kitchenmage

meet the kittens, part two

Capturing these miniscule things on film CF card is proving to be a challenge. First I have to wait until River is gone, lest the mewling bring her running to interrupt the all-too-brief photo session. Then I need good light without flash...which is made more difficult by River's desire to stick close to the babies until about dusk, when she remembers that she's a predator and there are small things in the field across the road. I opened the door last night to call her in after one of the kittens just about fell off the third shelf up in the linen closet...where River insists they be...

speaking of which, check this out: see the basket on the floor? she gave birth in that, under the coffee table at our feet, and only when I insisted that she could NOT have babies in my lap...and when she moved the kittens to the hall closet floor we moved it there as a containment device...lasted about 12 hours...and then she moved to where you see her little head poking up...so now we have pillows piled up so that, when the inevitable tumble happens, they bounce lightly...the newspaper is protecting the mahogany from the catfood mess...(next thing she'll want her food served on crystal on the bare mahogany!) flashlight on the shelf above her helps find the squealing kitten who has gotten wedged between her back and the wall... Better, what you can't see in this picture is that the closet door (when opened, which it must be for the pillows to stay there so no kittens break their heads) blocks the doorway to someoneElse's office... this in a house with five thousand easy places to stash kittens...heck, I was willing to give up the entire sewing room for a month, but does she take me up on it? There's a reason they call mom cats queens, isn't there? Damned Egyptians, telling cats they are goddesses and all!

...but I digress... grin

anyway, I opened the door yesterday just in time to see River take a flying pounce at a rodent, three feet up in the air, all four legs akimbo...was fun to see her playing for just a moment.  Other than the almost tumbling kitten part.

Even when everything lines up - River, daylight, second pair of hands - and I can snag a kitten, it won't hold still for anything. Out of the 25 shots I got of this baby, this is the only one that turned out.

So, what have we learned? Tough light, squirmy kittens, brief intervals...It's easier, albeit much less fun, to photograph ice cream!

As for today's kitten. S/he was the last born and seems to be the smallest (although not truly 'runtish'). If there's a loud crying from the closet, it's usually this critter having gotten squeezed between River and a wall (hence the aforementioned flashlight)...or being frustrated because there are no nipples on River's hind legs and she can't get to one through the other three. Well, mostly through Trubble (the firstborn) who is proving true to his 'nym--he's already trying to escape. Regularly.

More as soon as I wrangle another one...and considering that my extra hands are in Seattle at the moment, this may mean tomorrow.

meet the kittens, part one

Since this little guy has become one of the top kitten images on Google, I figure that maybe some of you would like a chance to have your very own copy of the grayling. If you do, visit my Cafe Press shop kittenMage and take a look at the adorable kittens. (more soon)

Food? Am I supposed to be writing about food? But...but, I have these entirely squeeable things to gaze upon with rapt adoration, so food waits another day.

This little one doesn't have a nickname yet, but I think he's probably got the single best picture so far.

Since the herb garden desktop image was such a hit, I thought I'd offer this one too.

wcb: 'dorable kittens, four so far...

(weekend cat blogging, cont.)

As promised, updates on the kittens. River's had four so far and seems like she's going to have another one or two. The first two were gray (one pure, the other with a little white), the second two black (one pure, the other with white markings), and three sets of white socks amongst them. One little one is pretty much pure black from what I can tell.

Carrying on a fine tradition, we have another "Tux" (aka Tux3) — River's mom Tux (who lives at Jessica's place, the lucky thing!) being the first and River (who was "Tuxette" as a kitten) being the second. Is that not the most adorable thing you've seen today?

wcb: it's going to be a long night...

this is what 12 minutes old looks like, just in case you have ever wondered... there's a second one now, and River decided to have them (literally) at our feet... there will be more over the weekend...and i'll post more too...

until then, please be quiet, there's sleeping kittens and a kind of worn out, and not yet done, River...

the rest of the cats are at Clare's place... (and now i must go back to reassuring River that those mewling things attached to her are really okay)

(updates and more pictures here)

someoneElse's Snickerdoodles for Susan

If one end of the food blogging spectrum dictates that dinner gets cold while "just one more quick picture" gets snapped, the other holds onto the last handful of cookies until they can get a picture taken, even if it means foregoing the only cookies in the house. Critical mass (or critical lack of mass, i.e., the last four snickerdoodles) was hit today, driving me to get out the camera and take this picture so that I could eat one. (Hi, my name is kitchenMage and I am a cookieholic...) Just in time too, that plate holds the remnants of a double batch!

Sometimes simple is best

Having been MIA for far too long, I've been looking for a way to sneak back onstage without making a big deal out of an entrance. Something subtle, yet striking. Quiet, yet audible above the din. Notable, yet seeming like I've been here all along. You know, like whistling in a purple hat. I had pictures. I had recipe ideas. I had all sorts of funny-as-hell ideas...at 4.30 am.

Several false starts later, I've discarded anything  cute and/or complicated — apparently my off the cuff wit has abandoned me, perhaps headed to a tryst with someone less absorbed and more amusing — and have come to a not-so-stunning conclusion: Simple is good.