328/365 Its a jungle out there

This cool cat having a coffee break has amazing hair - I have never seen animal print in a hairstyle before! Her daughter is a stylist, and this is such a cool look!

318/365 Tired out

Yet more kittens at my brother & SIL's house! Jodie and I went to see the new litter today, all cute and fluffy! And no, we are not having one!

226/365 Quiet please: catnap in progress

Sweetie and I both napped today. I was (and still am!) tired after 2 days intense photography! Tomorrow, a long drive to a re-enactment event at Waltham Abbey for Oliver to do his thang, I'll spend the day doing my thang, then a long drive back - no prizes for guessing tomorrow's theme for the 365, :0)

211/365 Feline invisibility cloak?

"If I keep my head under here... they can't see me, can they ...?"

188/365 The Cat's Tail

Sweetie came in from the garden all soggy - we've had steady rain punctuated by several downpours, thunder, lightning and brief pauses in the rain. But its mainly been raining. (Is it the jinx of the paddling pool? Sorry folks!) So soggy moggy is today's shot, with PSE7 treatment... it was either that or umbrellas.

167/365 Feline vantage point

Sweetie likes to sit on next door's garage roof and watch the birds. She daintily jumps from deck to chair to fence to garage roof. (Actually she's not that dainty.) From here she has a view up and down the road and can watch the martins swoop to and from their nests under the eaves. She also likes to chase frogs, which is a major pain if she brings one into the house through the cat-flap in the back door! She was watching this one on the deck this morning, but I sent her scurrying by tossing water at her from last night's rain, then the frog hopped off.

157/365 The Witch's Familiar

I think Rosie may be a Witch's Familiar, or perhaps was a witch in a former life. She is part feral, so that explains some of her traits. She is shy and very sharp - never plays with her claws in - and if she needs medicating, we always have the vet do it. And a new collar is a four handed job. And getting her into a cat carrier? Well, we both have scars!

Rosie is so hard to photograph. Being black she fools the camera, both with exposure and focusing. Jodie helped to distract Rosie who is usually camera shy; lying full length on the conservatory floor didn't work, so I ended up resting the camera partly on the floor and pointing it at an angle roughly in her direction, and hoping for the best! This is one of 3 shots that (amazingly!) worked out, especially with a little PSE7 tweaking. Rosie is at floor level, almost under the table, with just enough reflected light to gently define her features.

134/365 Sweetie dreams

Doesn't Sweetie look comfy curled up on the spare bed? Notice its the cat, the whole cat and nothing but the cat? Well, was running out of body parts... ;0)

111/365 Camera Shy Cat

I had a rare chance to get a shot of Rosie before she disappeared. Often she will be sitting quite still, I'll lift the camera to my eye, and she'll immediately walk away or out of the room, or behind the furniture. As it is so hard to focus on a black cat, I need her to keep still for a few seconds - she knows, so she moves.

Can't resist adding these images of Jodie... she's so lovely... ;0)

89/365 Kerria blooms

We seem to have quite a few yellow flowering plants in our garden, most of which we inherited when we bought the house, and this is my favourite. This starts to come out just as the forsythia peaks, and shelters under the bare branches of the tamarisk tree. (Just wait til May when the tamarisk is in bloom with a clematis growing through it - its Mark's favourite.)

Rosie & Sweetie mooched in the garden while I took a few pictures, Rosie is very hard to catch well, being so very black! Sweetie just sits there though, mainly.

77/365 Forsythia (and cat)

Its a bit like sunshine on a bush really. Its a mass of rich yellow several feet high and across and in full bloom now. It grows in our neighbour's garden and hangs over our fence. From the bathroom window, which is obscure glass, it looks just as stunning, a suncloud. It is tricky to isolate blooms as they are so crowded together, but the dark fence is a perfect foil for the intensity of colour.

And here is the cat. Again. But this time in monochrome!

73/365 Hey! NO PICTURES!

This feline does not appreciate her paparazzi! Sweetie was sunbathing in the conservatory this afternoon but didn't want to be photographed. Maybe she didn't have her make-up on or something, I don't know... mee-owww!

67/365 Paws for thought

More cat body parts! I found Sweetie curled up on Oliver's bed again, she likes it up there on that cabin bed! These are her paws right before she raised one of them to bat the camera! Dainty they may appear, but as I've said before, she's too fat to fit in the frame! ;0)

24/365 Sneakin' a peek (again) and the cat's behind

Jodie is sneakin' a peek from her bedroom! I had been in there with her for a good ten minutes taking shots of Sweetie (planning another body part photo!) then a moment later Jodie steals the show. I love the way the sunlight is creating a glow, reflecting off the wall next to her onto the door. Sweetie had been napping on Jodie's bed. Does her bum look big in this?

21/365 Cat's Eye

By popular request, more of Sweetie who today spent some time under Jodie's bed, and also chasing the small spot of reflected light that was bouncing off my lens. Still a kitten at heart. More of Sweetie in the Cats album on my Picasa page, link right.

20/365 The Other Cat's Whiskers

Sweetie was very comfortable on Oliver's bed today and didn't mind me taking a few shots of her before I got back to my decorating! It was a tough choice but this one was the favourite and I've added some of Rosie & of Sweetie to my Cats gallery on Picasa (link right). Prrreowp?

19/365 The Cat's Whiskers

This is Rosie. She is nearly 14 years old and showing her age. I find her very difficult to photograph well as, being black and camera shy, she is hard to focus on and rarely sits still long enough anyway, so this is a rare shot! She was sunbathing for a while in the conservatory between the hail and sleet showers. We have another cat, a white & tabby called Sweetie. I wonder when it'll be her turn to feature in this blog?