black cat
Wordless Wednesday: Luna :)
Orange and Black
Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Documenting Art
We have a lot going on at CatSynth HQ this extended holiday weekend. Here we see Luna supervising the process of documenting artwork.
It’s actually not my artwork, or Luna’s; but it is a series of great cartoons by a very close friend of ours, many of which are part of a series called the Mensa Cats. I am using both a portrait (fixed) lens and a zoom lens to get the best photos possible. This impromptu photo featuring Luna was done with the portrait lens, which sometimes blurs a bit.
Wordless Wednesday: Luna in Black and White
CatSynth 8th Anniversary
Well, our eighth blog anniversary occurred this weekend. So today we celebrate that milestone as we do every year, with some statistics and a look backs.
First, as always, the photo of Luna that launched it all on July 19, 2006.
We are always happy to receive visitors from all over the world, and we do.
Our top countries are:
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Germany
- France
- Australia
- Switzerland
- Italy
- Netherlands
- India
Not surprising, the largest English-speaking countries are on the list (I include India), but also a strong presence in countries of Western Europe, especially Germany and France. Beyond India, several countries an Asia were well represented, especially Japan and South Korea. Notably, China had only 6 visitors this year, perhaps we have been blocked? Our top country in the Middle East was Iran, in Africa it was South Africa, and in South America it was Brazil.
Our top ten cities were San Francisco, New York, London, Zurich, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sydney, Melbourne, and Chicago.
Our top post from this past year was Our review of new modules from Make Noise. Indeed, we saw the highest overall engagement on our NAMM coverage.
Our top commenters for the year were:
- Georgia and Julie, along with the late Tillie (we miss Tillie)
- meowmeowmans of Animal Shelter Volunteer Life.
- Snowcatcher
- Louis la Vache (of the now closed Bay Area Photo blog)
- Beth F of Beth Fish Reads
- Our friend “Kitty” from Canada
- Gattina
- Sukhmandir Kaur
- Sue St. Clair
- Lee County Clowder
Overall, activity on the blog itself is down, while participation via Facebook, TwitterInstagram are increasing. Our top “liked” posts via Facebook were:
- Chris Broderick Farewell Bay Area Concert
- Happy Gotcha Day to Luna!
- CatSynth pic: Belly Rub
- Cat Museum of San Francisco’s Morrissey Birthday post
- CatSynth pic: Nina the Studio Kitty
Our Facebook channel has become particularly strong on its own, often with distinct posts and readers from the blog. As for the blog itself, my own activity has gone down quite a bit this year, due to a variety of work and personal issues. In particular, I’d like to get back to more of our interest posts, including more music and art reviews, “Fun with Highways”, etc. And of course more cats and synths.
And finally, thanks to everyone who has stuck with us through any or all of our channels. You are what makes this such a rewarding experience!
CatSynth pic: Luna, Minimoog, and Luna NT
Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Fun with Highway Signs
My eccentric long-standing fascination with numbered highways has long been reflected on this site. Here we see Luna contemplating a couple of our most recent sign acquisitions.
So what exactly do we do with these? Well, besides just the human tendency to collect things of interest, I have used signs in artwork, photography, video and I am now expanding into more modes of live performance. Mostly, dealers advertise these as “perfect for your man cave”, something which does not interest us at CatSynth in any way. For Luna, they are just more strange objects that pass through her territory. And great neck scratchers.
Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: At Home
It’s been a while since Luna has made an appearance on CatSynth, a situation that is entirely my fault. But today we start to correct that with some photos of Luna over the past month.
I am happy to report that Luna is doing fine. The same busy-ness that has limited my posts here has sometimes meant less time to spend with her. And Luna does her part to make sure I feel solidly guilty about this.
When I am home, we do spend as much time together as we can, including relaxing together. This usually features copious amounts of cuddling and purring.
She can sometimes make it difficult for me to get up and do other things.
And of course, there is napping and sleeping. She is a cat after all. One recent day when she was exceptionally sleepy, I was able to tuck her into the covers for this cute picture.
I do hope to make this visits with Luna a regular feature again, along with the backlog of reviews and other posts in the queue. Such is life at this moment.
Carnival of the Cats 526
We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting the Carnival of the Cats this weekend! It has been a while since we last hosted – indeed we have been a little remiss on participating of late. But we’re happy to be doing so today, and even updated our banner to reflect the changes underway with San Francisco’s street signs. But without further ado, let us get on to the cats.
Over at StrangeRanger Maddie teaches us about the use of resources. Sunshine should be applied in the proper places, otherwise it is wasted.
Meanwhile, our friends at Elvira reviews some great toys with an assist from Sneakers. In addition to the feather toy, there were mousies and balls as well, all from The Natural Pet Company. On a related note, we are sending good healthy thoughts and restful thoughts for our friend Daddy Kiril who greatly overdid it this past week. Cats fortunately make great nurses. But please stop by to leave some words of encouragement.
Some good news about our friend Moosey at Animal Shelter Volunteer! His tests came back good, and his health is improving. He is home relaxing and quite contented with his humans, our friends Kevin and Tracey. We wish them all well.
We will continue to update through tonight as submissions come in, so please leave a comment or contact us if you like to be included.