Luna

Weekend Cat Blogging: 6th Anniversary Edition

This weekend marks the 6th anniversary of Weekend Cat Blogging.  It was started by a group of food bloggers who took a break from the regular topics every weekend to post about their cats.  It is not an in appropriate combination, as like their human counterparts cats enjoy good food and good company.

We at CatSynth found Weekend Cat Blogging back in 2006 and have been regular participants ever since.  This is of course not a food blog, but we do appreciate food and have indeed made recipes posted by long-time participant.  Indeed, a diverse collection of bloggers have participated on and off over the years.

If you would like to participate in this anniversary edition, please leave a comment below, or tweet us @catsynth with hashtag #WCB.  We always welcome new participants!

We are also celebrating another anniversary this weekend: Luna’s adoption.  If you have not had a chance to yet, please visit Luna’s Gotcha Day post.

And so let us get on with round-up.

Jules of Judi’s Mind Over Matter has been a regular participant, and he can be counted on to make an appearance whenever we host.  Call it “black cat solidarity” if you will.  In any case, we think he makes a very handsome outdoor model, though he sometimes wants to eat the props.

Catsparella has a Caturday post featuring several cats from around the internet, including Mar (aka Mar(ilyn) Manson aka Tuxedo Bad-Ass).  In addition to having an interesting namesake, he is a cancer survivor.  He also loves eating spaghetti.  We wish him the best for a healthy and happy future!

Over at Gattina’s “My Cats and Funny Stories”, Rosie is practicing her seduction skills on one of the many cat statues that adorn their garden.  It makes for some very cute photographs.

At Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes, Smudge is posing on the garden pathway in an apparent attempt to distract us from the garden weeds.  We think it is a very handsome portrait.  And the weeds in the stones of the pathway add a rich texture to the image.

At The Chair Speaks, Pebbles enjoys a day of relaxing.  She evokes an image of poolside bliss on a deckchair.

Regular reads know that we at CatSynth are regulars in our local arts community in San Francisco, so it’s great to see our “TX furriends” Samantha and Clementine featured at a gallery near you.  That’s a gallery near you, not near us.  But it’s great to see their virtual art show – and nice prominent placement of their images (I particular like the big one of Clementine).

Our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer Life present the cats in Cat Room 8 taking it easy on Sunday.  Our Sunday is busy as usual, so we will just have to live vicariously through their great photos.  These cats are likely dreaming of loving homes in their futures.

At Herman’s Hideaway, it appears that Herman and Emma are stuck in an infinite loop (are stuck in an infinite loop) as each watches, ready to pounce if the other does anything.  Read the post to find out the full story.

Our dear friends from Vienna Kashim, Othello, Salome and Astrid have been participating in Weekend Cat Blogging just about as long as we have.  They look back on WCB’s origins this week and link to their original post.  They also discuss the fun and value they have received from sharing these posts over the years, and we could not agree more!

As we wind down this edition of WCB, Ritzi shares a contented moment with a blanket at Mind of Mog.

Our friends Georgia and Tillie along with the rest of their household stopped by for the WCB 6th Anniversary.  Check out their Friday Close-ups!

It’s always great to here from another Luna!  This week Luna T Katt and Zulu are remembering Luna’s littermate Keiko, whom they lost to the rainbow bridge last year.  The kitten pictures are very cute – and they all miss her very much.

It seems that Gracie has been having trouble with the blogger monster and thus having trouble leaving comments for friends.  But she was able to make it though and wish Luna a happy 6th Gotcha Day and everyone a happy 6th Anniversary of WCB.

We will continue to post entries throughout the weekend, so please continue to comment or tweet us if you would like to participate.

Happy Gotcha Day, Luna!

June 10 is Luna’s “Gotcha Day”. It was six years ago today that she was adopted from Santa Cruz County Animal Services and became the much beloved member of our household that readers have come to know and love.

As we often do on this occasion, we look back at some early photos in comparison to the present. This particularly cute one was taken during her first week at home in June, 2005.

By contrast, here is one of the most recent photos of Luna:

She is quite fond of that PurrPad at the moment.

Another interesting comparison. Here is Luna sitting with our often-featured glass table in June, 2005:

And here she is again in 2010:

Some things stay the same.

Please join in me in wishing Luna a Happy 6th Gotcha Day! It is a day to celebrate, and to remember what’s important in life.

We would also like to give a mention to Friends of Santa Cruz County Animals – I support them every year in gratitude connecting us.

Carnival of the Cats #377

We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting Carnival of the Cats this weekend.   For those who have no idea what this is, Carnival of the Cats is a long-running weekly round-up of cat-related blog posts from around the internet.   All blog authors with cat posts from the past week are encouraged to participate using the handy submission form, or by leaving us a comment below.

As usual, we’re off to a slow start this Sunday.  But with plenty of coffee and our eclectic music in the background, we are ready to begin.

We open with a sentimental post from Ellison of Lost in the Cheese Aisle. While Haukna sits quietly, it looks like she is being watched over by the late Matata on an electronic frame, while we imagine Gershwin’s classic in the background.

Good news from our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer Life.  Long time shelter resident Bootz has found a new home.  It’s always nice to hear about more mature cats being adopted, and wish him well.

We loved reading this post from Catsparella about fashion photographer Kristina Wilson and her fondness for cats.  It was interesting read, lots of great pictures, and that first photo from Tokion Magazine is quite inspiring (not sure if the cat in the photo agrees, though).

At Gattina’s My Cats and Funny Stories, Rosie investigates one of the cat figurines in the garden.  She ponders whether this is in fact a dead cat, but after learning that it made of stone, decides it is a good place to rest.

At Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat, Nikita and Elvira are helping their Dad heal from a serious ankle injury.  As one can see, it is quite an exhausting task.  We are glad that their Dad Kiril is on the mend.  They also want to thank everyone who has sent good wishes and healing thoughts.

StrangeRanger presents this study in black and white in lieu of “scintillating prose.”  It seems they have been busy tilling the earth and thus quite tired out.  We are of course fond of wordless images here at CatSynth, so welcome this “place holder” post.

Over at Mind of Mog, we have an exercise in contrasts.  Ritzi enjoys her spot on the sofa covers while Meowza enjoys rolling in the dirt.  He is also out enjoying a nice Sunday morning before it gets too hot outside.  That is something we definitely don’t have to worry about here this Sunday.

UPDATES: Samantha and Clementine share some glamor shots to share with us for the carnival. Visit their site for the full-size versions.

Finally, Nikita Cat asks the question “do cats watch too much TV?” There are reasons for and against watching television, with the observation that cats experience the images from this popular device differently. Read further to see the conclusions for yourself.

This concludes the carnival for this weekend!  We will continue to add late entries for the remainder of Sunday (US Pacific time) so let us know if you would like to participate.

Weekend Cat Blogging #313: Rainy

We’re playing with the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone again. Here we see Luna looking out the window, where it is raining…in California in June. Speculate as you wish. The signal processing (Helga Viking lens and Kodot XGrizzled film) brings out some lush colors in the rain-soaked plants.

Carnival of the Cats will be hosted here at CatSynth tomorrow! If you would like to participate with your cat-related blog post from this past week, you can use the handy submission form or leave us a comment here.

Weekend Cat Blogging #313 is hosted by Billy SweetFeets.

As mentioned above, the Carnival of the Cats will be right here at CatSynth tomorrow.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Looking Down and Cluttered

Today’s combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt features two themes. This week is Looking Down, but last week’s theme of Cluttered was delayed and happens to be perfect for this week. We are in the midst of a major clean-up here at CatSynth HQ, which brings the usually hidden clutter out into the open:

It’s amazing how much stuff accumulates. Many things were in storage at previous home then ended up being stored again here. The PurrPad that Luna is sitting on is one of them. It was taking up space and serving no purpose in a closet, but now she clearly enjoys it. Indeed she has been resting here more often that her other usual spots.

For “Looking Down”, we peer down the staircase at Luna. The perspective is interesting, particularly with all the lines from the metal railings.

Once again, we are thinking about our friends in the middle of United States affected by terrible and storms, and especially the tornado in Missouri. We heard about a particularly tragic and poignant story last week.

Those who wish to help pets affected, visit the Jopin Humane Society. And there is the American Red Cross.

Other donation efforts and fundraising efforts can be found here and via the Cat Blogosphere.

Weekend Cat Blogging #312 is hosted at Mom’s Sunday Cafe.

The Photo Hunt is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is Looking Down. We are also using last week’s theme of Cluttered.

The Carnival of the Cats is back at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat this Sunday.

And the Friday Ark is taking a break this weekend.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Digital

The theme of this week’s Photo Hunt is digital. Rather than simply use a digital photo – which could be any photo ever taken of Luna – I chose a couple of images that demonstrate the unique opportunities of the medium. A digital photo is really just a stream of numbers, not unlike digital audio, and can be processed in countless ways using digital signal processing or applying other mathematical functions.

For a piece I originally did in 2007, I took one of Luna’s adoption photos from Santa Cruz County Animal Services and applied an algorithm that overlaid these colored bands, as shown above.  The color bands were generated using a set of hastily chosen trigonometric and hyperbolic functions applied to the timeline of the animation sequence.  These photos are stills from the full animation.

I did these using image and video extensions to Open Sound World – one nice feature of that work was that I could use the same functions for both audio and video, and “see” what a particular audio-processing algorithm looked like when applied to an image.   And I would probably use the Processing environment for future visual work, perhaps in conjunction with OSW.

Weekend Cat Blogging #309 and Carnival of the Cats are both being hosted by Billy SweetFeets this weekend. Perhaps Luna’s animation could be part of one of the dance videos they often feature.

Photo Hunt #264 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is digital.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

A special note this week. Our friend Judi at Judi’s Mind over Matter (home of Jules and Vincent) has information on how to help animals affected the storms and tornadoes in the southeast US. They live in Alabama, not far from the place that was hit hardest by the tornadoes. We’re glad they’re safe, and able to provide this information for those who would like to help.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Square…and Rememberance

This weekend, we have another combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt. The theme this week is square. Geometric shapes, including squares, abound at CatSynth HQ. But with the exceptionally gorgeous weather, we turn our attention once again to the patio:

The patio is covered in square slate tiles on which Luna enjoys rolling around. We are still doing some work to fix things up for spring now the construction is in the past. New design ideas to emphasize the industrial and geometric aesthetic.

This weekend we are also joining our friends the Three Tabby Cats in Vienna ~ Kashim, Othello and Salome ~ in a Weekend of Remembrance. We participated when they hosted a similar weekend back in 2007, lighting a candle like this one.

As we have made more friends online, so we have also lost many friends. We said goodbye to Mickey only a few weeks ago. Last year, we lost DJ Kikovas, the feline companion of our friend and fellow electronic musician Vivi Pedraglio. We also said goodbye to Tali and Sniffie. It is interesting to look back and see the diverse collection of people, mixture of musicians, engineers and cat lovers, who cross paths in these stories. We have also lost many heroes in music, art and mathematics in this same period of time; and some personal friends. We remember them as well.

Our thoughts for all our friends who lost love ones (human and non-human) over the past year, and for those who are struggling in the current storms in southeastern U.S., recovering from the disaster in Japan, and living through the seemingly greater number conflicts around the world.

Weekend Cat Blogging #308 is hosted by Samantha and Clementine at Life From a Cat’s Perspective. They are dedicating their post in remembrance of Praline.

Photo Hunt #263 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is SQUARE.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging #306

Luna inspects the equipment for the next show during a recent practice session:

UPDATE: Luna just posed more regally next to the Nord keyboard. I think it’s a better picture (what do you think?).

The Nord Stage continues to be the main workhorse for idiomatic music, such as the jazz, caberet, etc. that may work its way into the performance.  The iPad (barely visible here) will provide the experimental counterpoint.

And here is Luna with some of the “analog” instruments:

The prayer bowl will be part of the show tomorrow, but the toy piano and tablas probably will not.

Weekend Cat Blogging #306 is at Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes. Check out the great close-ups of all three cats.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Pet and the Bengal Brats at Pet’s Garden Blog.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.