Sunday snapshots: Puma's unusual napping spot

Mm, it's so nice and cozy in here on Daddy's clothes.

Moooom! You're disturbing my nap with that bright flashy light!

Nothing to do with cats, but...

A poet friend of mine (we used to write poetry together and help each other revise) sends out a favorite poem every day for the month of April. Today he sent this one--an old favorite of mine that I'd forgotten about--so I thought I would share it with all of you:

Failing and Falling
by Jack Gilbert

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It’s the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.

Zorro loves chinrests

Zorro has a particular fondness for napping in places that provide a convenient spot for him to rest his chin (which, I think, is why he's particularly fond of this bed).

When he takes lap naps he's always looking for a spot to rest hi head--arms, nearby ledges or desks, books, anything,

Are any of your cats like that?

Squeeee!

Today when visiting moderncat I saw this picture. I think it may be one of the most adorable pictures of a cat I've ever seen. I literally squealed out loud, causing my parrot to make some very funny (and waaay too loud) noises in response.

That picture is from this interview with pet photographer Holly Sisson - check it out if you want some good tips on pet photography or just to see some squeal-inducing kitty cuteness.

My latest cat-in-progress

I've been working on this cat sculpture a bit more. Once I finish with the sculpting (I still need to sculpt up that curved pencil line into a tail) I'll be painting him. These stripes were kind of a trial idea--I'm not sure I like them though.

I am also considering doing a solid black with a textured gloss, or maybe some kind of abstract design. What do you all think?

I wish this waiting room had kitties

I'm currently sitting in a waiting room. Waiting rooms are, as everyone knows, the height of excitement.

When you're in a waiting room for an extra hour because you got the appointment time wrong they're that much more exciting though. ;-)

I think cute kittens should be made a new standard feature for waiting rooms. They could replace the pointless magazines no-one really reads. At least I have pictures of my kitties on my phone to play around with, like this one of Allie Mae.

Actually, she might volunteer to be a waiting room kitty. She loves meeting new people, and she might prefer that to being the perpetual subject of my experiments with Photoshop :)