weekend cat blogging

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Cards

This weekend we are once again combining Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt. The theme is cards, and we start with an unexpected take on the theme:

I recently came across these older “Smart Media” data cards while cleaning. They’re bigger (and a bit more interesting to photograph) than the current SD cards my current cameras and other devices use, but they are essentially useless. I do have a reader that can read/write them, but no particular reason to do so. Anyone have any ideas?

Here is Luna with some of her past birthday cards:

I believe they are from 2010 and 2007. It’s not Luna’s birthday, but the cards are out because of the recent cleaning (similar to the memory cards).

Weekend Cat Blogging #316 is hosted by pam at Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes.

Photo Hunt #271 is hosted by tnchick. The theme this week is cards.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at When Cats Attack!

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

Weekend Cat Blogging #315: Garden Cat

For today’s Weekend Cat Blogging, we feature a “garden cat” we encountered at the Mount Madonna Center the Santa Cruz mountains:

This cat was very friendly, and followed us around during a walk in the gardens:

But there was also something that made it connected to its wild surroundings:

I was at the retreat for a sad occasion, a memorial service that I also referenced in this previous post. But the walk in the garden afterwards and the encounter with the cat were a nice postscript.

Weekend Cat Blogging #315 is up at Mind of Mog

The Carnival of the Cats will be returning to Meowsings of an Opinion Pussycat, with Nikita and Elvira.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

Weekend Cat Blogging: 6th Anniversary Edition

This weekend marks the 6th anniversary of Weekend Cat Blogging.  It was started by a group of food bloggers who took a break from the regular topics every weekend to post about their cats.  It is not an in appropriate combination, as like their human counterparts cats enjoy good food and good company.

We at CatSynth found Weekend Cat Blogging back in 2006 and have been regular participants ever since.  This is of course not a food blog, but we do appreciate food and have indeed made recipes posted by long-time participant.  Indeed, a diverse collection of bloggers have participated on and off over the years.

If you would like to participate in this anniversary edition, please leave a comment below, or tweet us @catsynth with hashtag #WCB.  We always welcome new participants!

We are also celebrating another anniversary this weekend: Luna’s adoption.  If you have not had a chance to yet, please visit Luna’s Gotcha Day post.

And so let us get on with round-up.

Jules of Judi’s Mind Over Matter has been a regular participant, and he can be counted on to make an appearance whenever we host.  Call it “black cat solidarity” if you will.  In any case, we think he makes a very handsome outdoor model, though he sometimes wants to eat the props.

Catsparella has a Caturday post featuring several cats from around the internet, including Mar (aka Mar(ilyn) Manson aka Tuxedo Bad-Ass).  In addition to having an interesting namesake, he is a cancer survivor.  He also loves eating spaghetti.  We wish him the best for a healthy and happy future!

Over at Gattina’s “My Cats and Funny Stories”, Rosie is practicing her seduction skills on one of the many cat statues that adorn their garden.  It makes for some very cute photographs.

At Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes, Smudge is posing on the garden pathway in an apparent attempt to distract us from the garden weeds.  We think it is a very handsome portrait.  And the weeds in the stones of the pathway add a rich texture to the image.

At The Chair Speaks, Pebbles enjoys a day of relaxing.  She evokes an image of poolside bliss on a deckchair.

Regular reads know that we at CatSynth are regulars in our local arts community in San Francisco, so it’s great to see our “TX furriends” Samantha and Clementine featured at a gallery near you.  That’s a gallery near you, not near us.  But it’s great to see their virtual art show – and nice prominent placement of their images (I particular like the big one of Clementine).

Our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer Life present the cats in Cat Room 8 taking it easy on Sunday.  Our Sunday is busy as usual, so we will just have to live vicariously through their great photos.  These cats are likely dreaming of loving homes in their futures.

At Herman’s Hideaway, it appears that Herman and Emma are stuck in an infinite loop (are stuck in an infinite loop) as each watches, ready to pounce if the other does anything.  Read the post to find out the full story.

Our dear friends from Vienna Kashim, Othello, Salome and Astrid have been participating in Weekend Cat Blogging just about as long as we have.  They look back on WCB’s origins this week and link to their original post.  They also discuss the fun and value they have received from sharing these posts over the years, and we could not agree more!

As we wind down this edition of WCB, Ritzi shares a contented moment with a blanket at Mind of Mog.

Our friends Georgia and Tillie along with the rest of their household stopped by for the WCB 6th Anniversary.  Check out their Friday Close-ups!

It’s always great to here from another Luna!  This week Luna T Katt and Zulu are remembering Luna’s littermate Keiko, whom they lost to the rainbow bridge last year.  The kitten pictures are very cute – and they all miss her very much.

It seems that Gracie has been having trouble with the blogger monster and thus having trouble leaving comments for friends.  But she was able to make it though and wish Luna a happy 6th Gotcha Day and everyone a happy 6th Anniversary of WCB.

We will continue to post entries throughout the weekend, so please continue to comment or tweet us if you would like to participate.

Weekend Cat Blogging #313: Rainy

We’re playing with the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone again. Here we see Luna looking out the window, where it is raining…in California in June. Speculate as you wish. The signal processing (Helga Viking lens and Kodot XGrizzled film) brings out some lush colors in the rain-soaked plants.

Carnival of the Cats will be hosted here at CatSynth tomorrow! If you would like to participate with your cat-related blog post from this past week, you can use the handy submission form or leave us a comment here.

Weekend Cat Blogging #313 is hosted by Billy SweetFeets.

As mentioned above, the Carnival of the Cats will be right here at CatSynth tomorrow.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Looking Down and Cluttered

Today’s combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt features two themes. This week is Looking Down, but last week’s theme of Cluttered was delayed and happens to be perfect for this week. We are in the midst of a major clean-up here at CatSynth HQ, which brings the usually hidden clutter out into the open:

It’s amazing how much stuff accumulates. Many things were in storage at previous home then ended up being stored again here. The PurrPad that Luna is sitting on is one of them. It was taking up space and serving no purpose in a closet, but now she clearly enjoys it. Indeed she has been resting here more often that her other usual spots.

For “Looking Down”, we peer down the staircase at Luna. The perspective is interesting, particularly with all the lines from the metal railings.

Once again, we are thinking about our friends in the middle of United States affected by terrible and storms, and especially the tornado in Missouri. We heard about a particularly tragic and poignant story last week.

Those who wish to help pets affected, visit the Jopin Humane Society. And there is the American Red Cross.

Other donation efforts and fundraising efforts can be found here and via the Cat Blogosphere.

Weekend Cat Blogging #312 is hosted at Mom’s Sunday Cafe.

The Photo Hunt is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is Looking Down. We are also using last week’s theme of Cluttered.

The Carnival of the Cats is back at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat this Sunday.

And the Friday Ark is taking a break this weekend.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Missed

The theme if this week’s Photo Hunt is missed.  So for our combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt post, we present Morty:

As one can see, Morty was a rather smart cat, and like some other individuals we may know enjoyed his coffee and newspaper every morning, and kept his cell phone nearby.  Though it does appear that Morty enjoyed the department-store ads more than the news.

The cell phone definitely dates this picture, which I’m pretty sure was taken in early 2002. Seen in comparison to the current iPhone, it is definitely not missed. I still have that coffee mug, which I had originally gotten from a used store when I first moved to California several years earlier.

Morty was actually the first cat I lived with.  He was a rather impish character, always getting into mischief but also seemingly aware that his cuteness would prevent him from getting in trouble.  Even though he often drove me crazy, I still miss him once in a while. (As far as I know, he is still alive and well and still making mischief.)

Appropriately for a post featuring a tabby cat, Weekend Cat Blogging #310 is hosted by the “three tabby cats in Vienna”, Kashim, Othello and Salome.

Photo Hunt 265 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is missed.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday be Samantha, Clementine and Maverick.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Digital

The theme of this week’s Photo Hunt is digital. Rather than simply use a digital photo – which could be any photo ever taken of Luna – I chose a couple of images that demonstrate the unique opportunities of the medium. A digital photo is really just a stream of numbers, not unlike digital audio, and can be processed in countless ways using digital signal processing or applying other mathematical functions.

For a piece I originally did in 2007, I took one of Luna’s adoption photos from Santa Cruz County Animal Services and applied an algorithm that overlaid these colored bands, as shown above.  The color bands were generated using a set of hastily chosen trigonometric and hyperbolic functions applied to the timeline of the animation sequence.  These photos are stills from the full animation.

I did these using image and video extensions to Open Sound World – one nice feature of that work was that I could use the same functions for both audio and video, and “see” what a particular audio-processing algorithm looked like when applied to an image.   And I would probably use the Processing environment for future visual work, perhaps in conjunction with OSW.

Weekend Cat Blogging #309 and Carnival of the Cats are both being hosted by Billy SweetFeets this weekend. Perhaps Luna’s animation could be part of one of the dance videos they often feature.

Photo Hunt #264 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is digital.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

A special note this week. Our friend Judi at Judi’s Mind over Matter (home of Jules and Vincent) has information on how to help animals affected the storms and tornadoes in the southeast US. They live in Alabama, not far from the place that was hit hardest by the tornadoes. We’re glad they’re safe, and able to provide this information for those who would like to help.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Square…and Rememberance

This weekend, we have another combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt. The theme this week is square. Geometric shapes, including squares, abound at CatSynth HQ. But with the exceptionally gorgeous weather, we turn our attention once again to the patio:

The patio is covered in square slate tiles on which Luna enjoys rolling around. We are still doing some work to fix things up for spring now the construction is in the past. New design ideas to emphasize the industrial and geometric aesthetic.

This weekend we are also joining our friends the Three Tabby Cats in Vienna ~ Kashim, Othello and Salome ~ in a Weekend of Remembrance. We participated when they hosted a similar weekend back in 2007, lighting a candle like this one.

As we have made more friends online, so we have also lost many friends. We said goodbye to Mickey only a few weeks ago. Last year, we lost DJ Kikovas, the feline companion of our friend and fellow electronic musician Vivi Pedraglio. We also said goodbye to Tali and Sniffie. It is interesting to look back and see the diverse collection of people, mixture of musicians, engineers and cat lovers, who cross paths in these stories. We have also lost many heroes in music, art and mathematics in this same period of time; and some personal friends. We remember them as well.

Our thoughts for all our friends who lost love ones (human and non-human) over the past year, and for those who are struggling in the current storms in southeastern U.S., recovering from the disaster in Japan, and living through the seemingly greater number conflicts around the world.

Weekend Cat Blogging #308 is hosted by Samantha and Clementine at Life From a Cat’s Perspective. They are dedicating their post in remembrance of Praline.

Photo Hunt #263 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is SQUARE.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging #307: Wild Cats on Earth Day

Every year, we at CatSynth set aside Weekend Cat Blogging on Earth Day to look at some of the wild cat species around the world. In particular, we focus on some of the smaller wild cats, which after often less well known than the big cats such as tigers, lions and leopards, but in many cases just as endangered.

We begin with the Iriomote cat, a critically endangered wildcat found only on the remote Japanese island of Iriomote.

There are estimated to be only 100 or so left in the wild. The main threats, habit removal and non-native species (notably feral domestic cats), are exacerbated by the fact they are exclusive to one island. One third of the island has been declared a wildlife reserve with a Iriomote Wildlife Center set up to study and protect them. But with such a small population, their future remains uncertain.

With all the events and focus on the Middle East and North Africa this year, it also seems appropriate to feature the sand cat (felis margarita).

As their name implies, sand cats are found in deserts, in particular in pockets in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco in North Africa, on the Arabian Peninsula. But there are also subspecies found in Iran and as far east as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although not endangered overall, individual local populations are, such as Israel where it became locally extinct. A program by the Jerusalem Zoo aims to re-introduce them.

In looking up information for this article, I came across the International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC), an organization based in Canada dedicated to “aid in the wild conservation and captive preservation of endangered and threatened small wild cat species though education, scientific observation and support for captive breeding of critically endangered species.” They have several active projects at the moment, including a study of the black-footed cat.

The black-footed cat is found in the southwest of Africa, i.e., Namibia, Botswana and parts of South Africa. They are among the smallest of wild cats, and as nocturnal creatures they are rarely seen. One thing that makes them unusual is that they don’t climb trees but instead burrow into the ground for shelter.

The ISEC is also conducting a study of the Argentine Espinal:

The Argentine Espinal is an arid grassland and shrubland mosaic that has been greatly modified since the 1600’s, when cattle became the prominent species on the landscape. Found today only in fragmented patches, the Espinal was once home to a great diversity of birds, plants and mammals, among them a unique guild of felids composed of the Pampas cat Leopardus colocolo, Geoffroy’s cat Leopardus geoffroyi, Jaguarundi Puma yagouaroundi and Puma Puma concolor.

We have discussed the Geoffroy’s cat in a previous post. They are still relatively common and have a large range in southern South America. However, they are classified as “near-threatened”, primarily because of habit fragmentation and other concerns.

We also encountered the Pampas cat before. Because there has not been much study of these cats, their conservation status is not officially listed. As one can tell from the photo, it is a somewhat heavier looking cat than many of the other species. Little is known about its diet or hunting habits. Despite being named for the Pampas, their range extends far beyond its geographical boundaries.

For more information, please visit the ISEC website.  In our back yard, the Felidae Conservation Fund is also involved in wild-cat studies around the world, as well as close to home with a study of Bay Area mountain lions. Other organizations involved in cat conservation include the Feline Conservation Federation, and the Cat Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union.

Weekend Cat Blogging #307 is hosted by Jules at Judi’s Mind Over Matter.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Meowza.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.