During yesterday’s rainy morning, Luna sat with me as I listened to the final master for Reconnaissance Fly’s new album. I snapped this close-up with the iPad. She was so calm and poised. And she did listen to the music. I think her favorite track was Oh Goldfinch Cage, not just because of the subject matter, but because its timbral texture is quite different from anything else on the album, with more isolated percussion and sound effects. Lots of things to perk up both cat and human ears.
From Eric Lewis on YouTube. Submitted by Paul Hayworth via our Facebook page. Watch the video all the way to the end!
We have a couple of photo theremins here at CatSynth HQ, maybe I can convince Luna to try playing one?
From grillobeats on YouTube via matrixsynth.
“Now that I have a kitten, it’s become basically impossible to jam on my modular synthesizer. featuring mfb triple osc, peg, doepfer 132, make noise rene and my new mn MMG”
Lots of familiar modules in this one. The kitten seems particularly interested in the Make Noise Rene. I actually haven’t tried out the MMG yet but now I’m curious.
Video the cat returns, this time with a toy piano. Submitted by The Wiggly Tendrils via catsynth.
And yes, the toy piano is technically not a synth, but it’s an instrument of which we are quite fond.
From sduck409 on Instgram.
You can follow CatSynth on Instagram for more photos, and tag us on your own cat-and-synth Instagrams and we’ll happily repost to the blog.
The third show of “Three Show Weekend” is coming up in a few hours. It’s been a busy week, not just with the shows but also rehearsals and work. But I still make quite a bit of time for Luna. And who wouldn’t when confronted with an ultra-cute guilt trip like this.
Luna has perfected her cute poses and guilt trips, especially over the past year. And she knows it works. It doesn’t prevent me from getting to work in the morning, but it does sometimes make me a few minutes late.
As summer winds down, we start to look back the many little road adventures that dotted the season. The largest and last of these trips, of course, was to Portland, which included a large stretch of northern California.
We begin on I-505, which heads north from I-80, bypassing Sacramento.
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I-505 is a completely straight, flat, stretch of highway. This is pretty much true of the surrounding landscape as well, but the texture and details against this blank canvas can make for some interesting photos.
I-505 merges into I-5, which continues northward through more of the relatively flat landscape, repeatedly crossing the Sacramento River in the process. Eventually we come to the city of Redding at the northern end of the Sacramento Valley. On my return trip from Portland, I finally had a chance to stop in Redding and visit the Sundial Bridge. This modernist architectural gem spans a wooded section of the Sacramento River completely, a world apart from the town of Redding itself or the strip malls and shopping centers that line the highways. Here, clean modern lines contrast with the natural forms of trees and running water.
The Sundial Bridge turned out to be a great subject for abstract photography (you can see another shot in an earlier Wordless Wednesday). It was also quite crowded with families and groups, something to keep in mind should I ever want to use it as a setting for a more formal photo shoot.
North of Redding, I-5 climbs into the southern Cascades towards Mount Shasta. The highway here is quite scenic, but also narrow, winding, and treacherous. Eventually it opens up as one passes Mount Shasta and approaches Black Butte.
Black Butte is a satellite cone of Mount Shasta. It has a distinctive pointy shape and largely barren rocky texture, both of which make it quite prominent in the landscape. The highway curves around its edge, providing a close-up view.
After passing Mount Shasta and Black Butte, I-5 descends into a wide valley, passing by the town of Weed, whose welcome sign is a popular backdrop for photographs. This is the start of US 97, which heads northeast towards Klamath Falls and central Oregon as I-5 continues due north through the Cascades towards Portland. The main street in Weed is also Historic US 99. The part of the historic route which returns to I-5 is now California Highway 265, one of the shortest in the system.
From here, the valley descends and opens further, and the landscape becomes surprisingly desert-like. We pass the town of Yreka, where I did not get a chance to stop, but might on a future trip because of some idiosyncratic road-geek things. Finally, the highway climbs upwards again towards Siskiyou Summit, just north of the Oregon-California border and the highest point on all of I-5 at 4,310 feet (1,310 meters).
Cat posing handsomely in front of a synthesizers.com modular system. From Nite Mind, via matrixsynth.
