Cats on Tuesday - More on the photo comp...

Well after Pepper and Posky stole the limelight last week with their winning photos, I had to post some pics of the two who didn't win.

Exhausted with the amount of work that they'd put into their

competition photos to no avail, Mrs P and Charlie

decided they didn't care anyway and went to sleep...

It didn't win any prizes but I love this photo 

(I entered the colour version
but I prefer the b&w).

Here's the boy himself...

And talking of the photo competition, can I give a quick mention to Emma-Louise at The KittyCat Boutique as she's sending Pepper a blue snowflake collar and tag, plus a Treehugger catnip toy as part of her prize.  They have some lovely collars and accessories for pooches as well as cats.  Go check them out!

Oh yes, prizes... well here's Pepper trying to break into

the box of goodies that came for her and Posky...

... and here she is trying to look innocent of any wrongdoing.

(These photos are very dark and grainy as they were taken in dim light at night,

I just had to grab my camera and snap away 

when I saw the little minx up to no good!).

A treat in the paw is worth two in the tub...
(or something like that)

And what about Posky?
Well he was pretty laid-back about the whole thing.
Here he ponders his rosettes...

...But on the whole he decided he prefers the new pink bed,
(partly bought with the voucher prize).
And yes that's Mrs P asleep on the cushion that
is meant to be IN the bed.

For more kitties visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Shades of Autumn - Finale

I've loved doing the whole Shade of Autumn challenge, it's been great fun.  The reason this post wasn't ready on Friday was that I was taking part in Photobox's 24 Hour Live challenge (http://www.facebook.com/PhotoboxUK?sk=wall) .  There were 24 challenges with 24 prizes, one each hour on the hour and you only had one hour to complete and upload them, so no time for any fancy camera work, just imagination and lateral thinking. Some of the entries were hilarious!  A few people managed all 24 but I went to bed :O)  (Photobox is my favourite photo processing company, and they do very nice photo gifts too).  Anyway, I digress!

For the finale I didn't know whether the photos were meant to be favourites out of the ones we'd used for the various colour changes or completely new ones.  Anyway, because I have a plethora (great word!) of autumn photos it seemed a shame not to use some different ones.  The first three of the shots were  taken in the Cotswolds and the other four in Leicestershire.

Autumn in the Arboretum...

Leaves on the statue of the Buddha...

The Church at Moreton in the Marsh...

One of the things I love about the autumn is the mists, 

I like the sense of mystery and melancholy they can add to a scene.

I was therefore very grateful to wake up to fog (and on a weekend too!) and  

was out of the door with my camera before David or cats were awake.

 They're rubbish.

No I didn't place the leaf on the wall, it was just there, waiting for me.

I really like the simplicity of this, along with the contrasting textures and tones.

Gravestones and fallen leaves.  How symbolic can you get?

I was kneeling down taking this when a policewoman

came around the corner and nearly tripped over me.

She didn't seem surprised and gave me a cheery 'Good Morning!'  

I'm guessing she must see a lot of strange things happening in graveyards.

Am loving the cobwebs and that hint of colour on the leaves.

This morning I am off to take photos of a charity fun run where about 1000 people will be running through the streets of Lutterworth all dressed as Santa.  Not sure how I'm going to recognise my friend Helen amongst that lot.  Hmmm!

Cat's on Tuesday - winning photos!

The cats entered some of their photos in the local animal rescue's Cat Photography Competition.  They don't believe it's the taking part that counts, they wanted to win and were willing to be quite ruthless about it.  Charlie had a very nice campaign of blackmail and intimidation all plotted out if things didn't turn out in their favour.  Fortunately they didn't have to resort to any violence as Pepper won first prize in the rescue cat category, she also got second prize in the cat caption category, another second with Posky in felines and friends (or should that be fiends?), and Posky took third prize for sleeping cat.  Their prizes are coming tomorrow night and the nice lady who contacted me from the rescue centre also talked about using the photos on some cards to sell for the charity.  Smiles all around!

'If I don't win I will scream and scream and scream until I'm sick!!!!'

For more kitties visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Shades of Autumn - White

Hmmm, white!  The trickiest one yet - we've had nothing resembling frost or snow here, in fact I heard yesterday that it's been a record breaking November for mild temperatures.  The images I got for this were by sheer chance as I really hadn't got a clue what to do for this colour.  The boats on the Avon at Stratford came to my rescue, as did some berries from some sort of chinese tree at Batsford.

That was the week that was...

No Scavenger Hunt this week, so I thought I'd do a quick review of the last seven days instead.

 - A week of freebies! A stranger gave me a voucher for a free drink in M&S; I had enough points on my Boots card to get some very nice Ted Baker smelly things; Tesco's clubcard voucher exchange meant that we're getting a free meal for two at Bella Pasta; and my Sainsbury Nectar points got me £17.50 worth of Amazon vouchers!  Hurrah!

- I got a lovely card from my Mum in law about Ben.

- I got a lovely e-card from Laurie at Mehitabel Days which brightened my day.

- I got my act together and entered some cat photos in the local animal shelter's cat photo competition.

- We went to Stratford.

- We went to Warwick Arts Centre and saw John Mayall and Oli Brown in concert.

- I went for a 4.5 mile walk yesterday to fetch a newspaper (don't ask why, it seemed like a good idea at the time).

- We saw the sweeeeetest baby rabbits, one little grey one did everything but stand on his head and do a cartwheel in his efforts to be noticed and taken home.

- I saw two brilliant photo exhibitions by Tom Hunter.

- I also went to work but let's not talk about that. I took in a Christmas tree that we're going to decorate and enter for the Christmas Tree Festival at St Mary's Church (just across the road from us - has a very nice coffee bar and second hand bookshop!). Because our company is all about reproducing images and document management I took some photos of Christmas decorations and we printed them off to hang on the tree, clever eh?!?

- Mrs P went to the vets for a thyroid check. This was fine, and apparently her kidneys have never been better too. This good news didn't stop Mrs P from trying to go to the toilet on the vet whilst yelling loudly at her.  The vet thinks Mrs P is breathing too fast (I think she was angry at the vet!) and is also concerned that she's lost weight (I think she doesn't like renal food so have been trying to feed her up with biscuits that Posky must not know exist!).  Anyway, the vet wants her to go in and spend a few hours there on Tuesday so they can check her breathing again.  She also doesn't want her to be fed beforehand in case they need to sedate her.  Hmmmm...

And finally... a few photos from Stratford.  The first two are inside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, love the way they've kept the Art Deco style along with the new.  The third is the cafe seating area outside the theatre, I just like the mood it evokes.  The last is the Stratford skyline with Shakespeare's statue in the Bancroft Gardens and the RST tower. Am loving that seagull!

Shades of Autumn - Brown...

I thought this week's colour would be easier to do, in fact when you look closely it's amazing how many colours around in the autumn aren't actually brown!  

A little post about Ben...

Those of you who read this week's Cats on Tuesday post will know that we lost Ben this week.  He was our little house rabbit who had lived with us for six years (we think he was about 11 which is a great age for a small bunny to reach).  We originally got him and his partner Lucy from a rabbit rescue organisation where they'd been taken by their previous owner after she acquired a dog that killed her other rabbits and then decided to go after the last two.  Lucy died a few years ago and that's when Ben moved into the house with us.  He was a shy, gentle little soul who gave us (and his wonderful vet Aga) a nervous breakdown every so often when he had to undergo a dental - we were never sure if he would make it through the anaesthetic or not!  He used to like to sit cuddled up to Mrs P, or he could be found on his footstool next to the radiator (often with Posky trying to get on it with him).   Anyway, here are a few photos of the wee man himself.

This is the last photo we have of Ben - this is him

doing his 'An angry - I haz it' face...

...and here he is being squished by Posky.

Who could forget the way he stole the limelight from the cats

during the pumpkin photo shoot last year?

Or how he gamely joined in with the cats' 'Drama in the Garden!' productions.

He was a bit of a star.

Shades of Autumn - Purple

Before I start with the photos, can I just say a great big thanks to Kristi, Rebecca and Alicia for choosing one of my photos from last week's Shades of Autumn as one of their top pictures, I was so chuffed because some seriously good photographers enter their images for this challenge and for one of mine to be chosen, well... speechless.   Anyway, needless to say I became ridiculously over-excited when I heard and had to be slapped by Pepper.  

Right then, on with the purple, not the easiest of colours to find.

Cats on Tuesday...

Just a few photos today from the cats at Halloween as everyone is rather subdued at the death of Ben the Bunny last night - he will get his own post shortly, but for now here are the felines hamming it up.

For his costume Posky chose to wear a rather fetching

cobweb cape with a large spider at the back of the neck, very rakish.

Pepper also chose the same outfit - this is her going trick or treating.

'By the pricking of my paw, something furry's at the door...'

At first Mrs P was going to wear a pumpkin costume as she felt

it went with her fur, then decided that was way too much

so just went with the hat instead.

And then Charlie thought about wearing a devilish cape

but decided it made him look too 'cute'.

So eventually deciding less is more, he chose to go with a garland of evil

and pulling a scary face.

For more kitties visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.