Cats

Farewell to 2011

As has become a tradition here at CatSynth, we present our end-of-year image.


[Click to enlarge.]

It was a bit of a challenge to decide what to put in, as there were so many this time. But I think these are particularly representative. And it’s also significant that it is more colorful than previous end-of-year images.

The first few days of this year were quiet and a bit dark. That changed quickly, with tumultuous events around the world, and new experiences close to home. It’s the year I finally had a photography show, and by the end of the year I had several. There were new surprising types of performances and the costumes to go with them. I deepened my connections back in New York with friends, music, art and the landscape. And I no idea what I would have the chance to participate in something like the Occupy movement . There were many sad moments as well, with the loss of friends.

In all, 2011 has been particularly rich and productive, if sometimes a bit chaotic. If one had told me at the end of 2007 or 2008 (or 2001 for that matter) that this is what life would be like now, I would have been pleasantly surprised. There is a sense, however, that the patterns of this past year are not sustainable. This will have to be part of the plan for 2012, in particular getting organized, staying healthy and trying to make good choices. We will see how that unfolds as the new year progresses…

Happy New Year and thank you for all the support and warmth from those who read these pages!

CatSynth pic: Truffle and Brulee with Digital Piano

Today we feature Truffle and Brulee of Sweet Purrfections, who happened to be posing last week with a digital piano.  I am pretty sure the piano is a Yamaha YPP 200. First, we have Truffle:

And now Brulee:

In their own words:

We love the keyboard in Mom Paula’s office.  The keys are softer than the piano keys in the living room and the bench is cushioned (not like the wooden one at the piano).  Brulee is trying to show Mom Paula a few things about playing the piano.

cats on tuesday

Weekend Cat Blogging: SF SPCA Holiday Windows 2011

Each year, the San Francisco SPCA teams up with Macy’s in San Francisco to feature adoptable pets in the holiday window displays at their main store in Union Square.  And we at CatSynth present some of the cats that are featured in the windows and available for adoption.

The windows featured a theme this year that appeared to me as a series of gears and old machinery.  It turns out that the theme is in fact “Make a Wish” and the machinery represents a “wish factory”.  Clearly the wishes here are for loving homes for all the adoptable animals.

The program is always popular with visitors to busy Union Square.  And it has been quite successful, placing many animals in homes and raising funds for the San Francisco SPCA’s many other programs.

The holiday windows continue through January 1, with different animals rotating through each day.  If you are in San Francisco this holiday season, I encourage you to check it out.  Those who aren’t going to be in the area can still enjoy the displays via the live video feeds.

You can find out more about Macy’s SF SPCA Holiday Windows at this website, including hours, volunteer opportunities, and donation information.

Weekend Cat Blogging #341 is hosted by Billy Sweetfeets Gingersnap.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by the always hard-working Nikita and Elivra at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Hallowe’en Black Cat Edition

We at CatSynth welcome everyone to the Hallowe’en Edition of Weekend Cat Blogging! It has become a tradition for us, as we have hosted the Hallowe’en edition since 2006.

Luna poses for today’s event in a Hipstamatic photo with shades of orange and green for the season. Black cats are of course beautiful, sleek and elegant. Yet they are often the last to be adopted, and still subject to the (peculiarly American) superstition about black cats and bad luck or the occult. These stories are told over and over again – but one particularly amusing one intersects with another American tradition in October, the World Series:

Early-20th-century New York Giants manager John McGraw was notoriously superstitious, so fans tossed black cats in front of the Giants’ dugout to jinx him. In response, humane societies suspended adopting black cats during the World Series, which is played just before Halloween.

Many shelters continue to suspend adoptions of black cats around Hallowe’en, out of fear of abuse or the situation where people might adopt them as “living decorations” for the holidays only to return them to the shelter afterwards. The instances of abuse are fortunately few and far between in reality.

So this weekend we want to have a positive celebration of the Hallowe’en holiday. We welcome the participation of all cats, including those who have not participated in WCB before, but we especially welcome black cats this weekend! To participate, leave us a comment below, tweet us @CatSynth on Twitter with hashtag #WCB, or leave a comment on our facebook page with hashtag #WCB.

First up, we have a black cat Teebee representing with music gear, submitted by Stefan Robbers via our facebook page. Thanks for submitting such a perfect picture for this weekend!

In addition to everything else that happens in October, it is also the height of college football season, and Truffle is rooting for the University of South Carolina this weekend and decked out in the school colors.

Our friends from Vienna Kashim, Othello and Salome invite everyone to play trick or treat this Hallowe’en. It looks like this trio is ready for some treats.

 

Our friends from Nova Scotia Tillie and Georgia are sharing Hallowe’en photo shoots with us. Tillie’s house-panther photo shoot didn’t go exactly as planned. But it’s still very cute, and has a nice black-and-white contrast. Georgia’s photo shoot came out great!

Our friends in Texas, Samantha, Clementine and (honorary cat) Maverick have some spooky Hallowe’en pictures. But they’re all in good fun, and they wish everyone a safe holiday.

Meanwhile, in Southern California, Nikita and Elvira have a scary song for humans who share their lives with cats. Sung to the tune of “This Little Light of Mine”.

The family of Laura and Taffy are remembering Jet Dragon, their handsome house panther who unexpectedly went to the rainbow bridge last year. Hallowe’en is sad time, as it would have been his birthday. We send them our thoughts.

The Cats of Wildcat Woods are featuring the youngest house panther in their family, Sweatpea who is attempting to escape from under a black wig. They also share the interesting history of the Addams family and its origins in The New Yorker.

Gracie may be gray, but she wishes all the black cats a Happy Hallowe’en and she rests up for the weekend’s fun

Sometimes Hallowe’en means being tortured with costumes. Rusty managed to escape, but his feline friend wasn’t so fortunate.

More costume fun. House panther Carlos is a cowboy this Hallowe’en. It’s clear that he is thrilled by this. In fact, all the cats over at Twinkletoe Tails seem z absolutely delighted by their costumes, as seen in their slideshow.

By contrast, we think that Growl Tiger (GT) has the right idea for how to celebrate today.

Our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer Life wish everyone a happy MEOW-lo-ween. We particularly like the “Chef Moosey” costume, but also the fact that some of the cats from PAWS, black and other colors, are joining in the festivities. We appreciate the work they do for the cats at PAWS all year.

We will continue to add entries as they come in through the end of Sunday (Pacific US time), so keep them coming. And thanks to everyone who submitted to make this a great holiday edition!

Carnival of the Cats 394

We welcome everyone to Carnival of the Cats #394, a weekly round-up of cat articles from a variety of blogs. New participants are always welcome; and you can find out more at the official Carnival of the Cats site.

Many cat bloggers are marking LIVESTRONG Day, to recognize those who are currently fighting cancer and to remember those who have lost their lives to these terrible diseases. So we are dedicating this week’s Carnival to that effort. Cancer is complex and diverse and affects felines as well as humans, and we hope we continue to find ways to help people survive.

And so let us begin with the round-up.

Cats love resting in the sunshine. And the cats at The Second Half are no different. Above, we see Ed getting a little solar action. Follow the link to see Lizzie in the window.

At Gattina’s My Cats and Funny Stories, Arthur has not been feeling well of late. But he is on the mend and feeling like a king. And as such, he is regally demanding to be served chicken, liver and mortadella. We’re glad to see he is doing well!

Catsparella introduces us to The Cats of Disneyland. Inspired by an interview with Ryan Gosling, the article discusses the presence of feral cats at the Anaheim theme park, and the complex relationship as out-of-side rodent control (and the obvious irony of this for Disney).

If you can’t get enough feline news, Nikita and Elvira are launching the World Mews Repurrt. “We consider it our mission to bring you the news that possibly no-one but our fellow Felines, and their Humans, could give a fig about!”

Our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer are marking LIVESTRONG Day by honoring family members who are battling cancer and remembering their human and feline loved ones who have lost the battle. We love their graphic for today!

Samantha, Clementine and “honorary cat” Maverick are also marking LIVESTRONG by hosting this year’s slideshow. We encourage readers to check it out. We thank them are their Mom Chandra for all the effort putting this together.

Cokie is a self-described “Bohemian cat blogging from his Hollywood Boulevard apartment”. We’re always happy to hear from more urban cats.

That’s the round-up so far. We will continue to post new entries the end of Sunday US Pacific Time. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Although not officially participating this time, Mog of Mind of Mog and coordinator of the Carnival of the Cats is also recognizing LIVESTRONG Day in honor both human and cat family members who have lost the battle with cancer, and we wanted to give her a mention here today.

Weekend Cat Blogging #330 and Photo Hunt: Covered

This week we are reaching back into the archives once again for our combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt. This week’s theme is covered, and we have photos of Luna covered by a glass surface.

She quite enjoys sitting under glass during the daytime. It’s a way to experience the sunshine and feel “inside” at the same time.

Weekend Cat Blogging #330 is hosted by Mind of Mog.

Photo Hunt 285 is hosted by tnchick. The weekend’s theme is covered.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted here at CatSynth tomorrow! If you would like to participate, you can use the Handy Carnival Submission page™ or leave us a comment below.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Wooden Cats

For this week’s combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt on the theme “Wooden”, we present some wooden cats:

We also reach back into the CatSynth Archives™ for this photo of Luna enjoying some sunshine near a wooden table.

In an environment I like to think of as dominated by glass and chrome, wooden objects and surfaces abound. Indeed, many of my acoustic musical instruments are made of wood.

Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by Billy Sweetfeets, who is also hosting Carnival of the Cats this weekend (we pulled double duty recently ourselves, so good luck).

Photo Hunt 283 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is Wooden.

MiniMoog Voyager OS …just a first check…

From synthypnosis on YouTube, via matrixsynth.

“VELVET VOYAGE – “MiniMoog Voyager OS …just a first check…” – by Bruno Ender Lee, September 9. 2011

MiniMoog Voyager (Old School) with a bit delay
…and of course a little help from out cat Eumel… :-)”

If you have a cat-and-music-gear video (synth or otherwise), that you would like share, you can let us know via facebook, twitter @catsynth, or by contacting us.