Cats

Weekend Cat Blogging: 5th Anniversaries

This past Thursday we celebrated Luna’s adoption anniversary (aka “Gotcha Day”).  For Weekend Cat Blogging we present some photos from our celebration that evening.

Of course, there was yummy food.  In this case, Sardines, inspired in part by a (human) recipe I had heard on the radio few days earlier and still want to try out.  Luna devoured her feline fish treats with aplomb:

There were some cards from friends.  And of course, new toys.  I was particularly fond of this toy, which seemed apropos of this year:

Luna was not quite as interested (though I did see her kick it around briefly):

On the other hand, she took right away to this black mouse toy and spent quite a bit of time kicking it around, even getting it stuck on a shelf and pawing diligently to get it out.

And after a spell of vigorous play, it was time to relax:

Not only is this Luna’s fifth adoption anniversary, but it is also the 5th Anniversary of Weekend Cat Blogging. It was started by group of primarily food bloggers who set aside a post on the weekend for their cats. We found it back in 2006 as I was first starting this site. This special edition is being hosted by LB and breadchick at The Sour Dough.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Nikita’s Meowings of an Opinionated Pussycat. And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Work in progress: Flora Davis, newly commissioned artwork

This is the first of several articles showing the work in progress on a piece I recently commissioned from local artist Flora Davis. I had first met Davis at Open Studios in 2008. I purchased a small cat painting at the time but also reflected on how it might be interesting to combine it with her more recent work that explored abstract metallic surfaces, including series of metal boxes. When I met her again this spring, I proposed the idea of doing a series of metal boxes to be placed together with the cat painting Zeus, and we are now going ahead with it!

Part of the process was choosing the sizes for boxes and then the materials/textures for them. Here are the initial sized boxes along with the cat painting:

As one can see, they range in size from only a few inches to almost as large as the original painting.  In the final piece, they can placed in any number of arrangements around or near the painting, the idea being for one element to overwhelm the others, and to maintain a sense of straight lines and the square shapes without conforming to a single grid.

Next, it was time to select the exact squares from the various metallic surfaces:

The metal surfaces are quite complex and rich in color and texture.  This one with the turqoise/green patina was perhaps the most complex, and thus I wanted it for the smallest of the boxes.  Overall, the colors and textures of the various surfaces tended towards browns, greens and reds that picked up elements of the painting.

Here are some of the metal textures seen in place with the boxes and the cat:

With all the materials and dimensions now specified, the next step will be to cut the surfaces and adhere them to the boxes.    We will see the results in an upcoming article soon!

Luna’s 5th Adoption Anniversary

Today marks five years since I first brought Luna home from the Santa Cruz County animal shelter.  Time certainly does pass quickly.  We celebrate this anniversary (otherwise known as Luna’s “Gotcha Day”) with a look back at photographs from our five years together.

Here she is back in 2005.

and then in 2006

and finally in 2007.

That series of photos ends after we moved to San Francisco in 2008, but there is no shortage of images of Luna basking in sunlight.  Here she is in 2008 (outdoors):

and 2009:

and finally this year:

(There are so many photos it can be hard to choose just one representative.)

Our friends at the Cat Blogosphere made an announcement today along with this nice banner:

Please join us in wishing Luna a “Happy 5th Gotcha Day!”

CatSynth video: In memory of Modesty the Cat

From monotonmusic on YouTube, via matrixsynth:

May 27, 2010 — “A little studio session just to get my mind of everything.
Nothing fancy, just some sweet Mono/Poly chords…

Our cat got really worse these last days.
But she had a good life in the countryside among our other cats.
16 years old!
RIP 2010.05.27

We send our thoughts to monotonemusic. It does sound like Modesty had a good life, 16 years in the countryside.

CatSynth pic: PAiA 4700s

Submitted by vlern via facebook:

That is one serious wall of synth!

It turns out this photo was from the PAiA 4700 Modular Synthesizer Project by Brett Maraldo (aka Plexus), referenced in the “Hall of Fame” on the PAiA website.

Here is another “catsynth pic” from the series:

We at CatSynth are always happy to get submissions of new pics from friends.  If you discover or create any cat-and-music pictures, you can submit them via our handy submission form, or on facebook or twitter @catsynth.

Weekend Cat Blogging #261

We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting Weekend Cat Blogging #261.  It’s a delightful weekend here, one to step outside and enjoy.  And we hope we have a lot of cats come join us.

In order to participate, please leave a comment below, or contact us, and we’ll be happy to add you over the course of the weekend.

And without further ado, let us get started with the round-up:

First up, Nikita Cat provides definitive proof that cat lovers are not brainless. Thanks to MRI technology, see how Nikita performs a “cat scan” on his dad’s brain.

Next we have Parker caught in mid-yawn, or is that a roar? In any case, it sounds like Parker is looking forward to a nice weekend with some outside time on the deck (similar to Luna’s excursions on the patio).

Seeing double?  No, this is “whiz-kitts” Daniel and Mikey, a pair a litter-mates in and old photo (as one can tell from the CRT monitor, anyone remember those?).  They are part of the family at Kittens ‘n Things.

Samantha and Clementine are getting along better, but still have their differences, as can be seen in this Smilebox slide show they have put together to share this weekend, complete with captions of their antics and background music.

We are delighted to have Jules from Judi’s Mind Over Matter join us this weekend.  “Jules and Luna have something special in common,” as can be seen in these pictures.  Black cats and white blinds are also a good visual combination, as we have shown in some previous photos.

More of our fellow black cats are joining us this weekend, including Maruschka from Rosa’s Yummy Yums. Her eyes almost look orange in this photo, as does the rug on which she lies.  They leave us with an apropos quote from the band Danzig: “Big black witch cat.  Yes, you cast a real strong spell…”

Finally, Spot (aka “Harry Spotter”) and Fiona are happy to be reunited with their family after their mom and dad’s trip to China.  And it looks like they have a new human member of the family!

That concludes the round-up for this weekend.  Thanks to everyone who participated!  (And if we did miss your entry, please let us know and we would be happy to add it retroactively.)

CatSynth videos: Cats react to iPhone Cat Piano

Today I specifically wanted to post some cat-and-iphone-music videos. While these don’t quite rise to the level of iggy investigating the iPad, they do make use of the popular “cat piano” app for iPhone.

From luke255 on YouTube:


“My cat Dennis has an interesting conversation with my iPhone!”

And another, from amb0 on YouTube:

The black cat in this video looks a bit like Luna.

I do of course have this particular iPhone app, and have even used it in some shows. Luna has shown very little interest in it, however. She is clearly jaded from gadgets making strange sounds (even cat-like sounds)

Carnival of the Cats / Carnaval de los Gatos #324

We at CatSynth are happy to host another (slightly tardy) edition of Carnival of the Cats

¿Por qué en español? Well, this weekend happened to also be the big Carnaval festival in San Francisco.

I spent most of yesterday at Carnaval with friends, enjoying the music, the rather vibrant and colorful costumes, and the overall energy. Considering that this actually has very little to do with cats, however, let is move on to our regularly scheduled “carnival”:

It’s been a sunny and warm weekend for us. And for others, too. K.T. Cat shows his jungle heritage while enjoying some sunshine outdoors in this great “nature photo” at K T’s Sratching Post.

Our friend Nikita Cat is also enjoying the outdoors in a unique way, as he goes for a stroll outdoors with his dad. Literally, a stroll in a stroller. In addition to being a great way to enjoy some fresh air, it’s helping his dad’s continued recovery and rejuvenation. And he certainly gets some attention from passers by. And this is a lead in to Nikita’s second contribution concerning how much non-felines obsess over cats.

Elisson visits his elder daughter’s new digs and meets some of the animal residents, including Miss Kitty, who has adjusted well to domestic life after being adopted from the streets (I wonder if she should meet Mister Kitty). There is also Minnie, appropriately described as “one tiny ass dawg.”

At Elms in the Yard, Hadi is adjusting well and learning to trust humans after her past experiences (including the vet). As one can see from this image, she is learning not to trust but to quite appreciate belly rubs. Rahel also encountered a visitor in her home while preparing for bed. Fortunately, the stranger turned out to be a neighbors’ cat, and was soon back home safely.

At Dophin’s Dock, Dolphin says “goodbye” to Sigyn. But this story has a happy ending, as Sigyn is going to a new home where she should be able to enjoy a lot of love and attention.

Antics about at Life from a Cat’s Perspective, where Samantha and Clementine have a rough over a paper sack. They have a photo series with the action unfolding. Samantha does not look pleased.

That concludes our Carnival for this week. Thanks to everyone who participated.
(Note, if you had planned to participate but I missed your entry, please leave a comment or contact and I will be happy to add you.)