Watch Cat
Posted: May 2, 2012 Filed under: black cats, cat behavior, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, jelly bean, my household of felines, photographs | Tags: black cats, cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography 8 Comments[Sshhhhh…mom is trying out Wordless Wednesday. This is hard for her. You know she always has to tell stories. You should live with her. But I am Jelly Bean enjoying the sun at the top of the steps. See you later.]
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
You Can’t See Me
Posted: April 30, 2012 Filed under: black cats, cat behavior, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, jelly bean, my household of felines, photographs | Tags: black cats, cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography 2 Comments“I have fixed the rug in exactly the way I want it.
“You can’t see me at all behind this wrinkle I have so cleverly built out of the rug.
“Also notice that I am squinting. You can’t see cats when they are squinting at you like this. Or when they have their paws over their faces. Or when they have their head in a bag or under the couch, even if their fuzzy butts are hanging out in plain view. You may think you see us, but it’s just your imagination.
“And furthermore, don’t even consider changing this rug from the way I have it set up. When I choose to leave it, I will expect to find it exactly like this when I return.”
Guess he told me.
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Pussy Willow, a Vintage Photo
Posted: April 30, 2012 Filed under: cat photographs, cats, daily photo, my household of felines, namir, photographs, vintage photo | Tags: cat in sun, pet photography, photography, pussy willow 1 CommentIt’s time for another vintage photo of my household. I have this photo hanging in my kitchen and though I see it every day, there are days when it fully captures my attention. I study it, and each time I see more in it. And so I did today.
It’s from the time when I first began to consider my photos “good”, perhaps to consider them “photographs” that I might display and sell as prints and framed items, instead of just “pictures”. This was, maybe, ten years ago. “Pussy Willow” was taken earlier than that but stayed on my mind. It was one of the first that made me take another look at my other photos.
What I like most is the abstraction, the light and shadow playing on the objects and the walls, both the pussy willow and the cat turning from positive objects to negative space as the sun and shadow move across them.
I would not have taken the photo without Namir, though. I do like the pussy willow on its own and always have it somewhere around the house where I can enjoy its stark figures. When he got bored with me and walked way I took a photo of just the pussy willow, and it’s nice, but not something I’d frame and hang on the wall.
I always associated Namir with pussy willow too, something about the texture of his fur, and his white oval paws reminding me of the catkins. I turned around, there he sat, that lovely warm spring sunshine washing over the scene, it was as if it was waiting for me to photograph with the old fully manual film-based Pentax K1000.
It was also taken on a day very much like today, a sunny late afternoon in late April. I have a version of it that I desaturated in PhotoShop and I like the semi-sepia look, but it doesn’t capture that original inspiration, the warm April sunshine literally pouring in the window, coating everything it touched with gold.
You may have photos like this as well, this is partly why I explained all my reasoning.
I’ll have this for sale in my Etsy shop soon, but it’s not a standard frame size so I have to be certain the molding I choose for the frame is regularly available from my supplier.
This article tells a little more about Namir and how he came into my life “Who Was That Namir, Anyway?”, and about his life in my household, “Not a Bad Deal on a Pre-Owned Cat”.
You’ll find Namir mentioned in plenty of articles on The Creative Cat, and don’t forget to look at the header image, which features him in another of his contemplative moments in the sun.
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Preparing the Studio
Posted: April 29, 2012 Filed under: black cats, cat behavior, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, jelly bean, my household of felines, photographs | Tags: black cats, cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography 2 CommentsAs part of the set up for a day of working in the studio, every cat in the room needs to interact with whatever it is I’ll be using. This is especially important when I watercolor—each needs to have a good long drink from my jar of rinse water before I even begin painting. Perhaps it’s that little residual cat spit in the water that gives my work a special quality.
Then all cats must walk on all surfaces and inspect all boxes and other containers. Below, Mewsette waits her turn at the water while Mr. Sunshine pauses in his drink. Mimi has finished her drink goes on to inspect my work table.
I’ve discovered it’s best if I just let them do as they please, then settle down. That’s not a bad policy in other areas of life either.
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Manipulative
Posted: April 28, 2012 Filed under: black cats, cat behavior, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, jelly bean, my household of felines, photographs | Tags: black cat on sink, black cats, cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography 2 CommentsAdmit it. You’d give him anything.
I admit he is very hard to resist. Way back when I had decided I could not possibly keep all these kittens I had decided to keep perhaps two, and tried to choose so that I would not become too attached to them all. I loved little Jelly Bean, or Little Guy as I called him then, but I had to consider giving him up. He knew what I was thinking, raced me up the stairs, hopped into the bathroom sink and flopped down and purred, batting his eyelashes at me.
“I don’t know who’s going or staying, but you’re not going anywhere, Little Guy.”
He is so completely manipulative that he is the one who got me to start turning on the faucet for them every day to drink. I have never, ever allowed my cats to drink from any faucet because I was concerned they wouldn’t get enough water since I had no intention of leaving faucets on all day. I admit that everything in the bathroom leaked when they were growing up in there so they thought water was supposed to be that way, but especially after the seniors I have had bowls all over the house.
But this Little Guy charmed me with a look like this and I simply turned on the faucet. What would you do if he sat on the sink and looked at you like that?
For greater effect, here is a moderate enlargement of his face; unfortunately the photos a little blurry. See how you do looking into those green eyes. If the look alone doesn’t work, he talks very softly, and I am under his spell.
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Giuseppe and a Stink Bug
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: black cats, cat behavior, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, giuseppe, my household of felines, photographs | Tags: black cats, cat chases stinkbug, cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography, stinkbugs 3 Comments
The stinkbug appears.
With some amount of disinterest, Giuseppe, or at least his paw and his big nose, follow a stink bug across my desk, eliminating the possibility of me getting any work done for at least ten minutes.

The paw begins the pursuit.

And again.

Move along, little stinkbug.

Hurry up.

Under there.

Now stay there.

Wait a minute.

Now it's gone.

Now what do I do?
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Wile E. Mouse
Posted: April 23, 2012 Filed under: black cats, cat behavior, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, fantastic four, giuseppe, jelly bean, mewsette, mimi, mimi's children, mr. sunshine, my household of felines, photographs | Tags: black cats, cat photographs, cats chasing mouse, feline photographs, pet photography, photography 7 Comments
Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine stare under the book case where something is making scratching noises, Jelly Bean is skeptical.
I think the natural selection of capable kitties has been removing less-capable mice from the pool of genetic material that figures out how to get into my house.
We had a mouse invasion, at least one, though I never presume there is only one, and I still don’t know how they get in. With my old and handmade foundation built from spare parts there could be a space between stones or bricks anywhere in the foundation or even in the spot where the house meets the foundation, and they develop all the time. I really don’t want mice in the house, so I really do hope my hapless felines can follow their natural instincts and chase around a real mouse after all that practice with toys.

Mr. Sunshine prepares to leap behind the furniture, Giuseppe watches intently, Jelly Bean is still waiting, for something.
The mouse entered some time on Sunday morning, and the five black cats chased it around for the next 24 hours. Kelly used to sit in the basement and wait for mice, and to my dismay enjoyed long and creative torture sessions (Cookie would take the mouse from her and kill it), and a few times Kelly has fearlessly joined in with the black cats and showed them a thing or two, having earned her keep that way in younger days, but she left this one to them.
But this mouse managed to elude five cats bent on its capture. They had it cornered behind every piece of furniture in the house, and while I know they caught up with it here and there it managed to get away from them, only to run behind yet another piece of furniture and chitter at them. I went to bed and while I am accustomed to each of the five black cats taking their places around and on me, not one joined me—no Mewsette nosing under the covers next to me, Mimi’s tiny weight on my hip, the boys wrestling themselves to sleep on my legs. Some time during the night the mouse ended up in my room as they actually awakened me with chasing it, and I heard it chittering at them again.
I did not join them in the chase because I am a human and am therefore not a good mouser. I could chase it all day and I’d never get near it. They stood a better chance, so I left it up to them.
I awoke alone, without the Torturous Tag Team of Giuseppe happily stomping all over me and tickling my face with his whiskers and Mr. Sunshine pulling the covers off me and pulling out one of my hands to gnaw on my knuckles, Mimi looking at me disapprovingly. I heard them running around on the stairs and then in my studio next door to my bedroom. I walked in to see at least four of them with a very angry mouse chittering at them from the corner behind my easel; I guess they were trying to hit with with multiple death ray stares or it was making one heck of an impassioned speech about the meaning of its own life that it had them all entranced. No one paid a bit of attention to me.
Eventually, the mouse made a break for it and after some chasing Jelly Bean, who had apparently been conserving his energy for the big event, caught it and ran down the stairs with all of us in pursuit, including Kelly. Where was a video camera then? I couldn’t even get any good photos, too many black cats in the dark of the early morning.
All the way to the basement where he let it go, then caught it again and I opened the basement door and held him near it, gave him a shake, he dropped the mouse and off it ran. Don’t know if the poor thing will make it, and I’m not sure I want that particular set of strong and wily genetics to be reproducing with a vengeful eye toward my household, but if it was still alive after 24 hours being chased by five cats, and maybe six if Kelly joined in at some point, it deserved release. Some cats had a hard time letting the situation go, waiting by the door as if they thought the mouse would come back to play some more.
But they spent the rest of the day sleeping off the day of activity. I’ve referred to them below as a “gob pile”, and those from coal country may recognize that term as referring to the heap of overburden and waste material separated from the coal during coal mining. So that’s what they were today, a heap of black waste material. But they’re a lot prettier than real gobs are. And I’m so glad I didn’t have to spend 24 hours chasing a mouse.
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Giuseppe and His Goldfinch Buddy: 2011
Posted: April 22, 2012 Filed under: birds, black cats, cat behavior, cats, daily photo, giuseppe, my household of felines, photographs | Tags: black cat, black cat and goldfinch, cats, feline behavior, goldfinch, pets 9 Comments
Giuseppe with his buddy the goldfinch.
I haven’t been able to get a photo yet this year, and I’m still not sure if it’s the same little guy, but the goldfinch is back!
I’m not sure exactly when this began or if it’s the same goldfinch, but this will be the third year a goldfinch has come to the window and engaged Giuseppe in a conversation. Likely, though, it is the same goldfinch—they are returning and this is the first time I’ve seen this visit this year.
You can see the goldfinch on the outside looking right at Giuseppe, and I might think he was reacting to a reflection in the window, but when I open the window during the summer, the goldfinch comes to the screen.
Giuseppe doesn’t jump at him, just paws the screen or window, but never acts like a predator. With other birds that come to the window and visit the feeder, he certainly does!
The goldfinch doesn’t say a word, just looks inside.
None of the other cats react to the goldfinch or even seem to notice it when it comes to the window. Often, once Giuseppe has noticed it, another will come by and chase it off.
I’m sure they know each other, these two, Giuseppe and the goldfinch. Maybe they’re just exchanging guy talk. Perhaps someday I’ll figure out how that is.

Giuseppe waves at the goldfinch.
Puzzle Cats
Posted: April 18, 2012 Filed under: black cats, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, fantastic four, giuseppe, jelly bean, mewsette, mimi, mimi's children, mr. sunshine, my household of felines | Tags: cat photographs, cat under bedspread, cats, cats on bed, feline photographs, five black cats, four black cats, pet photography, photography 8 CommentsAll tucked in with each other, Mimi and her children snoozed on the bed in the early afternoon. From the top at 12:00 is Mimi, at about 4:00 is Mewsette, at 6:00 is Mr. Sunshine and at about the 10:00 position is Jelly Bean. The lump under the bedspread at the very bottom is Giuseppe being used as a pillow by Mr. Sunshine.
Below…”What are you looking at? We are going to finish our nap.” The three siblings, four if you count Giuseppe under the bedspread, are never so close in personality as when they awaken from a nap together—they’ll often sit up and look at me in nearly the same position, ears and eyes and heads all angled the same, or very nearly so. Mama Mimi is not in step with her children, and that is okay for the matriarch of the family. But they did get up after this and I finally managed to make the bed.
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Neatly Folded Cats: 2011
Posted: April 17, 2012 Filed under: black cats, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, fantastic four, mimi's children, my household of felines, photographs | Tags: black cats on bed, cat photographs, feline photographs, five black cats, pet photography, photography 8 Comments
Neatly Folded Cats
The effects of a dark, rainy morning: five black cats neatly organized in two groups to sleep on the bed.
After taking up most of the space on my desk this morning, they all disappeared upstairs and tried to get me to lie down with them when I went upstairs. Later, this is what I found, and they didn’t even open an eye or flick an ear when I got my camera and walked around the room, trying to get the best angle on a shot of them all. I turned on all the lights in the room in an effort not to use my flash.
But they did make me think of folded, sorted laundry ready to be put away.

Strewn on the bed.
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Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.