Daily Photo: The Magic Basket

Bernadette April 26, 2020 0 Comments cat photographs, cat photography, cat photos, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, pets

two black cats in basket — Something about that basket.

This basket has inspired some pretty fantastic naps. I can’t even tell what’s happening in some of them. I’ve featured other photos of three or even four of them piled into it. Whatever the magic is I’m glad they’ve found it!

Mimi is such a showoff, and she always has something to say too. Now she’ll want me to leave the ladder out in the yard just for her.

Market Square in Pittsburgh, Friday about noon.

A very strange sight in normal times, but few people walking through the empty square wearing masks is a reminder these are not normal times. I needed to run a round of errands for business, picking up things I’d ordered from regular vendors who are minimally open with many safeguards. After disappointments at online orders that did not come through as expected or at all I’m glad to be supporting the small businesses I’ve long relied on for materials, packaging and equipment repairs. Seeing this, and all the many others who were wearing masks and respecting social distancing, really brought home the breadth of this crisis and the seriousness with which most people participate. I know that step by step we’ll all find our way out of this in a way that protects and supports all of us.

The most exciting news is that I took my camera for repair. All my errands took longer than anticipated in part because of all the extra precautions, so I dropped off the camera, but didn’t get back in time to pick it up on Friday. I hope to pick it up Monday or Tuesday. I can’t wait—it’s been six months! I am also happy to have been able to return to the manufacturer in a very small town west of me which makes the greeting card boxes I prefer (although you may see some of the ones I bought as a substitute) and also little gift boxes that I can use as is or decorate, as well as a packaging distributor, so I can get the last of my packages in the mail, and just in time for my sale next weekend!

From around this date in past years

OMG, it’s Sunny, Let’s Get Out There, 2018

We’re not going to talk about the weather for this past week. We are just going to enjoy the sunshine and pretty flowers, and nice, somewhat warm air.

Mimi’s real cat tree reclines through a thicket of forsythia and grapevines, so she is cleverly camouflaged as she walks along her way, stopping every few steps to have a really, really good scratch on the bark and sometimes bare wood. She has her favorite spots. I just realized the photo from this date last year shows her on the same section! Scroll down to see.

Below, Mimi demonstrates the proper way to thoroughly reply to a face rub left by a neighbor cat. First, have a really good sniff to be sure you’ve gotten the entire message, and completely understand. Make sure you open your mouth as well as your nostrils, and swing your ears back for good form.

Then rub your chin thoroughly across the entire area, turn your head and slide one cheek fully from nose to ear, then follow with the other cheek, and finally, for total emphasis, rub your forehead all over it.

Then rub one cheek all the way along the branch.

Then turn your head and rub the other cheek.

This message was likely in response to yet another neighbor cat who appeared on the edge of the yard in one of the spots where the fence is missing. I saw Mimi staring at something, thinking it was a small critter in the leaf litter, then saw her posture as she began to move forward and saw the white cat with orange spots who lives a block down looking eager and friendly. Mimi was having none of it. Wearing her harness and leash she took off over 10 feet toward him barely touching the ground, and when he realized he wasn’t going to meet a new friend he turned and ran along inside the fence, past Mimi’s tree, above, and out of another opening in the fence. Mimi stopped when he went through the opening, stood with her head high and very proud. I chased after in case she might actually leave the yard so I didn’t have a chance to take any photos at all. But Mimi is absolutely certain where the boundaries of her territory are. Below is the kitty, who I photographed last summer intending to share him here but never got the chance.

White cat with orange spots from down the street.

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What other photos have I shared on this date?

Wordless Wednesday: Stalking the Squirrel

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Looking Out the Door, 2017

Lined up at the front door, supervising me.

Aren’t they sweet? It was the only angle I could photograph them that I didn’t get a lot of reflection, although that’s nice, see below. But this is what I saw as I swept the porch and looked down. Below, looking at me, looking away, with the springtime front yard reflected on the door.

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On Facebook and Instagram

It’s Chewy.com day and Mr. Sunshine and Mimi are guarding their cases of food from the strange humans who are making loud noises in the neighbor’s driveway with a backhoe.

Mimi is really going to miss her life-size cat tree. I wish I had the space in the house!

Mimi's life-size cat tree. — Mimi’s life-size cat tree.

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What other photos have I shared on this date?

Catnip Tea?! 2013

black cat with tea — You have your own stash of catnip–for TEA??!!!

You made tea out of perfectly good catnip?

And what’s worse:

YOU HAVE YOUR OWN PERSONAL STASH OF CATNIP?

I can’t believe you would betray us this way—a jar full of the best leaf in the house, and you keep it to yourself, and you make TEA?!

. . . . . . .

Yes, I do have a stash of dried catnip leaves that I use in herbal decoctions for myself. Homegrown.

I wasn’t going to hear the end of it until I shared some.

The catnip party. It is good sh--- stuff. — The catnip party. It is good sh– stuff.

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Hamlet Profile

Hamlet was meant to inhabit the magic yellow basket. I featured this photo on Black Cat Appreciation Day in 2016. 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.