Friday, March 29, 2024
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Vintage Photo: Those Were the Days, 1998

Sophie supervising from atop the computer monitor.
Sophie supervising from atop the computer monitor.

Sophie is comfortably perched on the computer monitor watching me work from a convenient vantage point. Loafing with her paws tucked under, nice and cozy on one of those old heat-producing monitors, she could stay there all day, or all night as it were at this time in my career because I was still working my day job at this point so I was likely working on a freelance project. At least she was polite enough to keep her big fluffy tail out of the way. Pretty Sophie, she was always near me, and that meant that Cookie was probably there too, probably on my desk, because at this point Sophie and Cookie were a team, keeping the human at work.

Those were the days of gearing up for leaving the day job, and I had about as much work freelance as I did at my day job. That was quite a schedule to keep up with, and I was always glad for my feline supervisors all over my desk or drafting table as I worked my way to my freedom from a day job.

Remember those big old clunky computer monitors that were about 21″ deep front to back? And, the household felines would remind you, nice and warm? They were the purrfect spot for the snoopervisor to observe the human’s production, even better than today because kitty could look down on the human. Yessss.

And the artwork on the walls—there is “Sleeping Beauty” above and to the right, where she had been from the time I moved into this house. Below and to the right is the edge of “Sunbath”, and it’s still in that spot today. The other paintings are ones I sold not long after, one a polar bear and one some flowers.

Other April Vintage Photos Shared

My Studio Window, Spring 1995

Kublai on my studio windowsill.
Kublai on my studio windowsill.

My first black cat, Kublai, sits on the windowsill in the sun in my studio, watching me work, sometime in March or April 1995.

Seeing my cats on the windowsill of the room I designated as my studio has been a view I’ve enjoyed since I moved in here. It’s my spare bedroom, and though it hasn’t always been completely an art studio as it is now for all that time, it was always my room for creative work. And my cats have always been available for supervisory duties. And as we know, seeing my cats in the sun has also inspired a lot of artwork.

It’s also one of the sunniest rooms in the house, especially when I first moved in and hadn’t planted my river birches near the corner of the house to give light shade to the room. My spruce, just outside, was then, as now, an avian high-rise, but was young enough to have green branches all around where now a good bit of the shaded sides are bare of needles.

Just another view.
Just another view.

But watching my cats sunbathe was always one of my favorite things to see, as I looked up from whatever I was doing to see one or more on the windowsill. I have very few photos of Kublai because he was usually riding around on my shoulders or he sat next to me in whatever I was doing, so these good photos are precious. And on this date not only did I have my heart cat there to observe, but in the photo above you’ll see there is another cat to the right of him.

And never too far away, Cookie.
And never too far away, Cookie.

Never far from me then or any time later in all the 20 years she was with me, Cookie, likely learning from Kublai as the one to grow into his spot as my best friend a year or so after he left us, and always near. And both still near, in my heart.

Read more about Kublai and Cookie.


Photos From the Archives and Vintage Photos

Photos pulled “From the Archives” were taken by one or another digital camera of mine between 2002 and, well, yesterday, but usually they are older than that, and I had never had the chance to feature them. Vintage Photos are from my film archives back to 1983 when I purchased my Pentax K-1000 camera. They’re a fun way to “introduce” other members of my feline family who came and went before I began blogging, and to illustrate my feline family in general from days gone by.


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"Sophie Keeps an Eye on Things" garden flag.
“Sophie Keeps an Eye on Things” garden flag.

“Sophie Keeps an Eye on Things” garden flag! These “garden flags” are 11″ x 15″, digitally printed on both sides of a heavyweight, durable indoor/outdoor woven printable fabric, and I finish by adding the rod pocket. (Bracket is not included.) 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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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.

4 thoughts on “Vintage Photo: Those Were the Days, 1998

  • Gawd, those old monitors were beasts! I was so thrilled when I purchased my first Apple; it was small and cute, compared to the big clunkers. Nowadays, everything is slim. Not much fun for cats, but great for the people!

    Reply
    • I ran both systems together here for a decade, but PCs got slim monitors at the same time Apple did. A lot less expensive too :). That was always my big complaint about Apple. I built or had built all my PC computers so they functioned much better than the Dells and HPs and Gateways other people got, just as well as Apple, in fact, better, and I could maintain it myself. I quite running Apple around 2009, and the kids quickly figured out how to sit behind them with just their ears or a tail showing.

      Reply
  • da tabbies o trout towne

    sophie….gorgeouz ewe iz.. tho we think ya might a eated sum crankee azz
    cat chow thiz day 😉 ♥♥

    Reply
    • Ha ha! Poor Sophie, she was not blessed with the pouty spot on her lower lip. She often looked disapproving, but that was hardly her purrsonality.

      Reply

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