22 July 26
Best Cat Toy
Predicting what toys your cat (or dog, or child) will like is the stuff of multi-billion dollar industries. I picked up this leather cord in Portland, Oregon over ten years ago and found it recently in my sewing box. It’s become the absolute favorite of both Esme and Winston, the latter sitting patiently above the toy box hoping one of us will pick it up and start throwing it around.
15 July 26
Cat Grass
There’s no more footie for several days, it is too hot to sketch outside, and I don’t feel like discussing the latest evil machinations of the Heritage Foundation, so here is my sketch of the day. We like to provide wheatgrass for our kitties, and pick up some from the produce section of the co-op every couple of weeks. Winston especially likes to graze on it.
8 July 26
Freaking the Cats Out
For reasons that I won’t go into too much here, we feed the cats little and often. Partly to avoid Winston hogging all of Esme’s food, partly to avoid them gorging themselves (and then vomiting): they were picked up as kittens behind a Walmart, scavenging around some pallets. Such a traumatic early start doesn’t naturally lead to moderation in eating.
We recently bought an automatic feeder that will dispense kibble either manually or programmed. Numenius has an app to control it. At the moment they are wary and suspicious of the noise the opening slots make, but we hope this will eventually take away some of the early morning/late night feeding duties.
29 May 26
Winston
It’s been a while since I drew either of the cats. Numenius does one cat sketch per day. Maybe he’ll include some of his here at some point.
(I had a coffee with a friend this morning who recommended the book I made a note of above the drawing)
24 January 26
Sunbeam Kitty
In my Torah discussion group on Bluesky (#ParshaChat) today I introduced myself by saying “There’s quite the bifurcation between the train wreck of world events and my happiness at watching my cat enjoy a sunbeam in this room.” I was asked to share a picture, since “these things are v helpful in These Trying Times”. Here is my photo of Esme in response.
25 December 25
Leyendo Con El Gato
A friend of ours included the sticker at right in a small Christmas gift bag she delivered today. This was fitting considering my afternoon.
Our Christmas and Thanksgiving tradition is to feast on Indian takeout for an early afternoon lunch. After the lunch (I had a chana saag thali plate) I go off to the bed to read more of Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens in Spanish. After a little while Winston, one of our cats, shows up, investigates, and settles in to doze on my chest. This is very nice — reading while snuggling with a purring sleepy cat. Winston is not as snuggly as our other cat Esme, who often comes back to sleep on me after her breakfast at 5 AM, and it is special to have a nap with him.
8 December 25
Drawing While Journaling
I’ve been doing my morning pages, but I keep getting interrupted by cats. So I draw them.
17 November 25
Cats with Fude Pen
Now that the temperature has turned cool the cats are snuggling up more together and this afternoon they were uncomfortably trying to occupy the same cat bed. Esme is on top of Winston in the sketch here at left.
I have sketched the cats here with my Sailor Fude pen which I just resurrected today. This is a bent-nib fountain pen that is designed for Japanese calligraphy and is easily manipulated to give very thin to quite thick lines. I have loaded the ink cartridge with De Atramentis Urban Gray ink which is waterproof, though I don’t use any wash in this sketch.
10 September 25
Game Of Cones
Winston Cat was full of high rambunctious energy last night, and we found a new game to play. Here is a bit of video from the game.
3 September 25
A Visit to the Vet
It was Winston’s turn to go to the vet this morning for a checkup and rabies shot. He is not at high risk for rabies, but we have raccoons and rats in the neighborhood and if he ever got out of the house he might get exposed.
Dogs don’t like going to the vet either, but they like being with their people. Cats could really not care less about their people when the vet’s involved and it’s trauma, trauma, trauma all the way home.
He’s back in the house now, doing a thorough grooming session to sort himself out before a nap.