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Weekend Cat Blogging: Halloween and Black Cat Edition

We at CatSynth are proud to again host the Hallowe’en Edition of Weekend Cat Blogging. We also want to take a moment to appreciate the chat noirs, the black cats.

Every year one can read articles both celebrating black cats, and warning for their safety. From the Santa Barbara Independent:

The superstition surrounding black cats cause them to be the target of pranks on Halloween. Therefore, people with black cats should be extra careful about keeping them safely inside on Halloween. The concern is serious enough that most humane societies avoid adopting out black cats during the Halloween season due to the risk of them being harmed.

Superstitions and unfounded prejudice persist to this day – and not just at Sarah Palin rallies. Fortunately, stories of harm to cats on Halloween is relatively rare. But there is more concern for black cats being used as “Hallowe’en props”, only to be returned to the shelter or abandoned after the holiday. But black cats have a difficult time during the whole year, not just on Hallowe’en. From The Cat’s Meow by Kathy Covey:

When you look at the fate of black cats in animal shelters, you’d surmise they were the most unlucky of creatures. Overlooked in favor of their orange neighbor, last of the litter chosen, passed over for the more visible white cat — they make up the largest segment of the Cat Adoption Team’s shelter population.

But Covey then describes the virtues of black cats, and leaves us with this thought:

So all of you who have and love black cats, consider yourself fortunate to be in the presence of such a genetic marvel, the black cat!

So we at CatSynth would like to celebrate black cats this weekend. All cats are welcome to join, but if their is a chat noir in the house, we would ask you to feature him or her in your post. As always, you can leave a comment below, or contact us, and we’ll add you to the round-up over the course of the weekend.

And so let us begin…


Cece comes over trick-or-treating this morning at iInfidel. Looks like he wants in.


Want to see something scary? Check out this baking disaster at Paulchens FoodBlog. Othello seems unperturbed, and is determined to relax this weekend.


Welcome to Pam and Patchouli of Sidewalk Shoes, who are first time participants in Weekend Cat Blogging! Patchouli give us her fake "smile for the camera" smile for the occasion. Please do stop by to welcome them.


Black cats can be very helpful, and Samantha helps recycle bags (that is, after first playing with them). See Samantha, and Tigger, and fall foliage at Life From a Cat's Perspective.


Rosa's Yummy Yums features the lovely black cat Marushka and a tribute to cats from Jules Verne.


Luna's fellow house panther Diamond Emerald-Eyes shares this "fangtastic graphic" with us. She also hosted Costumed Capers this past Thursday, a veritable feline masquerade. We think we spotted a few of our friends there.


Over at Gattina's, Rosie attempts to be scary for Hallowe'en. But being scary requires some serious follow-through. Let's go see if Rosie succeeds, or just ends up being cute.


The handsome black denizen of the The House of Chaos, Loup-Garou, joins us this weekend. He is suffering from stress, which was probably exacerbated by a trip to the vet. We hope that things calm down a bit.


The story over that The House of the (Mostly) Black Cats is more comfy than scary, where Mini enjoys a unique way of sitting in a lap.


It's time to turn back the clock in Stockholm at The World According to Pia. We are also reminded to "appreciate cats, no matter what colour, as well as other animals, as the most amazing, loveable, adorable, quirky beings they are." We at CatSynth couldn't agree more.


We remain in Stockholm for a moment to visit with Klara at Anne's Food. Klara may be the opposite of a black cat, but she is still very cute.


More cuteness, and more than a little mischief, can be found today at Cuisine Guylaine.

Thanks to everyone who participated this week. We will continue to post entries through Monday morning.








Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Domestic Violence Awareness badge

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Our friend Diamond Emerald Eyes has made the graphic above to help spread awareness about domestic violence as it affects both humans and animals. Diamond’s own story crosses domestic violence (fortunately, she hid under the bed and was safe), but has a happy ending. Not so for Norman, the orange tabby who was killed by bit actor Joseph Petcka. Petcka is currently on trial for his incredibly cruel act.

We’re in the middle of a nasty election season, and as such there is always talk about “family values” – this time it’s often from supporters of Proposition 8 here in California. Our request is that when people encounter those who claim to be “defending marriage and family”, challenge them to condemn domestic violence, and to punish those who hurt their partners, children or animals. Even if it means ending a marriage. An abusive marriage or an abusive family is not one worth defending, and any tradition that would excuse violence in the name of “protecting a family” is not a tradition worth preserving.

We hope all our human and animal friends will continue to have safe and loving homes.

You can read more at the National Coalition against Domestic Violence website, and here in San Francisco more information is available at Domestic Violence Consortium. The Humane Society has information about pets domestic violence.


Sad news today

Some very sad news today. Our friend sher of What Did You Eat? passed suddenly this morning.

Sher was one of the first people we met through Weekend Cat Blogging. She often left kind words on our site for Luna, whom she quite admired. And in turn we got to know her late cats Upsie and Sundance, and of course her little black kitten Laura.


We remember her sharing life with cats and squirrels. But she was also an accomplished food blogger, and we have tried several of the recipes she posted. Indeed, I was going to be making the Angel Hair Pasta With Sweet Red Pepper Pesto that she posted on Thursday, not knowing this would also be her final post.

Our thoughts are with Sher’s family and friends this evening.


Pride 2008

Today was big Pride Parade here in San Francisco. And with the recent marriage ruling here in California, it was an even bigger celebration than previous years.

Of course, Zip was there for the festivities:

The parade is on Market Street, our main thoroughfare, which has been adorned with flags and other symbols for weeks in anticipation:


[Click to enlarge]

The parade is of course full of colorful characters:

Marriage was of course a major theme this year, with many couples displaying “Just Married” banners to thunderous applause.

This BART vehicle was decked out for trips to the chapel:

But with good fun there is also seriousness. We all need to be vigilant and make sure that our friends’ new-found rights are not taken away this November:

It is a not an issue of LGBT rights versus religion. Indeed, faith and religious groups were an important part of this year’s parade:

However, when this group from the “San Francisco Voice for Israel” marched by, it seemed like the crowds were strangely quiet.

I was actually invited last year to march with this group, after talking to a gay supporter of Israel while attending a birthday for a “nice Jewish girl” I was romantically interested in…but that is a story for another time.

Many city agencies were represented in the parade, including Animal Services, who had some amusing banners:

In all, a proud day for San Francisco and for California. And with the continued wildfires and other problems, we need something to celebrate.


Primary Highways: Montana and South Dakota

Well, this long process is nearly at it’s end. And this time, we really mean it, there are only two states left, Montana and South Dakota. I had an opportunity to visit both as a kid in 1988. It was only as I prepared to write this article that I realized this was twenty years ago!

We came into Montana at night on I-94, which we previously mentioned in this series when we visited Indiana and Detroit. The night sky in Montana is an amazing experience, as is the complete darkness if one stops the car and turns out the lights. A little eerie, actually. I grew up the suburbs north of New York City, so such clear and dark nights were a new experience.

I-94 ends quietly at junction with I-90 near Billings, the largest city in Montana. I don’t remember much about it.

We did visit Yellowstone National park, which is mostly in Wyoming. But the northern entrance, featuring the Roosevelt Arch, is in Montana:

We discussed Yellowstone in more detail when we wrote about Wyoming. But I didn’t mention the fact that I was there during the massive fires of 1988, that burned about one third of the park. The smoke and the various closures certainly colored my visit. I do need to go back again and experience Yellowstone as an adult and without the fires.

From Yellowstone, we traveled north and east, stopping in the town of Butte. Though quite small, I recall it looking rather large as one approached from the east at night on I-90. We at CatSynth would not deign to make jokes about the town’s name.

Ultimately, we headed north on US 93 to reach Glacier National Park. This was an altogether different experience from Yellowstone. Not only were the skies clear, but landscape was more the standard forests and lakes and mountains one associates with Rockies:

Among the striking features of Glacier Park are its lakes, such as St. Mary Lake (pictured here) and Lake McDonald. Lake McDonald in particular is quite deep, as it is formed from a valley between mountains, though not as deep as Crater Lake in Oregon. The park does of course have Glaciers, but they have been retreating quite dramatically, victims of climate change.

Our trip back from Montana took us through South Dakota on I-90. The main feature of I-90 in South Dakota were the frequent billboards advertising Wall Drug, which we of course did have to stop at, after having fun with the concept for the preceding hours. We did of course visit the more monumental attractions, including the dueling carved mountains of Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore.

We ultimately continued east on I-90 to Chicago, the hometown of the likely winner at the end of this long contest.