CatSynth

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:

We have seen these items before, in discussions of cats of China and the cats of Tokyo, respectively.

Here, we see Luna near some of our art pieces:

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.

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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.

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Weekend Cat Blogging #248 is hosted by Meowza at his blog iMeowza.

Photo Hunt 203: Foreign is hosted by tnchick.

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!

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

We at CatSynth welcome everyone to Weekend Cat Blogging #194! We’re excited to be hosting again, and have been busy getting prepared.

To participate, please leave you link in the comments, and we will include you in the big roundup on Sunday.

We are dedicating this edition to Socks Clinton, the former “First Cat”, who passed away this week at the venerable age of 20.

(February 20, 2009) Word tonight that Socks Clinton, the one-time Arkansas stray adopted by the Clintons who rose to international prominence and literary fame as sole feline inhabitant of the White House, died today.

Butch, Jules, and Vincent use their Weekend Cat Blogging to pay their respect to Socks.

 

Meowza shows some leg this fine Caturday. Meanwhile, Cece feigns innocence at iInfidel.

LB and Breadchick Mary have been lazy this weekend. But not really, as time away from work for ourselves is important. LB enjoys relaxing by the sofa and subwoofer. And we at CatSynth really like the header for the The Sour Dough.

Most of us are eagerly anticipating the transition from winter to spring, and for Smudge of sidewalk shoes, that means patiently waiting for the catnip.

Maruschka poses elegantly (and sleepily) at Rosa’s Yummy Yums, with an accompanying quote on being a cat.

Babeth presents Happy Hour, a tale of cats’ sleeping habits, at House of Chaos.

We go from sleeping habits to playing habits at Gattina’s, where Rosie has adopted a toy turtle as her new doll.

Samantha and Tigger are basking in the sunshine at Life from a Cat’s Perspective. Together with Granddaughterbean, they are a quite a trio, enjoying the warmth. We could use a bit of warmth here in the midst of our cold rainstorms – but we do need the rain in California.

Kashim, Othello and Salome are feeling a bit neglected this weekend, as their mama has been out celebrating her birthday as well as other human social activities. Clearly, those are lower priority than spending time with kitty cats. On a happy note, Kashim’s paws have nicely after his unfortunate accident a couple of weeks ago.

Tillie is being lazy in the sun over at Mickey’s Musings. Meanwhile, Mickey and Georgia are being lazy somewhere else, and their mom is “laziest of all”, as she hardly helped the cats blog all weekend. However, she did help them participate in WCB, and we’re glad to have our friends from Nova Scotia join us!

That concludes this Weekend Cat Blogging for now. Thanks to everyone who participated, and we will continue to post entries through Monday as we receive them.

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This weekend, you can also visit the Carnival of the Cats at When Cats Attack, and the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos with Samantha and Tigger at Life from a Cat’s Perspective. And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

It has been a sad week for many of our friends in the Cat Blogosphere. We have decided to go on with hosting Weekend Cat Blogging and dedicate it to those who have gone and to their families.

We start by joining Tesla in lighting a candle in memoriam:

Violets in memory of Violet Noelle “Sprout”.

Our thoughts are with her family at Monty Q. Many are posting tributes this weekend in her honor around the theme of the color “violet.”

We also give our thoughts to the families of Felix, Frieda:

And Max, Neelix and Zeppy.

The Cat Realm remembers those who left us this week.

The Criz Cats Sanctuary offers a serenity prayer for Violet.

It’s “a cat’s life” with Breadchick and LB, with photos of LB’s morning routine. They also have a tribute to Violet.

The Kashim, Othello, Salome and Astrid have turned their site violet as a tribute. The also have posts for Felix and Maxime.

Samantha and Tigger are remembering as well. We hope they stay safe with a tropical storm possibly heading towards Florida.

Mind of Mog presents a pic of Meowza and a tribute to Violet.

We invite anyone who has a tribute this weekend to share it here. You can do so by leaving a comment or contacting us.

Some very sad news today. Our friend sher of What Did You Eat? passed suddenly this morning.

Sher was one of the first people we met through Weekend Cat Blogging. She often left kind words on our site for Luna, whom she quite admired. And in turn we got to know her late cats Upsie and Sundance, and of course her little black kitten Laura.

We remember her sharing life with cats and squirrels. But she was also an accomplished food blogger, and we have tried several of the recipes she posted. Indeed, I was going to be making the Angel Hair Pasta With Sweet Red Pepper Pesto that she posted on Thursday, not knowing this would also be her final post.

Our thoughts are with Sher’s family and friends this evening.

We are joining many of our friends in remembering Storm this morning.

Please read her story.

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Alone in a sea of cardboard:

Another example of Luna's natural geometry set against hard artificial lines.

Vast expanses of fun…on what is otherwise a dreary Saturday for us here at CatSynth. But the extended weekend is a good excuse to complete the major projects remaining at CatSynth HQ.

The rain is actually good news this weekend for our former hometown of Santa Cruz – there has been a major wildfire in the mountains to the east. It's actually near Loma Prieta, for which the 1989 earthquake was named. Sadly, many people have lost homes in the mountains. It's a sparsely populated area, where people specifically chose to live and make their homes. Animal rescue has been a major and so far successful component of the effort, with horses and other animals being brought to the county fairgrounds near Watsonville.

We are also sad to hear about the passing of one of our Weekend Cat Blogging friends, Bonnie Underfoot. Please visit them and offer your thoughts.

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Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by Kate and Puddy at A Byootaful Life. It looks like our favorite Luna look-a-like is having a birthday this weekend!

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos and Carnival of the Cats, hosted by the Catboys Realm and the M-Cats club, respectively, are both dedicated this weekend to Bonnie Underfoot.

And as always, the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Luna and I welcome everyone to the Weekend Cat Blogging #147 Round Up!

We are dedicating WCB this weekend to our friend Upsie, who passed away this week. Upsie and Sher were among the first to welcome us to Weekend Cat Blogging, and she will be missed. Please visit What Did You Eat to offer them your thoughts.

Kashim, Othello and Astrid are also dedicating their WCB to Upsie and Sher, and have this wonderful graphic.

Artsy Catsy is having a 200th post contest. They are putting together some surprises for the kitty who comes closest to guessing the date and time (US Eastern Daylight Time). And, speaking of March 31, that's the last day of their March Madness Fundraisers for Moki, Project H.A.M. and Lilly Lu.

Bustopher and Harmon are waiting for spring, and someone (Bustopher) is often stir crazy??one day it?s warm, then it?s cold?.its warm again and then the mornings are cold and then it?s a warm afternoon and then. However, Harmon is taking it all??.well, like Harmon does. They are now at their new blog icanhaspnutbutr.

Some springtime activity at CorgiFeathers. Zandakitty is having a little trouble with her solo kickboxing. Welcome to WCB!

Our friend whaleshaman of JellyPizza reminds us that kitties love boxes. “Purrfect for little places to hide & feel sad & be happy at the same time, too, for having known Upsie.” And for having known Upsie, a tribute: “A Silence Fell”.

Mind of Mog has another shot of Bazel because he is just so cute.

Andrée at meeyauw has LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for the Second Sunday of Easter. “See where bad kittehs go, LOL Cat Bible is on Twitter, 60% of the LOL Cat Bible is translated now, and a papercraft that you can make at home!“

Spring is coming at Music and Cats, and a neighbor cat is out guarding his garden. Turns out he was quite a friendly cat (and handsome as well), happy to come over and greet passers by and purr, while still “standing his ground.”

A brief scare last week at Life from a Cat's Perspective when Samantha got out and was lost! Fortunately, she came home safely. Here we see her looking contrite after causing so much worry for her family and friends.

Save the environment…help a cat… Moki's family is holding a recycle-your-old-electronics drive to help raise money for Lilly Lu, Moki and other kitties in the cat blogosphere who need finanical assistance with their medical bills. Visit their site for more details, it's free to participate.

Fridolin is grief-stricken as he has just learnt about Upsie's sudden passing away. He shares his feelings, and a secret, at Rosa's Yummy Yums.

Kitikata-san also misses Upsie, “you were the coolest cat, and I am sad you are gone. Meows, purrs and headbutts to Sher. I am so sorry.“

Want see a real brat? Well, head over to the BengalBrats.com to read about SonnyBob's “nasty behavior.” This includes continued persecution of the resident Great Dane. SirWoody attempts negotiations (but fails) at Pet's Garden Blog. The Bengal Brats are also hosting Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos this Sunday.

Carnival of the Cats will be happening this Sunday at Nikita's Place. And next Sunday, it will be here at CatSynth!

We'll continue to post throughout the weekend (and into Monday morning), so if you want to participate, please leave a comment or contact us.

A busy weekend here, so we present a couple more photos from our cat sitter Ronni West:

Luna has this wonderful wide-eyed expression in many of these photos. You can see another example in this recent post. We'll miss our pet sitter when we move.

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Weekend Cat Blogging #136 will be hosted this weekend at Chey's Place.

The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos will be happening at the House of the Mostly Black Cats.

Carnival of the Cats is coming to Life from a Cat's Perspective on Sunday.

And a special note for Carnival of the Cats founder Laurence Simon, who lost his feline companion Frisky this week. Are thoughts go out to Laurence, Gina and Nardo.

Finally, the Friday Ark #173 is at the modulator.

Well, we have one more influential musician to remember before the year ends. The great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson passed away on December 23:

Called the “Maharajah of the keyboard” by Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson is considered to have been one of the greatest piano players in the history of jazz. He played to audiences worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years.

While Stockhausen (whom we remembered on his death two weeks ago) was an inspiration for his composition, electronic innovations, and ideas about music, Peterson was all about performance and technique, and joy of playing jazz at a high level. As a young jazz pianist, I used Oscar Peterson's piano solos as practice. In particular, I remember playing the minor bluesy Roundalay, which was my successful audition piece for All State Jazz in New York. Certainly, I could never even attempt to match the actual solos at full speed.

You can get a sense of the real thing from this video:

We close with these comments from the CBC:

Renowned for his speed and virtuosity as a pianist, Peterson ? who was born in Montreal and later made Toronto his home ? made hundreds of recordings in his career, even after a stroke in 1993 disabled his left hand…

…”The world has lost the world's greatest jazz player,” Hazel McCallion, mayor of Mississauga and Peterson's friend, told CBC News on Monday afternoon.

UPDATE: You can read his obituary from Mississauga.

We have lost another of our musical heroes this year:

German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen has died at the age of 79.

Best known for his avant-garde electronic work, Stockhausen was an experimental musician who utilised tape recorders and mathematics to create innovative, ground-breaking pieces.

His Electronic Study, 1953, was the first musical piece composed from pure sine wave sounds.

Electronic Study II, produced a year later, was the first work of electronic music to be notated and published.

But the composer rejected the idea that he was making the music of the future, writing in 1966: “What is modern today will be tradition tomorrow.” [BBC]

In addition to being a strong influence on my own music, Stockhausen worked his way into my regular rotation of music. I can recall many Sunday mornings in Berkeley with coffee, fresh bagels, the New York Times and Stockhausen's Kontakte. This was a groundbreaking work of electronic music, but it was also one that I enjoyed just listening to, the way others might enjoy classical piano music on a weekend. And so, at least for me, Stockhausen's music did indeed pass into “tradition.”

You can sample some of Stockhausen's music here – I recall NPR using Kontakte in their obituary piece as well.

Here is a lecture on “sound” from YouTube: