position of blissful abandon; here you see his toes at one end like today’s Wordless Wednesday, photographed at the same time, and one front paw stretched as far as it will go at the other end of the basket. Then Ophelia with all her fluff sleeping with her head upside down looks like a stuffed toy. She never gets on the basket and I’m kind of glad because I’d probably faint from her cuteness if she did.

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Facebook and Instagram

Fitness Monitors

No, you still have 10 minutes to go.
My fitness monitors observing my morning ride on my exercise bicycle in the basement.

Ophelia is today’s studio supervisor. She looks unhappy, but it’s just that she couldn’t catch the stink bug.

This pretty green-eyed housepanther will never have to worry about kittens again–after at least a half dozen attempts by some of our best cat trappers and at least four litters of kittens, her caretaker finally managed to trick her into the trap.

Pregnant with her fifth litter, totally trap-wise and eluded four of our best. She was finally tricked into being trapped, and she’ll never have to worry about kittens again.

Ophelia and Basil keep watch over the kitty in the trap on the front porch. Something about this whole trap setup feels familiar to each of them.

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Photos I’ve shared on or around this date

Daily Photo: Smokie Meets the Ninjas! 2014

Remember that Basil’s name was Smokie when he first came here.

Wasn't that a party?! — Wasn’t that a party?!

These are actually from Saturday, September 13 with a little bit from Thursday, September 11 thrown in, but–if you couldn’t tell–I’ve been a little pressed for time lately and also having issues with Smartphone photos and syncing and all sorts of annoying technical stuff and haven’t been able to download and edit photos in a timely fashion. I finally dug through them all and pulled the best ones.

I let Smokie out of his room for the first time on Thursday evening, and just wanted to let him explore on his own without any of the ninjas present so he could get his bearings. The last thing I’d want is for Smokie to revert back to being fearful so I want to be as careful as possible, gave him a pat down with his Trauma Free flower essence and let him go. But Giuseppe has been curious about the little guy from the beginning and hopped over the baby gate at the top of the stairs. Giuseppe was gentle and curious as Smokie went from cautious to stretching his wings and racing through both rooms. Giuseppe followed and stationed himself where Smokie had to run past and there were no swats or hisses, and there were nose taps and even a forehead lick. Here are the photos from when the two met.

091514-Smokie-Giuseppe

091514-Smokie-oops

091514-Smokie-ninjaintraining

Then the next chance I had was Saturday morning for a longer session, and this time Giuseppe and Bean were there, then Sunshine and Mewsette joined very shortly after, and even Mimi came up. I followed through with my plan to hand out catnip toys to everyone, and to hand out treats as appropriate to make it a happy time for everyone. It all went very well for nearly an hour as Smokie ran and ran and played with my apron while adults enjoyed catnip, Giuseppe and Bean played with the kid, Sunshine hissed, Mewsette watched, and Mimi rolled her eyes. In the end everyone was exhausted and kind of fell asleep where they were. Sorry for the lack of captions—but enjoy the photos!

091514-Smokie-Mewsette

091514-Smokie-chase

091514-Smokie-apron

091514-Smokie-Mewsette-shark

091514-Smokie-Bean-carrot

091514-Smokie-catniptoys

091514-Smokie-Giuseppe-kitten

091514-Smokie-ball

091514-Smokie-Five-treats

091514-Smokie-four-settling

091514-Smokie-Bean-bed

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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.