We present a rather short Weekend Cat Blogging, as I get ready to head to Sacramento for my performance with Reconnaissance Fly at the In The Flow Festival. As you can see, we’re all packed and ready to go:
Luna was fascinated by the case for the Nord keyboard, as opposed to the keyboard itself in which she has shown no interest whatsoever.
By coincidence, this edition of Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by our friends LB and breadchick at The Sour Dough. We know they will appreciate that we are once again featuring audio gear this weekend!
The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at When Cats Attack!.
The weekend, we have another trio of photos featuring Luna, this time playing on the window. Something definitely caught her interest.
These were taken in rapid succession with a telephoto lens from the upstairs level of our apartment looking down. That is what allowed me to get the triangular shape for the window.
The Carnvial of the Cats will be hosted by Nikita at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat. His dad had quite a medical scare, and we send them our thoughts.
The theme of this weekend’s Photo Hunt is addiction, which leads to the obligatory catnip photo for Weekend Cat Blogging:
Of course, Luna’s real addiction seems to be grass:
Not only does she enjoy her little pot of grass, but will also immediately find blades growing out of flower pots on our patio (something I wish she would not do).
Lest we pick on cats entirely, we at CatSynth have many other “addictions”:
This is perhaps still my favorite red-wine photo from the archives.
Here are some colorful cocktails, which also symbolize our “addiction” to color and geometry:
Sometimes the visual aspect is better than the taste.
We at CatSynth are certainly addicted to our environment, our life in the city, the visual stimulation, our home, music, playing with cats. In truth, one needs only to browse the pages of this site or visit our photo gallery to witness images of “addiction.” Blogging itself is an addictive activity, and indeed must be in order to be successful.
Every year on or around earth day (or “erf day”), we at CatSynth dedicate our Weekend Cat Blogging to some of the world’s endangered wild cat species. We look to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as our primary source for species that are “endangered” or “vulnerable”. There are several cat species on this list from many parts of the world, and we present a few of them here.
This year, we focus on South America (for reasons beyond the scope of this article). The Andean region is home to some rather intriguing cats that we have discussed in the past. Perhaps the most intriguing and most endangered remains the gato andino, or Andean Mountain Cat. The Andean mountain cat lives in rocky areas at high elevations of the Andean region of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Perú. It is quite small, but has a very distinctive large tail. There is now an organization dedicated to studying and protecting the Andean cat, Alianza Gato Andino. There you can find more about the cat, see photos and also see more of the Andean landscape it inhabits. I am drawn to the starkly beautiful dry landscape, and perhaps will have a chance to visit someday.
In reading about the Andean cat, I also learned about the Pampas Cat. The Pampas cat also lives in western South America, but is not considered nearly as threatened a species. As one can see from this photograph, it bears a resemblance to domestic cats, though with perhaps more squat body shape.
The Guiña, or Kodkod, is a wildcat native to Chile (and parts of Argentina). It is also relatively small, with a thick fur coat and spotted markings.
It is currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and until recently little was known about it. A project was undertaken in Chile to learn more about these cats.
We round out our South American cats with the Oncilla. It looks quite like a domestic cat with wild the coat and markings of a wild cat. In addition to habitat pressures, it has been trapped in the past for the fur trade.
We next go to southeast Asia where several of the worlds most endangered cats live. The very unusual looking Borneo Bay Cat lives only on the island of Borneo. It is quite rare, and little is known about this cat, but it was classified as “endangered” in 2005 primarily due to habitat loss.
The Flat Headed Cat, also from Indonesia, is not one I would immediately recognize as a cat. It lives in the forests of Indonesia on multiple islands, usually near water. Sightings of this car are rare, and it is classified as “endangered.”
Another endangered cat of southeast Asia (and India) is the Fishing Cat. It has an interesting face with a distinctive flat nose and small ears. As the name suggests, it is quite adapted to hunting and eating fish. As such, it is dependent on wetlands and fishing stocks, and is now also classified by IUCN as “endangered.”
Perhaps the most endangered species of cat remains the Iberian Lynx. It is listed as “critically endangered”, with an IUCN survey suggesting between 84 and 143 adults left in two breeding populations in Spain. Conservation efforts are currently focused on supporting these breeding populations. You can read more about the Iberian Lynx in our first “Earth Day Weekend Cat Blogging” article.
If we include large cats as well, there is the even rarer Amur Leopard of northeastern Asia. A census in 2007 counted only about 20 adults remaining. We conclude with this video of the Amur Leopard:
For today’s combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt, we explore the theme of vertical with Luna. Certainly, vertical lines are part of the texture and geometry of our home, in some cases quite literally:
Sometimes a theme can be so easy that it becomes a challenge. Such is the case with this week’s Photo Hunt theme of sweet. Luna is the embodiment of sweetness, and the number of images in the CatSynth archives documenting this can be a bit overwhelming. So we start with the present. Luna often parks herself nearby my workstation in the studio/office and watches quietly. There is something quite sweet about her presence:
There is something very sweet about a sleeping cat, curled up and peaceful:
and of course getting pets and affection:
In retrospect, this really was not difficult at all.
For Weekend Cat Blogging, we present some new and interesting views of Luna:
Even though she is partially hidden by the blinds, this has instantly become one of my favorite portraits. I really like the focus and the color contrast.
This photo captures Luna in mid-paw, claiming ownership of the office chair.
It’s rare that I have been able to get motion like that before, and I would consider this a happy accident. And although Luna likes to own things, she is willing to share as well. We are sitting on the chair together to write this.
Weekend Cat Blogging #251 is hosted by Pam at Sidewalk Shoes, where Smudge has a very nice black-and-white portrait.
The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at One Cats Nip.
For Weekend Cat Blogging and today’s Photo Hunt theme of Three, we present a trio of images taken with our new camera:
The glass coffee table at CatSynth HQ has been a mainstay for themed photos, and it presents several representations of the number three:
There are the triangular elements with three sides, and there are the three glass surfaces. I wish there were only three objects on the table instead of four, but you take what you get. This picture was taken from above with a telephoto lens, and I really like the detail on the glass, particularly the refraction of the square patterns.
Next, we try out a portrait lens on our resident model:
Notice the overall detail and the color of Luna’s green eyes. For a rather weak connection to the theme of three, there are three chairs present in this picture.
So now we go out into the world. It does seem that spring has arrived, and we are ready for new adventures:
This week’s Photo Hunt theme is foreign. Cats often intersect with my foreign travels, and with the objects that I bring home. Consider the Suzhou painting silk cat and Maneki Neko from Japan in the photo below:
Most of these, including the large watercolor on the left and small metal sculpture, are local. However, the mostly yellow geometric print is foreign. It is by a Cuban artist. I visited Cuba twice in 2001 and purchased this print in the town of Matanzas. The topic of visiting Cuba as an American (and the entire U.S. policy towards Cuba) could fill up an entire article.
Sometimes one may assume something is foreign when it is in fact not. Consider this photo of Luna from December:
The title may be in French and evoke a bygone era in Paris, but it is actually the work of an American artist, Ken Bailey.
We close with some more maneki neko figures:
All of the cat figurines in this photo are from Japan. There is one more cat, however, on the matchbox. This is not foreign, and created by a local artist.
A sad note this weekend. Gattina and family, who regularly host “Cats on Tuesday”, said farewell to their cat Lisa this week. Lisa was a little over eighteen years old, which is a good long life for a cat. We send them our thoughts.
The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Nikita Cat at meowings of an opinionated pussycat. We also wish Nikita a happy birthday this weekend!
This year, we focus on South America (for reasons beyond the scope of this article). The Andean region is home to some rather intriguing cats that we have discussed in the past. Perhaps the most intriguing and most endangered remains the gato andino, or 
In reading about the Andean cat, I also learned about the 
