Daily Photo: The Little Photobomber and The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse
Some little girl has a real talent for getting her photo taken! I didn’t even see her there when I took the this photo—the only one of a series I took of these four where she shows up in the purrfect spot and posture. Of course, the Four are pretty overwhelming when they all get together. Since you may be looking on a phone where the photo is very small, look in the lower left corner.
I have no idea what they were looking at, but it didn’t interest Mimi. I took the photo above second, I took the one below first. Mimi is so small compared to her children that she’s completely hidden behind Mewsette.
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From Instagram
Happy Friday the 13th! The only bad luck I’ve had today was that a few quick errands turned into an all-day drive around the area, and I didn’t get to spend as much time as I’d like with these wonderful #housepanthers, and all the others.
They’re not whipping up a little potion in the container in front of them. They’re looking at my bowl of cereal again, and the small container in front of them holds columbine seeds I’m separating from the pods.
There are six black cats in this photo (Mimi is behind the monitor), in this small space on my desk, which I intentionally make difficult for them to settle down into. There are two other cats in this 12×12 room, Sienna is in the kitchen, and Hamlet is on the stairs. It’s nice to have them all around me so close when I’ve had such a busy day at the end of a hectic week. Not the best photo, a difficult angle, but a moment.
That was one wild and crazy #caturdaynight, Bella was wearing Basil’s tail as a feathery boa.
Makes it easy to pet three cats at once if you spread your fingers wide. Inexplicably, there is a banana underneath all that. I think they used it as a form to begin their cuddle. The storm reduced the temperature, so now they can kind of snuggle again.
From the back yard and beyond
Check my daily photo blog Today for any photos I may have missed posting here.
From around this date in past years
A Simple Story, by Mewsette, 2019
Humans always seem to think we are always thinking about something. Like they do. My human is sometimes thinking so loudly that we can all hear her and we leave her alone because we want to sleep. And right now she’s asking me, “Sweet pretty Mewsette, you look pensive. What are you thinking about?”
“What am I thinking about?” I responded.
I’m not really thinking about anything, but waiting for something to happen. Wait a moment, here it comes…
And there it is, a nice, big, happy, healthy yawn. It’s a great way to exercise the face, and relax.
Especially when it goes on and on, and on……oh, my goodness, it feels so good….
So, that’s not what I was thinking about, but it’s what I was waiting for.
Now she’s standing there with that black thing, and she’s thinking again. I’m going to try really hard to ignore her.
Photos from years past
Daily Photo: Not So Camouflaged, 2018
Nope, can’t see Mimi here.
She decided to ignore me and just enjoy the evening sun on a slightly cooler day.
We have lots of garden things here at this time of the year!
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From Years Past
Pretty in Green, 2017
Of all the housepanthers, I think Mewsette looks the prettiest in green. She has always had the greenest eyes of all of them, including fosters. She’s a backyard girl now; where she used to show interest now and then, now she wants to go out as often as Mimi does, and hates her harness and leash just as much.
She looks a little husky because she’s wearing her purple harness and leash, and she’s just about at the end of it and hunched down a bit. I had to look at this photo a few times to see why she looked so heavy, then realized she looked slimmer when sitting up and looking at me, but I liked her curve and three-quarter profile.
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From Instagram
Quite a lot of shuffling around last night in the studio until I got my cats organized.
Today’s Wildflower
Rose turtlehead, a favorite native plant in my backyard wildlife habitat.
I’ve shared the photo I took with my DSLR—I like it better than the one I took with my phone and shared on IG.
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From Years Past
Black Cat Keyboard Rest, Unique New Product! 2013
I’ve discovered an interesting new product—a warm and purring black cat keyboard rest for any keyboard. Kit comes with two black cats who sleep all day on your desk or countertop, raising your keyboard to a convenient height. Cats are strategically placed so that you can rest the heels of your hands on them, their warmth and vibrating purr giving your hands a constant massage. You won’t want to quit working!
In this configuration, the two cats are sleeping head to foot, but they also sleep head to head; this does not affect the function of the keyboard rest or the keyboard.
View from above—it’s even attractive to look at!
Accessory cats are extra. Be sure to remove coffee cup from desk or counter before adding accessory cats.
This model is currently available only in black, but if I ever get some other colors of cats in here I’ll make up some new models.
If you can’t get them to move, make use of them somehow! When I placed the keyboard across Bean and Giuseppe they didn’t even bother to raise their heads but kept on sleeping. I guess they are used to this kind of shenanigans from their human.
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The Magic Yellow Basket, 2016
Hamlet really has to stop this sort of thing because I have work to do and this sort of cuteness is too distracting. (I would have never thought I’d be calling Hamlet cute.) He’s been sleeping in every possible cute position in the magic yellow basket all weekend and I’m done. I hope someday I get the chance to sort through all the photos of him I took in all those cute positions.
Below, a closeup of just the toes.
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From Facebook and Instagram
Mr. Sunshine, Studio Supervisor
Mr. Sunshine spent some long hours in the studio with me this weekend while I finished up a few paintings for my upcoming exhibit.
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Wordless Wednesday: We Belong to the Clean Plate Club
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Looks like helping me in the studio is a tradition for this date.
My Studio Assistants, Supervisors and Inspirations (2014)
What would I do without the assistance, guidance and support—and inspiration—of my family of felines? We’ve been busy lately preparing for my upcoming exhibit as well as making several custom orders and packaging orders and shipping them out. So this week, instead of featuring a new product, I’m featuring the diligence and generosity of Mewsette and Mr. Sunshine on a long day in my studio.
A customer had ordered a set of Tortie Girls prints, matted only. I print a dozen or more at a time and let them dry, then hand-tint them later one at a time, either when I frame them or when someone purchases a print. Mewsette supervised the tinting process to ensure her tortie fur sisters are accurately represented. An artist herself, I value Mewsette’s aesthetic judgement.
Then I trim down the mat board and my engineer Mr. Sunshine specializes in product testing to ensure proper size and color. You can see by his starfish paws that he has approved.
Mewsette has her own special process with each Tortie Girls print, as she patiently waits until all is ready and I tell her it’s okay to…
…impart her own special brand of joy onto the matted prints. Mewsette rolls in utter happiness on the table, rubbing her face on the mat or on the print, with each print I send.
The prints are wrapped for shipping, with a little special gift from Mewsette and Sunshine, the promised “free cat hair with every order”.
“This package is ready to go to its forever home!”
Next, brother and sister settle down for some dull activities—package inspection. Yes, the package is sealed and labeled, and ready to be shipped.
An order for sympathy cards required some support with the paperwork.
Brother and sister indulge in a well-deserved nap after a long afternoon of work.
I couldn’t do it without my studio cats!
All the way back to the first year I lived here and even before, my family of felines, including fosters, were working with me to ensure that everything was of top quality, and gave me love and support in all I chose to create. My feline inspirations and I thank you for browsing and for purchasing handmade goods and supporting a small business!
Below, Cookie at one year old assisting me in photographing artwork—in 1993!
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Helping in the Studio (2015)
My worktable keeps getting piled with things I’m making, and when I clear a spot it somehow gets filled with cats! This was the end result of several hours of clearing space which was immediately filled with cats. Above Giuseppe, Mewsette and Bean finally arrange themselves among the boxes and other items on the table.
But first, it was Bella who found my little space and after visiting with me at my drafting table stepped over to settle in the one open spot on the table, stretching herself out to cover as much of the table as possible.
When I cleared more space she wasn’t quite large enough so in came a couple of bigger cats. Giuseppe and Mewsette happily spread themselves out into the spot, with a little overflow.
Then Bean joined them and a big group bath ensued.
And finally they all settled down and manged to cover all the open space once again.
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What other photos did I feature around this date?
Wordless Wednesday: Self-reflection, 2014
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Get a Bath, Pay It Forward, 2010
In photos from this day in August 2010, Dickie, Kelly and Cookie have a chain reaction bath. You get a free bath, you return the favor by giving a free bath to someone else.
First, Dickie, the main bath giver of the time, stopped Kelly and gave her a bath as she was walking past him. She liked Dickie but was always a little uncertain because he was soooo big—bigger than any of the Fantastic Four—but he was very gentle and very good-humored. Still, he had to reach out and lick Kelly as she was walking past in order to convince her it was okay.
Then she stopped and, as you can see, thoroughly enjoyed her facial.
Then Kelly needed to work out her pent up wonderful feelings on someone else, and there was Cookie.
Cookie wasn’t really big on getting a bath from someone else, maybe a few licks were okay, but she understood Kelly, though I could tell she was waiting for it to be over.
Just a wonderfully sweet moment of memory.
Note the classic cat beds: a pineapple box with papers in it. They enjoyed it until it fell apart.
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I am honored.
Her triumphal stance is priceless.
Possibly one of my favorite photos EVER, this was Mewsette’s “debut” in 2010, and another of the photos that encouraged me to post daily photos of my cats. 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:
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!
Oh my goodness, The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse, love it!
They look foreboding, don’t they?