Pets Forever...

His greyness...

Because the vet commented that he was such a star when he had to have a blood test etc Posky takes pride of place in the Pets Forever slot this week.  They still talk about Mrs P's behaviour at the vets - and not for any good reasons :O)

It's now British Summertime and the clocks went forward an hour last night.  It's better for me as I always wake up at 5am for some reason, and now that it's actually 6am on the clock it somehow seems a lot more reasonable.  The cats don't care as long as breakfast for them is first thing on my agenda for the day.  It was funny this morning as I'd arranged to pick Cath up at 7am to go for our weekly walk - but guess who'd forgotten to put her clocks forward and was left running around like a dervish trying to get dressed whilst I fussed her cats? (Well one of them anyway, little Basil is very friendly, and oh so tiny compared to our monsters.  He's even smaller than Pepper and she looks small against our other three), Henry is a martyr to his nerves, and Pusskins (or Tripod Boy as we call him since he had his leg off) just cast suspicious glances at me from the cat climber. Obviously my cat-whisperer routine needs work.

Macro Friday, Camera Critters, and Cat News...

It's been a busy week and I've hardly had time to pick up my camera.  Work is still manic, and then there was  a Doctor's appointment to have my blood pressure taken (ha!) plus a visit to the vet for Posky.  It turns out that what I'd suspected is true, and he has Chronic Renal Failure the same as Mrs Pod - ah well, they're both getting on now (although they'd kill me if they knew I'd written that), so it's not that surprising.  We've had Posky 15 years so he must be about 16, and Mrs P is perhaps 14 or older (they're both rescue cats so it's rather hard to say).  The vet asked me if I could get a urine sample from Posky this weekend (!), but we then decided it would be easier if he goes and spends a few hours with them on Monday and for them to try and get it.  I'm pretty sure he will have to go on the same medication as Mrs P.  All the cats like the specialist Renal cat food, although they tend to lick the gravy from it and leave the lumps - hey ho.  

The Thursday Challenge - Green

World Book Night - Another Update...

I finished reading Half of a Yellow Sun last night - wonderful book. It's powerful, moving without being sentimental, funny in parts and has such great charactersation and sense of place.  The story is told from the point of view of three very different people each caught up in the events in Biafra, a conflict I knew shamefully little about.  Because the narrator uses free indirect speech (where the narrator takes on the speech and thoughts of a particular character) we know only what they know, and we are right there with them as events unfold.  Storytelling at its best.

The book is now winging its way to my friend Karen in Nottingham.  I'm sure she'll enjoy it as she studied Post Colonial Literatures in English when we were doing post grad work together - it will be interesting to get her perspective on it. 

Scavenger Hunt Sunday...

Camera Phone...

and how much of a headache was this to take?

The screen doesn't like bright light and is all but impossible to see

when the sun is out!  I'm still not happy with it - maybe I should 

have used it for the 'imperfections' shot!

I may have swore a bit.

Camera...

Found these in a charity shop.

Because I'm kind (that or I had an ulterior motive)

I bought them for David to use on his vintage shoots.

Looking at them I am so glad someone invented digital cameras.

Shoes...

These are some of my 'going out to the theatre shoes'.

I love these, even if the first time I wore them the heel dropped off

and I had to have them repaired.

I just like looking at them :O)

Chair...

Chairs in Starbucks.

Don't know what they'd done to the coffee

yesterday but it was bloody horrible.

Nice chairs though :O)

Imperfections...

(No not Charlie!)

This photo has quite a lot of imperfections.  It's very, very grainy,

that door handle in the background is annoying, as are the marks on the wood

in the foreground.  The mat under Charlie's paw

is curling up.  The image needs straightening and cropping, 

and the verticals are converging

so they could do with straightening too.

I might have a go at altering it.

It does makes me smile though :O)

The Brenda Photo Challenge

Found a new challenge (Go to The Brenda Photo Challenge for more info). This month it's before and after so here goes.  These were part of a series of photos I took at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire yesterday in thick fog - I love misty images.

Before...

and After...
I wanted to keep the ethereal feel but also
wanted to warm up the image and give it a bit more oomph!
I cloned out a blob in the foreground, used a screen blending mode,
converted to b&w, added a sepia tint to warm it up, then boosted the contrast.
I didn't mind the sky being white as that's what I was after - it's the kind
of image I think I'd use as a greetings card of some type.

Before...

After...
I cloned out the bench and some twigs in the top right corner
as I felt they were too obtrusive.  I also altered the colour balance,
and used a screen blending mode plus a soft light blending mode.

Before...

After...
I wanted to keep the feel that the fog gave,
but also make the image simpler, more minimalist.
I cropped it, cloned out branches and areas of white paint
on the wall in the foreground, converted to b&w, added a sepia
tint, and boosted the contrast.

Macro Friday ... and Happy Red Nose Day 2011!

Lemon...

And yes, its that time again when all over the country people do very silly things for charities here in the UK and in Africa.  The cats are of course far too dignified to take part in anything that makes them look ridiculous (!), but did agree to have their photos taken wearing deeley-boppers (Pepper actually had a fight with hers just after this photo was taken).  The red noses were added digitally as the real one wouldn't fit on the cats :O)  

Being asleep doesn't mean you can escape the red nose epidemic.

My hair needs cutting so this is as much of it as I'm showing!

I also had the hair band around the wrong way
... hmmmm

... and Posky wanted another photo of him,

because he said he makes even deeley-boppers look good.

The Thursday Challenge...

Today's challenge is 'Metal'.  For more participants click here.

One of my earrings... 

(not for everyday use - they're exceedingly heavy

and I thought my earlobes were going to fall off after wearing them

for ten minutes).

I love earrings :O)

World Book Night News...

 I had a lovely surprise today, a parcel arrived from my sister in law Ruth as part of World Book Night.  She'd very kindly sent me Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,  a novel set in the 1960s based around Nigeria's Biafra war. I started it this afternoon, have read almost 100 pages and so far am loving it.  I haven't read a lot of literature from Africa, although I did enjoy Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.  This book could seriously make me want to read more.  So thank you Ruth!

Some good causes...

Please spare time today to take a look at the following links...

Animals end up in shelters through no fault

of their own.  If you're thinking of getting

a pet, please adopt an animal 

in need.

We've all heard about the human 

cost of the terrible earthquake in Japan.

Please spare a thought and a donation if you can

for the non-human victims too.
Click HERE to go the the WSPCA Animals in Disasters blog
for the latest news and to find out how you can help.



...and don't forget that here in the UK, this Friday
is Red Nose Day.  Do something funny and raise
money for charity at the same time.
My cats have promised to make an appearance
wearing a red nose - what this space!
(I tried to get Charlie to wear some
red-nose deeley-boppers but he started walking
sideways like a crab when I put them on him!).

Cats on Tuesday...

The cats were pretty disgusted that The Shakespeare Hospice had chosen one of my pics of Stratford, and not one of them to appear on their Christmas card this year.  They decided to teach me a lesson.  Every time I tried to take a photo yesterday, a cat jumped into the picture.

Or in some cases, three cats...

I tried to take a picture of some snow globes for The Daily Shoot...

Once again I was foiled by a cat.

Even when I thought I'd managed to take one, somehow they were in it.

It was beginning to feel like a feline remake of The Birds...

I did manage a close-up of some Easter chicks... 

But not for long...

At last I saw my chance...
Pepper had danced off somewhere and Posky and Charlie were
having a spaghetti western staring competition over by the shed.
I scooted off to the other side of the garden.

Me: 'Charlie! How the heck can you be in two places at once?!?'

Charlie: Quantum physics... I haz it...

Me: 'Hmmm, which is how you also manage to be over by the gate as well...'

Charlie: 'You got it'.

In the end I admitted defeat, apologised for the insult inflicted upon them, promised they could be on as many Christmas cards as they wanted, then bribed them with a tin of tuna so I could at least take one picture.

Ben: 'Well thank goodness for that. You didn't tell them about the Easter card did you?'

Me: 'Shut up and get posing. It was only a small tin of tuna...'.

For more kitties visit Cats on Tuesday.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday... and Breaking News!

Vanishing Point...

Well not quite, but it's the closest thing

I could get to it this week.

It's actually the windows of our shed with frost

on them and a sunburst.

Square Crop...

David and Posky
I'm also linking this one up with
Exploring with a Camera's
Square Format challenge.

Under...

The view from underneath the wing

of a Canberra jet at Coventry Airport

Welcome to the Jungle...

I really struggled with this one so 

had to resort to a worm's eye view of the

crocus in the park made to look like a postcard

for a bit of interest!

Calm...

And because you can

never have too many photos

of cats in a scavenger hunt - here's

another.  This is Charlie in a moment of

calm - if he was awake he wouldn't be calm,

he'd be angry about something.

AND BREAKING NEWS...

I've just been contacted by The Shakespeare Hospice who have asked if they can use one of my images on a Christmas Card this year.  It's the one below.  To say I am chuffed to bits is a vast understatement.  I said yes  :O)))

An Award - I Haz It!...

Thank crunchy it's Friday... such a busy week at work, and I've been so tired I could slap someone.  Charlie must have felt the same as he tried to slap David last night, David was not impressed and rebuked Charlie, who promptly had a strop.  Today I'm at work until lunchtime then it's off to the vets with Mrs P for her blood test.  I am not looking forward to this.  This morning I was trying to play catch-up with the blogs I follow and was chuffed to bits to discover that I've been given an award over at Laloofah's Mehitable Days.  Her blog is great, wonderful recipes, gorgeous pics of animals and a sense of humour that always brightens my day.

Apparently I have to grovel link back to the giver of this (see above), then tell you seven random things about myself, and choose fifteen recently discovered blogs to pass it on to.

1.  As a child I was terrified of Santa.  I wouldn't go near him and hated the thought of him being in my bedroom.  Every Christmas Eve I used to get into bed with my sister Cathy, and usually managed to be ill.  One year I threw up in her bed.  She must have really hated me.

2.  I went to a yoga class for the first time last night.

3.  It drives me nuts that I am the only one out of my friends who drives a car.  I tell a lie, Debbie can drive, but she has narcolepsy so that doesn't help much.

4.  I once had to play Hamlet when studying for my BA.  

5.  I rarely watch TV, and when I do I refuse point-blank to watch any kind of reality TV programmes like Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing, I'm a Moron Get Me Out of Here, or any of the other dross that's regularly served up.  The only thing I've watched on TV this week was Prof Brian Cox's Wonders of the Universe.  Great bloke, fab programme.

6.  I joined Twitter because I take part in The Daily Shoot and that's where you have to post a link to your photo.  Three of the people I follow are Stephen Fry, the Dalai Lama and Prof Brian Cox.  Eclectic taste or what?

7.  I love going to the theatre but I can't stand musicals.  My favourite plays are Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra.

I can't remember which blogs I've recently discovered so instead I'll pick fifteen of my faves (and don't forget Laloofah's of course).  Just thought I'd add, to the recipients below, please don't feel you have to post about this or carry it on if you don't want to.  It's just recognition and appreciation from me to you, because I love your blogs.

Cat Chat with Caren and Cody

C'est la Vie!

Ramblings and Photos

Beaded Tail

Catladyland

Detectives Beyond Borders

Views from the Countryside

Jabblog

Katz and Other Tales

The Blue Bookcase

My Cats and Funny Stories

Daisy the Curly Cat

Scottish Vegan Homemaker

Among the Trees

Books Please

Cats on Tuesday...

It was a lovely sunny day on Sunday, the cats took advantage of it by lurking in the garden.

Posky was being strange with a rose bush.

'My face is stuck! My face is stuck!

Don't just stand there taking pictures, get it off me!'

 After that excitement, I was busy trying to take a photo of my feet.

Posky: Whatcha doing?

Me:  Trying to take a photo of my red shoes.

Posky: Can I be in it?

Me: No

David and Pepper had some kind of mutual admiration society thing going on.

David: 'You're a beautiful little cat aren't you?'

Pepper:  'Yes I am'.

This annoyed Charlie intensely.  Most things do.

'Look at Princess Tippy Toes over there.  I want to slap her. 

Oi Pepper! Stop acting like a twerp
or your friend the Buddha here might be
going the same way as Humpty Dumpty,
know what I mean?'

This gave Pepper such a moment of existential angst that she had to run over to check on the Buddha.

'Speak to me! Speak to me! Are you alright, did he hurt you?'

Posky then had words with Charlie.

Posky: 'Get over yourself!'

Charlie: 'Who's gonna make me?'

At which point Mrs Pod, still out of sorts from her trip to the vet, stepped in.

'Posky, don't just stand there, hit him!

Pepper, stop prancing about, and Charlie,

if I have to come over there to sort you out 

I am going to batter you into your next incarnation.

Now shut it, the lot of you!

Charlie: 'Cor blimey I'm off...'