kitty

Weekend Cat Blogging #70: Cat in a Box

This weekend's hosts, Boots, Tess and D at The Hidden Paw, have challenged us to produce Cat-in-a-Box submissions for WCB 70. That's not too hard for us, as Luna is quite fond of boxes:

In the photo above, she is caught in the act of chewing on pieces of her favorite box from Ikea. This is one of her guilty pleasures in life.

Here, we have Luna encountering an Amazon box in the hallway. I wonder how that got there…


Visit the round-up for more adorable pictures of cats in boxes, bags, and other sundry containers.








Weekend Cat Blogging #69

WCB 69 is being hosted by the crew over at The House of (Mostly) Black Cats. We at catsynth heartily approve of the black-cat concept, and encourage readers to check it out.

Meanwhile, things continue to be foggy, grey and a bit chilly on the California coast, but that doesn't keep Luna from surveying her domain:

I have another gig coming up tonight that I need to prepare for, with electronics and simple acoustic instruments. Luna of course is in the studio to help with the equipment:







Weekend Cat Blogging #68: Luna and Cats of India

This week, chefsarahjane hosts again. We wish her a happy birthday, and say hi to Tiggy as well. Do visit them and check out this week's round-up.

Meanwhile, Luna poses with Ganesh for our special WCB feature on Cats of India:

Inspired by masak-masak's street cats from last week's round-up here at catsynth.com, I present a few cat photos from my trip to India last winter. We begin with this feline and bovine duo from my father's hometown north of Delhi:

As many readers are probably aware, cows are considered sacred in Hindu culture, and a family cow is treated in many ways as a prized pet. Cats in India don't quite have the same status. Not only do most Indians not consider them as appropriate pets, but some also regard them in a suspicious, even superstitious manner (as have many cultures throughout history, sadly). Thus, most cats are street animals that generally must fend for themselves. As many of us know, cats are supurb hunters and scavengers, so many do manage. I tended to see cats near food establishments, this near-white cat was wandering the dining area of a dormitory in Delhi we stayed at for a couple of nights, begging for scraps (which I of course provided). The grey-striped fellow in the photo below managed to find a good location at the cantina in one of heavily touristed palaces in the city of Jaipur. That probably accounts for its more healthy appearance:

I did come across this article from IndiaTimes that discusses the state of cats in Indian society. Unfortunately, the HTML seems to have come thru as plain text, which makes it difficult to read.

Ultimately, I plan to create a photo-essay featuring these and other photos/videos from my trip.







Weekend Cat Blogging 67 Roundup

Well, it's time to get started with the great WCB 67 roundup!

To start things off on the music theme, here's a repost of Luna bedding down next to one of my MIDI keyboards – this was featured on the inaugural post of this forum:

Thanks to everyone who has submitted so far, and also for the many kind words about Luna and this site. Keep 'em coming, and I'll keep updating throughout the weekend. Just submit a comment at the WCB #67 call. Links back to this site are also appreciated ;-).

First off, we have KuDin and Siri joining WCB for the first time. Siri is looking quite relaxed on the rug.

Mr. Mao aspires to be a feline TV star (or a feline celebrity stalker) over at Kross-Eyed Kitty.

Upsie at “What Did you Eat?” reminds us that long hair and autumn leaves are a dangerous combination. Parents beware!

I love those little black girl kitties, like Aretha Franklin over at Miss Ellie's Page. That's what Luna must've been like as baby. Such a sweetie! I really hope someone gives her a nice home.

cooknkate gives us some Mimi chillin' out in the ironing room. If you ever visit, be prepared to share your guest quarters.

Over at chefsarahjane, the adorable Tiggy shows off her toys. Play, nap, play, be cute,…If only we could all lead her existence…

Jelly gives us some extreeeme closeups of Kamikaze. Apparently, he hasn't been in the best of moods lately.

Columbus Foodie introduced Frankie and Sammy in their first WCB appearance. Looks like Frankie's got the prime spot in the bedroom, at least for the moment…

Anne at Anne's Food gives us the adorable pair Glinda and Kelly contemplating a spider. I'm imagining the classic Odd Couple theme playing in the background here…

Over at passionatenonchalance, babaganoosh reminds us just how tiring it can be to play with ribbons. Believe me, I know, I've tried it.

More classic themesongs come to mind as Trixie and Colin at The Westering Hills reenact a scene from Rocky. Ouch, kids, round over!

Bonus points to Taboo over at jellypizza for choosing a speaker as a hiding place. I'm with you on hiding from meds, Taboo, but speakers can be dangerous hiding places, especially if your humans have any Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera CDs…

Over at Rosa's Yummy Yums, we have Fridolin and Maruschka lying together in their basket, or “two lazy sausages” as Rosa puts it. Makes me feel all warm and sleepy just watching…sleeeeepy…

…today was a beautifully warm September day here (unlike yesterday), so I spent much of the afternoon outdoors. The outdoors felt especially welcome after being stuck sick indoors so much the last few days. A short walk out the ocean, followed by a relaxing couple of hours in the backyard, reading and whatnot…I'm now back inside for the sunset, and time to get back our cat blogging roundup…

From masak-masak, we have several street cats, who appear to be doing well thanks to the Malaysian fondness for felines. It's great to see a culture that loves cats. This is also a self-reminder to write a photo-article for this blog about the cats I encountered in India last winter.

Mr. Neelix and Sinda are a veritable yin & yang, enjoying a moment of perfect harmony in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, courtesy of Tina at A Blip on the Radar. Just look at the way they're eyeing each other, though. You know something pretty serious is about to go down…

From Cin at “A Few of My Favorite Things”, we have a very regal Bella being served a fine meal as she surveys her domain…um, are you going to eat that?

Extreme cuteness alert! Feline Foster Mom Ellen presents an irresistable pair of young kittens from the CASPCA in Charlottesville, VA. Do check them out as well as the other kitties available for adoption, especially if you're in the Charlottesville area. That is some great photography – family photographers who have to deal with unruly kids, take notice.

Cats are experts at finding new comfy places to sleep, and Lucky is no exception, as Riana at “These Days in French Life” shows us.

farmgirl presents an installment in the riveting drama Hot Dog vs. Parched Pussycast. I guess we'll have to check back in to find out what happens next. Please also visit The Wild Animal Sanctuary, they still need support for the efforts to help (formerly) captive wild animals in the U.S.

Molly curls into a cashew and purrs while Kaji's Mom attempts to do her blogging. I know, I can't resist that tummy, either.

Heather tells us about the wet weather in the hill country of Texas. More poignantly, however, she dearly misses her kitty Spooks who was hit by car this past week. Our thoughts are with them both.

Well, at this moment there's about five minutes left on the weekend, at least where I'm sitting (which is on the couch). I will continue to post any entries I receive through Monday morning.

Thanks to all who contributed. It has been great fun hosting Weekend Cat Blogging, and should the opportunity come around Luna and I would happily do so again.

Good night!





Weekend Cat Blogging #65: Luna in stained glass then and now

WCB this week is being hosted by Bonnie Loves Cats, featuring Darlin' Darla, a purebred Himalayan kitty who is available for adoption in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Last August (2005), I got a great shot of Luna basking in the light from our stained glass window:

This is one of the images featured on my Art Photography page, which definitely needs to be updated with some recent (and not so recent) selections.

This August, I managed to get a shot of her in nearly the same spot by the window again:

It's amazing to see how she's grown up in a year. But she'll always be a kitten to me.




catsynth pic: Reed Ghazala Tape Canvas Device

I was reviewing Get LoFi for yesterday's circuit-bending article, and came across a reference not only to Reed Ghazala, whom I also referenced, but a catsynth pic to boot!

Who knew the “father of circuit bending” was also a cat person? Then again, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised…

The tape canvas (illustrated above) itself is interesting as well, allowing expressive control of a device and process that is traditionally linear. It inspires me to revive my interest in musical reading of barcodes using a CueCat, which has the added advantage of continuing the feline theme.


The CueCat has proved a difficult device to work with, however. I have a modified version that gets beyond some of the proprietary issues and shows up as an HID device that can be read in OSW, but I have yet to make it work properly.

Weekend Cat Blogging #64: Luna and laptops

Luna gets distracted while checking whether the battery on our iBook is subject to Apple's recall.

Apple has determined that certain lithium-ion batteries containing cells manufactured by Sony Corporation of Japan pose a safety risk that may result in overheating under rare circumstances.

That is Apple's gentle corporate-speak way of saying “may burst into flames.” Fortunately, it looks like we dodged this one. My Dell Latitude at work was not so lucky, and is now relegated to desk duty while awaiting a replacement battery. Ironically, my home Dell Inspiron whose warm and toasty characteristics I described preparing for my August 6 performance was not on the recall list – indeed, since installing the fan-control software things have improved significantly.

Thanks for boo_licious and her cats Ms. G and Fluffy over at masak-masak for hosting this Weekend's Cat Blogging.

It looks to be a pleasantly lazy Saturday for all of us.

Luna joins Weekend Cat Blogging…

at least if I'm not too late already. Weekend Cat Blogging, or WCB, is being hosted this week by Heather along with her adorable cats Pause and Carmel. Hopefully, I get this post in time. If not, it's a good excuse to post a recent action shot of Luna enjoying a new gift from a friend:

I have also added a separate category for Luna alongside the existing cats category for those who want to see more of her and less of the other stuff…

morning cat

A black cat that looks and sounds a lot like Luna has taken up residence in my neighborhood – a bit shy, but he(she?) wandered over to the patio this morning, walking around me and mewing, then going over to the fountain for some water – I've seen cats do that before, lick the water of the sides of the fountain. Unfortunately, i don't have a camera handy at the moment, not even my cell phone. Just use your imagination for now…