Christmas Portraits

Day 74: I try to capture my kids' portraits a couple of times a year, but neither of them is particularly fond of the camera, nor are they amused at my antics when I try to get them to look up and open their eyes. My success yesterday was thanks to a Christmas gift, a cute shelf-sitter costumed crow which provided the photographer with a genuine "Watch the birdie!" prop. Waving it around wasn't sufficient; it had to peck Tip in his pudgy ribs to keep him from going back to sleep. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Photographing cats is second in difficult only to herding them. For those of you who haven't made their acquaintance yet, Skunk is my "old lady." She's 16. Tippy (aka Tip, short for Tipperary) is 10.

How Dare You!

Day 146: Today's interrogative is "How?" as in "How dare you put that camera in my face? You said you were going to take my picture. Are you going to give it back?" I'm convinced that cats regard cameras as soul-stealers. They will NOT look one in the eye if they have any say in the matter, and the simple act of lifting a camera up off a table will cause all heads to turn outward, denying the black box any opportunity of incursion. While not exactly Grumpy-Cat, there will be no smiles forthcoming despite the fact that both Tip and Skunk generally wear cheerful, even amused looks when the camera is hidden away. To add insult to injury, I was compelled to use flash for these portraits, something I normally eschew. None of us was happy with this session!

National Cat Day

Day 16: Skunk and Tip would like to wish you a happy National Cat Day. We did not know it was National Cat Day when we got up this morning, or we would have been better prepared. After breakfasting, we snugged down for our customary postprandial nap, only to be disturbed by Mama running the vacuum cleaner and then moving our chairs and other furniture around so she could do a photo project. It was an exhausting morning for us, so when everything was put back to rights, we immediately settled in to finish the business of napping. Alas, that was when Mama discovered it was National Cat Day. You can imagine our frustration as once again she woke us up and made us pose for portraits. Hopefully, there will be no more disturbances between now and bedtime, when we'll both wake up, ready to bounce and pounce the whole night long. Humans just don't understand how hard it is to be a cat.