It’s time for our traditional end-of-the-year image. It is always a challenge to decide what to include, but we thinks this captures a few of the significant elements. 2012 was a crazy and at times and a bit nerve-wracking, but it full of richness and opportunity. I except more of the same in 2013. It’s going to be a busy and challenging year ahead, but I hope to be able to continue to keep this site going and maintain the friendships I have made here.
Weekend Cat Blogging is coming to an end as a public event with today’s edition, so we are going back to the first time Luna participated, back in August 2006.
Luna is much younger here, a skinny adolescent. This was also our first post to receive comments. It is sad to see Weekend Cat Blogging end officially, as it has been an important part of rhythm and structure of CatSynth, and a major way we met many of our regular friends. But times change. We will keep in touch with everyone though individual blogs as well as Facebook and Twitter. And we will continue to have our own “Weekend Cat Blogging” posts featuring Luna, and our annual wild-cats post near Earth Day.
Weekend Cat Blogging #394 is hosted by Jules and Vincent at Judi’s Mind Over Matter.
The Carnival of the Cats will be continuing into new year, and this week’s edition will be hosted at the Tuxedo Gang Hideout.
And the Friday Ark is at the modulator
We at CatSynth are hosting Weekend Cat Blogging #392. To participate, please add you link to the list below, or leave us a comment, and we will add you to the big round-up.
Long-time participants of Weekend Cat Blogging have undoubtedly noticed that participation has dropped off. So WCB will cease to be a hosted event as of the end of the year. It’s a bit sad, having participated since the early days of this blog. But we will continue to have posts titled “Weekend Cat Blogging” here as a showcase for Luna’s adventures and other non-musical stories about cats.
But for today, let’s continue with the round-up.
Our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer present two of the cats at PAWS waiting to be adopted into their forever homes. First up is Roamer, who is the December “Cat of the Month” at PAWS. Follow his link to find out what that honor entails. And then we have Oscar taking it easy.
At Mind of Mog, we learn that Ritzi is a fractious cat, though she certainly doesn’t look that way in her photo. In the blogging-geekery department, they have also updated to WordPress 3.5, something we at CatSynth haven’t yet attempted to do.
It is sometimes hard to express thoughts in words in the wake of a tragedy like the one in Newtown, Connecticut, this past Friday. Sometimes, sharing our thoughts and sympathies and hopes through pictures is all we can do. That it was Beau Beau and Angie have done with this beautiful picture of love and light and bokeh.
The sunrise, too, can be beautiful, as we can see in the picture of Georgia in the morning sun. Visit our friends at Mickey’s Musings for more great sunrise and feline photography.
We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting Carnival of the Cats #456, a weekly round-up of cat-related blog articles submitted by authors. If you want to participate, leave a comment below or follow this link for more info.
First up, we present the cute white kitten Levon and his crystal bowl antics, courtesy of Lost in the Cheese Aisle. It is, after all, Bowl Game season is it not?
Our friends Nikita and Elvira and their dad Keeril resume their Seen and Heard series from their new home in Houston. Their first entry features “Grumpy Goats”, but there are other critters as well when Keeril visits the Southeast Transit Center. (As fellow transit geeks, we like the location.)
A bittersweet entry from StrangeRanger, as they remember Ivy this holiday season. “It’s our companions who make the holiday very, very special. Even if they are no longer with us.”
Things are settling down into a more quiet rhythm here at CatSynth after New York and the recent shows back here in San Francisco. Here Luna basks in the sun near a pile of books.
And here is Luna licking her chops.
And she has plenty of reason to do so, especially after a yummy dinner of fish-cakes that we shared last weekend.
We will be hosting the Carnival of the Cats tomorrow. We are looking forward to a good turnout from those who blog about cats occasionally or all the time. You can send your links to carnivalofthecats(at)gmail.com or submit using the sometimes handy carnival submission form.
Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted this week by the late Meowza.
And the Friday Ark is at the modulator
It’s a quiet rainy weekend here at CatSynth HQ. Indeed, we are expecting more nasty storms today and tomorrow. That makes it a perfect time to stay inside and catch up on things, and of course to extend celebrating Luna’s Birthday. If you haven’t already done so, go check out her birthday photos.
A friend of ours send a birthday card. Here we see Luna examining it.
With the quiet time ahead of us, it might also be a good opportunity to try a recipe from Meow Chow, particularly if it something that both felines and humans can enjoy.
I always notice how much the cat on the front of the book looks like Luna 🙂
Weekend Cat Blogging #390 is hosted by Kashim, Othello and Salome. They are also announcing that the Weekend Cat Blogging round-up will be coming to an end this month. It is a bit sad, but it does seem that it’s popularity has been dwindling. We will certainly be here to mark the final one later this month.
Meanwhile, the Carnival of the Cats continues, and will be up this Sunday at .
And the Friday Ark is at the modulator. They even had Luna’s birthday up before I could post it – thanks!
November 30 is Luna’s birthday as listed in her adoption records. My ketzela is officially eight years old today. She looks all grown up and beautiful in the portrait above, but she also can still seem like a kitten, as in this photo where she receives some birthday scritches.
Please join me in wishing her a Happy Birthday!
We at CatSynth are always curious about musical contraptions whose names include “Luna”. The latest we have encountered is luna_NT from Luna Noise Research (aka luna_lab).
Of course, I had to coax Luna to pose with it. She was mildly curious (as she is with anything that arrives at CatSynth HQ).
But what does this contraption sound like? I managed to rustle up a 9-volt battery and fire it up. Here is a brief video of what we encountered:
You will have to pardon the bad iPhone videography. But it does give an idea of what the basic functions do. What I can do with it musically remains to be seen.
Weekend Cat Blogging #387 is hosted by Samantha, Clementine and Maverick.
The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Mind of Mog.
And the Friday Ark is at the modulator
It’s the annual Blog Blast for Peace, where bloggers from around the world create “peace globe” images and share them on a single day. You can follow this link to find out how to participate.
Please leave your comments and thoughts whether or not you are participating. And if you have a peace globe of your own, feel free to link below.
It is interesting times for human and feline alike, particularly here in the United States. Our quadrennial civic ritual comes down to its final weekend.
Thanks to Ann from Zoolatry for this graphic. It’s a cat-friendly reminder to humans in the US to VOTE this coming Tuesday (if they have not done so already). Whatever your choices may be, it’s important to participate.
We are also thinking of all our friends – and family, too – that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. As electricity and communications come back online, I have heard from family and from friends in both the experimental-music and cat-blogging communities, and happy that everyone seems to be OK (albeit still without power in some cases).
You can find a great list of resources for people with pets (courtesy of George the Duck). Now that the immediate emergency is subsiding, the attention shifts to the aftermath. A New Jersey has also set up a hotline for pet rescue. The Humane Society has set up rescue and shelter operations in NY and NJ as have numerous other organizations, both local and national. Our friends at PAWS in Norwalk, CT are also helping out, as they weathered the storm relatively well.
And of course, please support the help for humans and animal companions alike through donations to your favorite groups and local rescue efforts in the region.
This has also given us thought about disaster preparedness here in San Francisco, where we have our own worries. The site 72hours.org has great info specific to the Bay Area, including a section on preparedness for pets. We have been a bit lax about our preparedness kits despite having most of the pieces – it’s something we’re going to do soon!
Weekend Cat Blogging #386 is up at Mind of Mog.
The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Nikita and Elvira from their new home in Houston, at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.
And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.