CatSynth

It was a sad week for many of our cat friends and their families. This past Wednesday saw no fewer that four announcements on the Cat Blogosphere of regular contributors who had passed away. Anyone who has studied probability and statistics knows that such clustering is normal behavior for random events, but one still notices it and can be affected by it.

And then late in the day we received some sad news from our friend Vivi Pedgraglio that DJ Kikovas had passed away.

This was very sad news, and our thoughts are with Vivi this weekend. We often featured DJ Kikovas on CatSynth. And the symmetry of our exchanges was fun, the white boy cat playing electronic music in the studio in Argentina and the black girl cat in the U.S. who is surrounded by electronic music. He will be missed.

Among the cats whose passing was announced on Wednesday was Luxor, an elegant white cat whose site we followed. Our thoughts are with his family as well.

---

It is a dreary overcast morning, after a week that in addition to the sad news has been quite tiring. So we rest.

[click to enlarge image]

I looked at those photo of Luna resting on the bed linens – this has been her favored resting place again over the last few weeks – and thought about how often I have seen her curled up there over the years. Here is a photo of her in the same position in 2007, at our former home in Santa Cruz.

So many things stay the same, but the same time life is always moving forward. That is both a happy and sad thing.

---

Weekend Cat Blogging #272 is hosted by Samantha and Clementine at Life from a Cat’s Perspective.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted by Nikita and Elvira (who is hosting for the first time this week) at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.  They also have a tribute to the cats who past away this week.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Some sad news from this weekend, via matrixsynth. Tali, the feline companion of carbon111 passed away over the weekend:

We featured Tali’s CatSynth pics many times over the past couple of years, and she will be missed. I send carbon111 my deepest sympathies.

You can read kind words for Tali (aka “Circle Cat”) at Harmony Central and matrixsynth.

I did not know before reading carbon111’s post that Tali was named for Taliesin.

From monotonmusic on YouTube, via matrixsynth:

May 27, 2010 — “A little studio session just to get my mind of everything.
Nothing fancy, just some sweet Mono/Poly chords…

Our cat got really worse these last days.
But she had a good life in the countryside among our other cats.
16 years old!
RIP 2010.05.27

We send our thoughts to monotonemusic. It does sound like Modesty had a good life, 16 years in the countryside.

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

]]

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.

---

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.