Fran's biting at night...

...I'm sure it's meant in a nice way but 3am and having these little teeth stuck in one's feet...

Please note: this isn't yet another kitten picture - it's simply an experiment in capturing detail using bounce-flash... I'd love to use the FP mode on my FL-50 which would enable flash sync at 1/4000s - but that involves pointing my flashgun right at said kitten... Seeing that it has a range of 40m and seeing that she has very sensitive eyes...

It's actually an experiment in bounce-flash photography...

It just looks like a kitten...

typing very quietly because little cat's asleep

shh... there's a purry, snory bundle of fur on the table-cushion right now... but here's Fran from five minutes ago...

Brecht:

The most fun you can have on a cold afternoon with a post-industrial table and kitten.

Happy cat

Fran, increasingly happy cat, who's now sniffing my feet and tickling me with her nose, met our other two cats this morning. There was a teensy bit of hissing but it all went terribly well and she's now crashed out on my desk with the excitement, getting up only occasionally to help me with typing....

Sitting on my desk right now so I'm not moving...

Good morning! Fran's sitting on my desk right now so I'm reluctant to move until she does as it's the first time she's been comfortable with us OTF (off the floor). So, here's a picture of her needing to make sure the threat of a cardboard box is eliminated...

Cat two minutes before bed-time

Fran was playing. And then just crashed. Very cute. Sweet dreams, Fran!

Not under the bed...

DrFalling asleep... Fran's pushing one of her toy balls around. Very frisky and very pleasing in that way...

A little bit braver...

Fran's cautiousness is a fickle thing. On the one hand, she scampers off sometimes without the slightest provocation; on the other, she enjoys perching on my desk (how did she get up there?) and, last night, gave my a bit of a fright when she started chewing on a rubber band, half of which she ingested... She's getting purrier and nose-nudgier as all cats should.

A purry little sleeve monster called Fran

Fran is now safely installed in my room, with her own litter tray (being used), her own food bowl (being eaten), and her own water bowl. She's taken to nesting behind some old shoe boxes rather than her new cat basket but I guess old habits die hard and it's a bit more like the bottom of the garden down there. That, or she likes the warm water pipes that run below them :-)

She's still a little skittish at the moment but doesn't claw or scratch when picked up and handled and, after just a few seconds, decides she likes it after all. Today, she fell crawled into a cardigan sleeve and fell asleep there, while D* and I got on with our proofreading. And then she woke up, looking a little startled but not in the least distressed by my huge Olympus E-1 camera pointing straight at her little face. She was most obliging once we told her that the images were used for this blog - she even stayed very, very still for the two-second, handheld exposure at 54mm (108m equiv.) it took to capture this little picture!

Thank you, Fran, you're a lovely, lovely little kitten.

xxx

Latest news about Wheezer

Went out this morning and discovered where Wheezer's second home, an abandoned student garage with a hole in the door. The students are trying to reclaim it, though, and keep throwing her out. I had a look inside and there's no kitten there so, while we're hoping the best for young Patrick kitten (a scenario involving a chance encounter with a kind little girl with benevolent parents), we're beginning to fear the worst.

Wheezer's spending a lot of time at the end of the garden still and still good about being fed by us. She came up to the back door of the house last night, and this morning she let us give her a plate of food which she gulped down while we were less than three foot away from her. Occured to me that none of you had seen a picture of Wheezer yet so here she is.

A warmer spell...

The four cats at the shelter were looking understandably unsure and terrified today but the volunteer kitten-handler, who had a reassuring smile and scar tissue instead of hands, said that all cats that go there start off that way. Jonas was sitting on his own (as usual) while the other three were holed up inside the tunnel that runs from indoors to outdoors.



A little later on, another volunteer went to clean their cage at which point they bolted. They were quickly secured again but maybe looked a little more at ease afterwards.



Manni stayed in the tunnel but looked a little more comfortable: doesn't he have big ears?



There were other kittens who'd not been there long and they looked happy enough. Warmer spell to come, I believe.

Has anyone seen Patrick kitten (pictured left)?

Dear Patrick,

We got up very early this morning but you weren't under your tree. I hope you found shelter from the rain last night. If you're reading this - and you're probably not because you're just a little kitten and probably haven't even heard of the internet - please come back soon. We really don't want to hurt you at all. Bernard, Manni, Fran and Jonas are call quite safe and we only want to get you and your mum to them, so you can be safe and warm and well-fed and happy.

Much love,
Pup
xxx

Fluffy kitten

Say hi to Manni - a new kitten born to a stray cat who's taken up residency in the unkept bramble patch at the end of my garden. We're going try and convince this kitten, his four brothers and sisters, and his very young mother that they all want to go to the animal shelter tomorrow...




I'm not a religious dog, and I don't believe in angels. If I did, though, I'd probably think these kittens were a gift from them. Hopefully, the bramble fairies will keep watch over them this evening...

Watch out, badger!

WATCH OUT, BADGER! THAT JUGGERNAUT'S COMING STRAIGHT FOR YOU AND IT'S NOT GOING TO STOP FOR ANY QUADRAPED!!

Just kidding. It's all photographic trickery. He's really quite safe. That said, run-over badgers can be quite useful. DEFRA, for example, collects statistical data on TB-rates in rural badger populations by sampling road-kill...

I'm not sure why I'm posting this. The image isn't even a lithograph.

Bathtime for puppy!

Today I had a bath. Actually, it was a washing machine bath but there's nothing less flattering than being photographed whilst being tumbled round and round (yippeee!) in a bunch of towels, so here's a shot (a localised grain lithograph, naturally) of me in my sauna-dishwasher which is what I do to get clean when I'm not really mucky.

View from Clifton Suspension Bridge

Okay, now this is getting insane. The above image, taken from the side of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol that's closest to the park was converted with a 40 stage lithograph process, involving, amongst other things, localised, gaussian blurred grain, and a very steady paw when it comes to Photoshop's burning tool (400 width, 10% exposure)...

Obsessive? I don't know anymore...

Cancer Research Coffee morning at the BBC Open Centre

This curious looking fellow is one half of local country/blues duo King-Rollo, really not sure which half though. Good on him and King/Rollo for getting up at the crack of dawn to play some nice live music for an excellent charitable cause. And good on Emma Rugg, too, who was also there and did a couple of lovely songs for Radio Humberside. How very public spirited of them all...

Of course, I wasn't so daft as to get up when I didn't have to. I have, however, enjoyed the pictures (and turning them into lithographs with my magic lithograph button) and I will no doubt enjoy the CD, presumably some kind of advance thank you present for pressing the aforementioned magical button.