cats – Life, Love & Passion Through the Lens

The New Addition

In my last post I talked about the loss of my male cat of 12 years Harpo and introduced you to my new female Shai. I have been debating on adding to my kitty family. I always regretted not getting a playmate for Harpo when he was little. I felt he was more timid because he was just bonded to me and was not great with other people. So with this being said, please help me welcome Sherman to our home.

As of right now he is about 13-14 weeks and is a diluted orange tabby. A friend of mine in Ocala has been trying to capture her feral parent cats for a few years. This is her third round of ferals and she wanted to bring me this cute little male. When I got him he was so scared and just wanted to hide. On the third day he started to purr in my arms, and was eating with me holding him. I immediately took him to the vet because I had him quarantined from Shai. After 2 weeks due to an infection he had Sherman and Shai met. Shai is an older cat and it’s taking her some time to get used to him being around. They are becoming friends and she tolerates him and has actually played with him.

He and I have fully bonded and he follows me every where. For such a baby he has learned our routine and is on a feeding and bedtime schedule. I cannot get over the fact that he actually sleeps all night.

He is quite the character and I understand how he got the name Sherman, because he plows through everything. He is very smart and is learning the rules fairly quickly. It’s difficult to believe he was so scared his first few days. Things like the vacuum totally freaked him out, now he follows it around. His confidence is through the roof and I’m happy to see that.

My Harpo was a very large boy and this one I believe will also be a very large cat, which I’m thrilled. Shai is topping out at 10lbs and is on the smaller side.

I am so happy to have my two kitties here, both rescued from the scary outdoors and both are just gems.

Since we are opening up I should be doing more shooting so I hope to be posting a lot more often. Until the next time behind the lens.

Back At It!

A Fresh Look, Personal

I have neglected this blog way to long, but with Covid19 and just doing nothing but working and staying indoors, I have been so uninspired. I’m sure many of you are in the same boat. I have a blogging friend who lives in Canada and he has posted pretty regular even during his country’s lockdown and is such an inspiration to me when it comes to getting out and shooting. You can check him out at https://robmosesphotography.com, Thank you Rob for the past few years of inspiration!

I had a few photos to edit from my Photography group Meetup; we went to Ave Maria and photographed this beautiful church. It’s a wonderful little self contained town in the middle of nowhere, built by the owner of Domino’s Pizza. After, we had a nice lunch at a small pub with lovely outdoor seating.

I needed to get outside today and wanted to write. It’s a beautiful day with a wonderful breeze and I am the only enjoying the outside of the Starbucks seating area. It feels good to just be outside working for a change.

Photography work is picking up and people are getting out a bit more, so I’m hoping for more “outdoor” time with taking more photos and just enjoying my life.

UPDATE: New cat Shai from my last blog post. She is officially mine and is just delightful, well behaved and a wonderful companion. Although I miss my boy she is filling that love void in the best possible way.

With Happiness, There Can Also Be Sadness

Personal, Photography Meanderings

I found out last June that I was going to be a grandmother for the first time, thanks to my first born son and his wife. I had to keep it a secret (which was very hard to do) until they made the announcement. Well on January 21, 2021 We welcomed Jaxson James into the world and I immediately made plans to visit them in Arizona. Around this time my beautiful Tuxedo cat Harpo got deathly ill and I almost lost him. Thanks to my wonderful Vet he recovered and with all test results he was cleared and on the mend, or so I thought.

As I began to plan out my trip, purchase tickets, rent a car and figure out what to pack, my boy would have good days, great days and a bad day now and again. I had medication which I gave him regularly and made plans for my son to house sit and take care of him and my outdoor feral cat.

I left on a Friday and met my grandson for the very first time! He is beautiful and my heart is so full of joy over having him! I was so blessed to be able to spend time with him. I was going to enjoy him as much as I could for the ten days. He made me a Nali! While out there we went sight seeing, had a couple of beautiful meals out with family and friends and just an overall great time!

Unfortunately the Sunday evening after I left, my boy Harpo was gone. He was sick that morning and my son did everything he was shown to do, but Harpo stopped eating and his body slowly gave out, my son had to make the call to his mom from 2000 miles away. We both cried, me, more so for the fact that my son is the one who found him and had to take care of his final resting. I knew for me, I had a week to spend with my beautiful grandson, and his parents, so my attention was on them a hundred percent, but I knew upon returning home, the cold reality would hit me; My Harpo of almost 12 years was gone. The grief is strong, I miss him every day.

Rest In Peace my sweet boy, I miss you so much.

As I stated there was a feral I had been feeding outdoors, a very young (*less than a year old kitten). She and her siblings hang around because my neighbor feeds them. The Day Harpo got really sick was the day she decided she wanted to be “my” cat. I kept her outside because with Harpo already sick I didn’t want her to bring anything in to him, but the would chatter and “talk” through the windows. The day before his passing I saw on my kitchen cam that he jumped up on the counter (he did the rarely), but he was “talking” to his new friend. I would like to think he was having his final talk with her to let her know he would be leaving and to take care of me after he left. When I got home from the airport on that Monday, she came running to me! My heart was breaking for my loss, but I knew this was Harpo’s final gift to me. Let me introduce you to Shai (pronounced Shy) her name means “gift”. She chose me to love…and I feel Harpo told her to be kind and to not bother the birds and to sleep at night instead of play. Last night was her first night inside all night, she was excellent. Our adventure begins.

This is Shai (pronounced Shy) Her name means “gift”

*UPDATE: Shai had a chip and has been spayed. Vet’s office had to try and contact the former owner however, no one responded, and one more thing she is not a kitten, she is seven years old according to her chip information. As of yesterday she is now officially mine, she has become an inside cat and was given a clean bill of health and received all her shots and tests.

Welcome to 2020!

Personal, Photography Meanderings

A new year with lots of new changes. So what’s new you ask? First of all I will be moving to a larger space, one that will allow me to take portraits and head shots in my home because I will finally have a dedicated studio space and an office to work in. I will also be able to be a lot more creative with more space to do so. The move will take place in the middle of January; I’m excited!

My year has already started with a bang and with 9 concerts & events, three Meetup events and add moving into that mix; this girl is going to be busy!

Another area I want to address is my social media, I want to set up a designated social media schedule that will allow me to plan out my posts and schedule them for the week. This is going to be a challenge, but I need a good challenge!

Well since I don’t have any new photos to share, please enjoy my cats. Harpo my house cat is a tuxedo and Sandee my office cat is a tabby. 41F19569-682C-4237-A3FF-FDD1643378F5

Cats At Work

A Fresh Look, About Me, Personal

Sandee
On August 6, 2018 very special little lady entered our lives at work. Her name is Sandee and she is part of the Cats at Work program, where they provide cats for the work environment.

It is a cat rescue program designed to find homes for unadoptable cats. Most of the rescues are feral and don’t do well in home environments. These cats are being adopted by Golf Courses and Country clubs to help keep down the mice and rat populations. The animals are cared for; fed, vetted and loved (some at a distance) for the rest of their living days.

Sandee’s back story is that she was found by a dumpster by an office worker at a trucking company where she had delivered four kittens. The lady took her and her four kittens in and called a local cat rescue group to come and get them. The rescuer came, picked up the cats and got the kittens out for adoption when the time came, spayed her. However, when they took mama cat back to the trucking company they were moving locations and didn’t want her, so back to Domestic Animal Services she went; which is where she stayed up until she came to us. Sandee was dubbed “feral” by her rescuers which means she was classified as “unadoptable”, however she is anything but feral. From the moment she entered our office I think she knew she was going to her forever (furever) home. She is so loving, and gentle, she loves everyone who comes through our door. She no longer wants to be outside in fact she runs the opposite way if the doors is open. Being her main caretaker, she has bonded fully with me. She follows me around when I go to different areas of our building. She sleeps on my desk in my “in” box, and she plays in the halls knocking her ball around like a soccer ball.
Sandee 1

I am so fortunate that I get to spend my evenings with my nine year old adoptee Harpo a male tuxedo who I adopted as a kitten from Domestic Animal Services, then I come to work and have Sandee to share my love with. I am just so fortunate to work in a place that cares not only about people, but about the animals as well.

Click on the link to keep up with Sandee the Office Cat

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Cat Knows

Personal

Almost eight years ago I adopted a kitten. Okay he adopted me, because we all know you never own a cat, they own you. However this little guy literally reached his paws out to me as I made my second pass through the pound. How could I resist? I brought him home that day. He’s not like any other cat I’ve ever been owned by, he’s different. Different how you ask? He’s intuitive; he understands me and my moods better than just about any human I’ve ever been around.

On days I don’t feel well he sticks close by laying against whatever is ailing me at the time, headache, stomach, etc.. At times he will even lay on the part of my body which is hurting at that moment. I don’t know how he knows, he just does.

Yesterday I had spent much of the day on Facebook (yeah I know, big mistake), but I had nothing really planned, all my work was caught up and I wanted to see what was going on with all the political rhetoric (again a big mistake). I totally understand everyone has an opinion, and each side think they’re right and try to force it upon the opposition to prove their point, but there comes a time to just stop.

I woke up just not feeling right, kind of in a bad mood. No one else lives with me, it’s just the cat and I, so I had to backtrack as to what triggered those feelings. This morning I came to the conclusion of how much the negative noise of social media had really affected me over this past election and inauguration of our 45^th President. When I realized Harpo had not slept on my bed or next to me all night, I knew he was sensing something wasn’t right with me. He came in around 5:30 this morning, jumped up on the bed at the far right corner and barely acknowledged me.

How did this happen? None of those posts were actually pointed at me, but something did happened at the end of the evening that set me off prior to going to bed. Someone began verbally attacking one of my friends for something she said on a post I had made because she didn’t agree with his philosophy, I immediately fired back and removed his post. Harpo picked up on this and didn’t even sit with me on the couch as he usually does, he snoozed on the floor….totally out of character for him. Somehow his instincts told him I was in a bad mood and he steered clear of me all night and all this morning. He didn’t even beg for his breakfast, he waited patiently for me to feed him. I left the house feeling bad, knowing I had upset my little black & white buddy. He understands me. I know he will be back to loving me tonight, I will make sure of it. But my point in all of this is, if a cat can pick up on the negativity, then how is it affecting each of us? I know I didn’t sleep well, and I obviously was in a melancholy mood, so now what? First I prayed, asked for the spirit of negativity to be lifted. Then I made a decision regarding reading what is on Facebook. I will keep scrolling, if it’s political in nature, no matter what side it’s on I will steer clear and even hide the posts if needed. I will not engage in any of the online badgering/bullying that is happening and I will choose to be joyful throughout my day. This year I chose the word “Intentional” as my word for the year to work on in my own life. I am going to be intentional in what I post, to make sure it’s free of negative language and to make sure it’s uplifting to whoever reads it. I choose JOY! And I will listen more to my cat, because he knows.

If you would like to read more in depth on this issue, please visit Karen Zeigler’s post: Light, Love and Letting Go

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: