I wonder if photo-bomb is in the dictionary yet? Is selfie? You can certainly locate these and many other new terms in the world-wide urban dictionary online. Do you recall the first time you heard a new term and you wondered what in the heck does that mean? I have to say that occasionally my mind has stumbled into the gutter upon my first encounter with a new term. The first time I heard “selfie” for example, was when President Obama was doing this with one of the former first ladies (as I recall) and they were giggling. It was a big news-maker. I studied the picture of them and wondered what in the heck was going on that made them laugh like that during a formal event—was it a funeral? I knew it must be naughty. Well, now we all know what a selfie is and the vast majority of us have even participated in one or many of
them.
The photo bomb is another interesting term for a fun activity. This means jumping into or somehow finding yourself in someone else’s photograph. It’s the appearance of someone unexpected in a photo. It happened to me twice while traveling with gal friends. A man moved into the photo for the fun of it. Made us laugh and we have a humorous keepsake with a story behind it.
I took this picture of a pretty dog one day and didn’t realize until later that his buddy also wanted to be in the shot. Cute.
But some of my most amusing photography experiences with my cats are when they do something unexpected as in this shot of Lily.
Is your cat getting enough enrichment or is she bored and lethargic. Or worse, does she get into trouble by clawing furniture, chewing the houseplants, and trying to escape every chance she gets? The fact is that your cat needs many of the same things you and your family do—shelter, food, companionship, and mental and physical stimulation. Do you ever get bored? What action do you take? If you’ve learned to take care of yourself, you find a way to stimulate 
your mind and/or body. You can do the same for your cat.
Cats need enrichment, and a healthy cat will often remind us of this. What happens when you walk into your home after a long day or a few hours of shopping? Ours are eager to see what’s in the bags we carried in. Once they’ve examined the innards and the bags are empty, they might play in them for a while. Your cats probably helped you wrap Christmas gifts, prepare for your family gathering, inspect your 
table decorations, and the clothes you laid out to wear. Cats have a way of enriching their own lives, but when left to their own devises, their choices aren’t always to your liking. Wouldn’t it be miserable if every time you walked out the door for a little exercise, someone stopped you from talking a walk or doing a little gardening? While you’re eating lunch with friends and enjoying a lovely view of the ocean or beautiful gardens, what if someone suddenly pulled down the window blinds and sent your friends home?
That can be a cat’s life when his people aren’t pleased with the cat’s choice of enrichment activities. He finds a chair to claw and you cover it with aluminum foil. She happily digs in a plant and you get out the spray bottle. If you don’t like the activities of your cat’s choice, doesn’t it make sense to create safe and positive enrichment activities for your cat?
mind. Consider your cat’s visual, auditory, and sensory needs. For example, I like variety in my life. I notice that my cats do too, so I might change out the cats’ toys, move the cat tree around now and then, as well as bring in something new for them to play with and climb on.
Lily loves water, so we brought in a fountain. I could buy another drinking fountain for the cats and either plug it in another place or change out the fountains for added stimulation and interest.
so forth in a box of shredded paper for the cats to explore in. Add a little catnip for extra stimulation.
On my Christmas list this year was a new ergonomic keyboard for my computer and a mouse pad.
finally a computer—which I’ve replaced numerous times over the years. I’ve worn out screens and I’ve worn out keyboards. I almost wore out my wrists until I discovered the ergonomic keyboard. LOVE this thing. And I have no more pain in my wrists! Well, I’ve loved all four or five of the ergonomic keyboards I’ve had. I keep wearing the letters off the keys. It’s true. I type so much that the letters begin to fade and finally disappear. After replacing two keyboards because of this, I decided to replace the lettering instead. That worked for a while, until I wore the glued-on letters off. So this year I asked for a new ergonomic keyboard and received one from Santa. THANK YOU.
I know many people who have gone out of their way to help feral cats. Some take any homeless cat into their home and heart. Some of them establish shelters and begin professionally helping homeless cats. Many others do what they can to save and protect the feral cats in their neighborhood.
make life a little (or a lot) better for lost and discarded cats and kittens. If you’ve noticed stray cats in your neighborhood, here are a couple of sites where you can get some great advice about how to help. You can take action to place the cat where she will get the appropriate help, you can provide safe and adequate shelter using some of the great ideas in these articles, or you can take the cat in. Some neighbors band together to help free-roaming cats in their area—there’s power and confidence in numbers. And 
remember, there are established shelters and colonies operated by people who can help with your stray cat dilemma.
I photographed these two feral cats snuggling together to keep warm one chilly afternoon and I wondered, are they siblings? I’ve seen the way littermates wrap themselves around each other when resting or sleeping. It’s adorable. The two sister kittens next door (now around seven months old) often curl up with one another to sleep. The only two cats I’ve ever had that would curl up together like this were sister and brother. They were both grey-and-white and you couldn’t tell where one cat ended and the other one began.
together, but it wasn’t because they loved each other. Lily came into our household as a kitten when Max was around twelve. He still had a lot of feral fears and he’d hide when we had company or workers around the house. Lily evidently thought that was a good idea and she began following his lead whenever she 
felt frightened and Max let her. I’d find those two together laying quietly side-by-side under the covers. That was the closest any of my non-related cats ever came to a cuddle.
Admit it, you and your cat have rituals you follow, right? And I’ll bet that at least some of them were the cat’s idea. Here in our household of two cats, we have customs and routines we follow quite ceremonial at times. Non-cat people would not understand, would they? Yeah, I still have a few friends who haven’t embraced cats yet. But that isn’t necessarily a permanent 
condition is it? I’m sure you know people who thought they didn’t like cats until they allowed themselves to know a cat. And do you know what this person almost always says; “This cat’s different. It’s not like all the other cats.” And that person stays in their comfort zone as someone who doesn’t like cats because the cat they have fallen in love with is not like other cats. Yeah—baloney!!!! They’re a confirmed cat person now—they wear cat hair on their clothes like the rest of us.
So what are some of your sweet, fun, silly, crazy, and comforting rituals with your cats? Katy, my beautiful Himalayan who crossed the rainbow bridge in 2004 (I still miss her so), she used to put me to bed at night. If she wasn’t curled up next to me on the couch at bedtime, she’d come get me and follow me through my bedtime ritual, jump up on my pillow and lay with one paw on my shoulder. After a few minutes, off she’d go to do her own thing, which I never found out what that was. I imagine many of you are tucked in at night by a beloved cat.
holder, she quickly joins me in my office and waits excitedly as I clip the tip of the straw off (so it will fit into my coffee cup). The straw tip flies through the air and she jumps for it. She loves chasing that piece of straw. I’ll pick it up numerous times and flick it again and again for her until she tires of leaping, and frolicking after it. I love that ritual (and so does she).
Max and I used to play catch with his squishy ball. At bedtime, he’d jump up on the cat tree and wait for me to pitch that ball to him. He’d swat at it, so it almost always came back to me. We probably could have entered a ping pong tournament we got so good at this game.
in and look at his bowls. If they were filled to his satisfaction, he’d join us for bed. If not, he’d sit there, wait until we walked by, and let us know we needed to fill his bowls.
I’ve been telling you about the coming of the movie “Cats.” And I’ve been eagerly awaiting the movie myself. I wanted to compare it to the musical. I was curious as to how they’d handle the movie version. I think many of you were too.
previews (some I would like to see—others I was insulted or appalled by), the movie finally started.
My friend and I had seen the musical “Cats” together in Santa Barbara five or six years ago. Now we sat in delicious recliner chairs in a beautiful theater with only six or eight rows of seats eager to see the much talked about and criticized movie. I have to tell you, the two of us sat mesmerized for the next nearly two hours watching this fascinating adaption and listening to the great soundtrack without falling asleep, without feeling a sense of boredom, without thinking about the drive home in the rain, without going over our grocery list in our head.
they sang the haunting “Memory” song. And when it was all over, I looked at my friend and said an exuberant, “I liked it!!!”
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.”Albert Schweitzer.
Is your cat showing signs of boredom? Actually, she probably had a pretty good month helping you wrap presents, knocking Christmas tree ornaments around, and playing among the gift bags and pretty paper. And what about the constant flow of Amazon boxes arriving at the door and being unloaded before her eyes.
behavior, over-grooming, sleeping more, eating more or eating less, inappropriate urinating, clawing furniture… What are the remedies? Well, I love those outlined at the site noted below. They include putting that book down for a while and playing with your cat, making room for her 
with you in that overstuffed chair so she doesn’t feel left out, and leash-training her so she can get some exercise in the fresh air.
When you adopt, rescue, purchase, or otherwise find yourself embracing a cat, do you struggle to name him or her? Or does the name just pop out as if the cat herself put it into your head? Does he send you mind-messages, “I’m Tuffy. I want to be Tuffy, ’cause I’m a tuff cat.” Or do you have a mishmash of names you’ve saved over the years for just the right cat or kitten? Maybe you want to call her Lulu after another cat you once loved or you came across a cat with a cool name you’d like to use: Alpha-Cat, Cleopatra, Geisha, or Hello Kitty.
from practically picking out a cat to fit the name I’ve been wanting to use, to observing the cat for several days to let her choose her own name.
we went to work trying to come up with a more appropriate name for the calico. We observed her for several days looking for clues as to the perfect name for her.
When we rescued a family of three kittens who’d taken up residence in our woodpile, we gave them temporary names—we didn’t plan to keep any of them. We already had three cats. We would find homes for them. We called the girls, Braveheart and Bella and I tagged the beautiful snowshoe type male kitten, Creamy. Well, I thought he was a girl, for one thing. When we discovered he was a boy and that we would be keeping him, I had to find him a more fitting name and I was coming up against all kinds of brick walls.
