Cat in a Cottage Window

W Herbert, after Ralph Hedley (British, 1848-1913) Cat in a Cottage Window signed lower right "W Herbert" oil on canvas h:74 w:64 cm Hedley's original painting is in the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Blissful Video Cat

From Youtube - Uploaded by cadranaline on Jun 25, 2010
http://www.cadranaline.com

"Beautiful photo animation of our cat in our garden with mystic pop music by CaDra.
The soundtrack is the song Sam Sam taken from our first double cd "Blissful Chess". It's a mantra with words that don't actualy exist. Kind of what "The Cocteau Twins" were doing."

Tuxedo Stan takes a Stand for Felines

 

 

My name is Kathy Chisholm and my cat is Tuxedo Stanley. The photo (above) was taken in my front yard early in the spring (you can see some Hostas starting to come up in the background.

My website is http://www.kathychisholm.ca/

Tuxedo Stan's blog is at http://www.kathychisholm.ca/blog/

Tuxedo Stan has been blogging on behalf of his mother, author Kathy Chisholm, since August 2011. Initially he intended to bring new visitors to the website in the hopes that they would find out about Kathy's book - Urban Tigers, Tales of a Cat Vet. Since that time Stan has evolved into a local celebrity. He is now the leader of a political party - the Tuxedo Party of Canada (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tuxedo-Party/391884324181841?ref=hl) Stan will be running for mayor of Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada in the fall of 2012. He hopes to have a complete slate of cats running for council as well. The Tuxedo Party is a political movement aimed to improve the welfare of felines in HRM "because neglect isn't working." Below a picture of the button that his supporters will be wearing as the election approaches. T-shirts and lawn signs will also be available.

 

 

A Rock and a Soft Place

My name is Jo. This adorable kitten (5 weeks old) does not yet have a 
name, and the picture was taken in a garden in Thionville, France. I 
wish I could adopt him and his two brothers, but it's a bit tricky at 
the moment. Meanwhile, I'm visiting them lots and lots :)

Cats in an Ornamental Garden

Cats in an Ornamental Garden

by David Alan Redpath Michie, R.S.A., R.S.W. (b.1928)

1989
signed 'David Michie' (lower right)
oil on canvas
26 x 40 in. (66 x 101.5 cm.) 

Exhibited at Cheltenham, Fosse Gallery, Scottish Painters, 6-8 February 1989, no.44. 

 

Sold at Christie's for £2,820 ($4,515) in 2003. (Auction estimate was £1,800 - £2,500.)

Saw it posted at http://stilllifequickheart.tumblr.com/ and had to share it.
Love those cats and the chartreuse garden color.

Lazy Summer Day

Lisa Munzer submitted this photo of her cat, Phatso. She said, "He is best at being LAZY!"

Society of Feline Gardeners

There is actually a "Society of Feline Gardeners."

At first, I thought this was for humans, but no, it is a society for felines only. Jonesie, the founding member, writes: "I came up with an idea to start a garden club! I know there are lots of cats who take their gardening seriously...some not so seriously too. There are other cats who like to look out their windows at gardens, and those who just like to dream about them. That's all ok! All are welcome in my club. All you have to do to join is say 'meow! I want to join' and you're in."

Sounds like a simply meow-valous organization!

You can find out more at:
http://corycattalks.blogspot.com/2009/10/thursday-in-garden-with-jonesie_22.html

Tip of the mouse to Anne Hardman for passing on this link to me.

Tango's Story

Diana Wind of http://GardenCuizine.com submitted the following links to a three-part story on Tango the Garden Cat.

Part 1, Tango Arrives

Part 2, Tango's Garden Adventure

Part 3, Home for Christmas

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1824/

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2204/

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2685/


Diana said, "The Tango cat fiction was based on a true story of Tango, a little black cat who just arrived in our Garden along with his furry friends, Zina and Cali. Our suburban yard is a habitat Certified for Wildlife. Wildlife gravitates to the trees, shrubs, ground cover and gardens that provide shelter, food (native berries and seeds) and water sources. We have numerous songbirds, hawks, owls and your typical backyard squirrels and chipmunks. On occasion we've seen deer, wild turkey and groundhogs. And as much as I love cats, I wish we didn't get feral or stray cats in our garden. Cats (Felis catus) as a species are really not wild and deserve better.

   Every township is different, but ours does not do TNR (trap, neuter, release). Sadly they euthanize feral and stray cats that they trap. I suspect they do that with red foxes too. I haven't heard a fox howl since I wrote the Tango story..."

Window Sitters

This is K-Love (top) and Daisy (bottom) both enjoying the window garden of their owner Judy Werber in Huntington, NY. Judy is the Owner and CEO of The Story Lady and Lazy Daisy Creations.

The Green, Green Grass Of Home

Drena R. Galarza took this photo with a camera phone in her Riverdale, MD garden. You can buy note cards of Drena's photos at Pictures by Drena and also see her photography in Washington Gardener Magazine.

Drena said, "This is my handsome king enjoying his outside time :)." His name is Leo and those green eyes are a perfect match for his turf carpet.

A Life Well Lived

Brent Heath and Tux. Photo by Cheval Force Opp

Becky Heath of Brent and Becky's Bulbs said:

The cat's name is 'Tux', short for 'Tuxedo' because of his markings.  He was a kitten that was evidently dropped near my parent's house LONG ago.  Tux would hide under their deck and my Mom would drop small pieces of dry cat food between the cracks in the deck to coax him out.  Finally, she won his heart - so for a long time, Tux was Mom's cat.  Then quite suddenly and unexpectedly, my Mom died in 2003.  My Dad, who was the main cook and caretaker was devastated.  And although he was never too fond of cats, managed to begin to care for Tux and they bonded.  About 6 months after my Mom died, we convinced my Dad to come to our house for a visit just for a couple of weeks (he wasn't expected to live more than a few weeks...asbestosis and coronary heart disease).  Of course my Dad asked, 'Can I bring my cat with me'?  He did and they both lived with us and slept together for 3 1/2 years.  My Dad died first and 'Tux' really mourned the loss of both his caretakers.  Although Tux was well over 15 years old, he began to run around like a young cat again.  He live another year after Daddy died.  He was well loved, cared for, was a great hunter and lived a long, healthy life.

This photo was taken at Brent and Becky's Bulbs by Cheval Force Opp on a garden tour during a Garden Writers Association regional meeting.

Potted Cat 3

Drena R. Galarza took this photo with a camera phone in her Riverdale, MD garden. You can buy note cards of Drena's photos at Pictures by Drena and also see her photography in Washington Gardener Magazine.

Drena said. "I wised up this year and put the catnip in a pot so the neighborhood cats couldn't roll around in it. SMH."

Meditation on the Rake

Sharee Solow submitted this entry from her Japanese-styled Back Garden, Elkins Park, PA

 

 

 

After spending three weeks in Japan completing certification in Japanese garden history, design, installation and maintenance I decided to remove the ground cover plants from this area by my pond and install a stone rake area with the traditional 3 deity stones. KK loves to just lay on the raked stone, sometimes with his head on the lowest Buddisatra, and does not ever dig in it. I wonder if there's some kind of deeper meaning there?

 

Got everything watered again (sorry bout the muddy foot) and attempted to rake my stones but I don't don't know what the Japanese do about the Kitty Kat (aka KK) during this meditation.

 

About the photographer:

Sharee Solow, ASLA, PCH

www.SLSolowHorticulturalDesigns.com