Luna

Happy 11th Gotcha Day Luna!

Today marks Luna’s 11th Gotcha Day (adoption anniversary) since I first brought her home from the Santa Cruz County animal shelter on June 10, 2005. She has come to be the queen of her home in the years since.

This Gotcha Day is a particularly sweet one, considering all that has happened over the past year. It was about one month after her previous anniversary that we saw the first signs of her cancer and got the formal diagnosis soon after. She was given only months at best with aggressive treatment. But with love, attention and the best medical care available, she is still with us a year later and thriving!

And she is still the star of CatSynth.

We are looking forward to a weekend of celebration and treats.

Please join me in wishing Luna a very happy Gotcha Day!

An Update On Luna

Since the skin surgery earlier this spring, Luna has been cancer free as far as we can tell. Indeed, after talking with our doctor we decided that there would be no need for another round of chemotherapy at this time! We will continue to monitor, and if future exams show any recurrence we will decide what to do from there. In the meantime, Luna is enjoying life and home and is thoroughly spoiled, including getting many of her favorite foods on demand.

Luna licking her chops

If there is one stress for her right now, is that I recently started a new job where I am back in an office. It’s been a tough adjustment for her, and it saddens me to see her stressed. We are both adapting and figuring it out – and I should be able to come play with her during breaks (the job is walking distance from CatSynth HQ here in San Francisco). I have very strong opinions about offices and working in teams, but those are best left for another day. After is, this as about Luna.

We love Luna!

Thank you all again for your thoughts and purrs. And hopefully we will be able to post more good news.

CatSynth Pic, and an Update on Luna

Luna, Casio SK-1 and Korg Volca Beats

Luna poses near her beanbag chair in the studio and stacked Casio SK-1 and Korg Volca BEATS. More importantly, she is now collar-free! She got the all clear at her post-surgery follow-up on Friday, as the incision is healing well. We will soon be in contact with the oncologist about a next round of chemo and hopefully we will knock out the cancer for real.

Luna has been much happier without the collar, and he mood has brightened a lot. She is playful and affectionate, but she does sleep a lot – she is a cat after all. But her sleeping once again looks very peaceful.

Luna sleeping in a circle

I am always impressed with her ability to curl up into a nearly perfect circle.

An Update on Luna: Surgery Recovery

Luna resting after surgery

Luna continues to recover from her surgery last weekend. She is mostly resting comfortably, but she has been alternately dopey from the painkillers and miserable from the discomfort and the insult of wearing the e-collar. It’s only in the last two days that she has started to seem herself again, eating more normally and wandering around the house as usual. Of course, she does continue to sleep quite a bit, but that is fine.

We did get a report from the surgeon that the skin spot was indeed the cancer (essentially we already knew that from tests), but that she was able to remove all of it, which is definitely good news. And so far the surgical incision appears to healing well. So once she is cleared from surgical post care, we can begin the next round of chemotherapy. No fun at all, but hopefully will put Luna back on the road to recovery.

Thanks as always for your continued purrs and healing vibes.

Update on Luna: Post Surgery

Luna recovering from surgery.

Luna’s surgery yesterday went well. Since it was just a small skin spot, it was much smaller than the original surgery last year and she was able to come home the same day. We are hoping for a quicker recovery as well. Nonetheless, it’s no fun at all for Luna. She has been eating normally and at times her energetic affectionate self – at others lethargic and clearly coping with some pain and discomfort. It’s no different from a human post surgery. I am administering pain medications and gentle affection to her today as she rests and recovers.

Thank you for your continued purrs and thoughts.

CatSynth pic: Support for Luna from Merce

Support for Luna from Merce the cat

As we prepare for Luna to go tomorrow for her next surgery, we received this wonderful picture and note from our friend Merce the cat on Twitter:

@catsynth Go, Luna! You got this!

An Update on Luna

We had a few particularly warm days this past week, which gave Luna a bit of time to enjoy some sun on the patio.

Luna on the patio

Luna is still battling cancer, and probably will be for the rest of her time with us. But as one can see from the photo above it doesn’t prevent her from leading a happy and contented life. She has been her normal affectionate and playful self, and a delight to spend time with.

The surgery and chemotherapy that we did last year were key to her still being with us and enjoying life. The latest concern is a spot on her skin near the previous surgery that has tested positive for cancer. Fortunately, tests showed no internal metastatic disease – that remains our biggest worry. And nothing on the remaining mammary chain, which is also a relief. So we will go ahead with a surgery to remove the skin spot and another round of chemo to hopefully knock out any lingering cells.

It’s disappointing to have to put her through more treatments. I will do so as long as I feel it’s what’s best for her. She still has so much life in her and hasn’t slowed down from the disease, so the treatment is the best choice. Luna and I thank you for continued purrs and thoughts.

Farewell to 2015: Annus Asper

[Click to enlarge.]

2015 was a rough year. There is no other way to put it. We looked over the precipice at some of the worst possibilities becoming reality. But we came through. Luna stared down an extremely dire diagnosis and is once again thriving. For that I am truly grateful. I rebounded strongly from my own health issues as well. And there were many other beautiful moments this year, a few of which are included in our graphic.

This was a year of many endings as well, most notably in the personal and musical domains. But new doors are opening for 2016 as a result, and there are some new projects and opportunities for which I am excited. 2015 left a lot of questions unanswered, some of which are also depicted in the graphic and some of which are beyond the scope of this site.

So we are excited for 2016, but also extremely anxious and apprehensive. There are more big challenges coming up; and if I have learned anything, it is that I have no idea how things will ultimately turn out. It’s just a matter of doing things one at a time incrementally – but also continuing even more than ever to speak my truths and accept the risks and consequences that come with doing so.

Meanwhile, we at CatSynth will continue to do what we do here, bring music, art, culture and cats to the world. Thank you for all your support in 2015, and especially all your support for Luna and me. We are truly humbled and look forward to sharing this new year whatever it brings.

Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015)

We lost another of our art heroes yesterday. Ellsworth Kelly, known for his iconic works composed of color fields, passed away.

The above photo features the catalog from his large-scale solo show at SFMOMA in 2002-2003. The exhibition was a bright spot, both aesthetically and emotionally, in an otherwise depressing period of time and made quite an impression. I kept intersecting with his work during my numerous art adventures in California. His paintings featured large color fields, sometimes combined together into a single whole, while other times separated, as in Blue Green Black Red (1996) on display as part of the Fisher Collection at SFMOMA. I had the opportunity to see a large retrospective of his prints and paintings at LACMA in Los Angeles a couple of years ago. This, too, was revelatory as it showed other aspects of his work, including black-and-white pieces and connections of his abstract style to nature.

It is still, however, the color fields that I most instantly recognized as his.

Kelly himself resisted being described as “abstract” or “minimal” or any other label that intersected with his career. But I think this statement quoted in the New York Times obituary describes his art very well, and is a fitting conclusion.

“My paintings don’t represent objects,” he said in 1996. “They are objects themselves and fragmented perceptions of things.”

Hannukah and Farewell to a Friend

We at CatSynth are preparing to celebrate the penultimate night of Hannukah. Our musician-themed menorah is all ready for tonight.

Luna sits nearby and supervises with her usual indifference.

She’s continuing to be happy and healthy after her treatments, for which I am truly grateful. Her recent birthday is still mixed into our celebrations. A dear friend of ours sent her this cute birthday card.

We are looking forward to the last few weeks of this tumultuous year being a bit quieter, with time together and more time for musical projects. At the top of the list is the solo album – apropos of Hannukah, the opening track (composed during last year’s holidays) is called Kislev, named for the current Hebrew month.

It is with tears and a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our dear friend Moosey from Animal Shelter Volunteer Life. We have gotten to know him and his humans Kevin and Tracey quite well over the years. And they have all been great supporters of CatSynth, including a lot of love and moral support during Luna’s ordeal. Moosey, too, has been battling health challenges, and this week they caught up with him. He was a shelter cat from PAWS and sweet and gentle soul. We send our deepest condolences to Kevin and Tracey and to the surviving members of his feline family Zoe and Gracie. Please visit their blog to offer your thoughts and sympathies.

And now we have just learned of the passing of another feeling friend: the beautiful white cat Georgie from Cats of Wildcat Woods. They, too, have been good friends and supporters of this site. We extend them our deepest thoughts and sympathies as well. It is a sad few days indeed for our community.