Tag: sleeping

Sam in the Soft Light

Our cat Sam sleeps atop the cat tree in soft overcast light

When I saw Sam sleeping on the cat tree in this lovely overcast light I grabbed the new camera (Sony A6500) and a new lens (Sony Zeiss 55mm 1.8) and took one of my favorite pictures of him, a simple portrait in soft light. I’ve admired this lens from afar since it was introduced a few years ago but wasn’t sure I’d use it enough to justify its price. It was both on sale and further discounted with a trade-in special so I decided to give it a go and am glad I did.

The camera also worked out well, I’m holding it over to my side as the TV is where I would have otherwise stood. The little on-board flash can be manually bounced so I used it to subtly fill in some of the shadows near his face that were caused by his body blocking the light. The image stabilization helped out since I was in an unstable position and the live zebras helped me quickly set the exposure to not blow out the back wall, so all that was left was to tap the touchscreen to set the focus on his eyes.

Refuge

Our cat Sam sleeps under the Christmas tree

Sam takes refuge under the Christmas tree. I left it up until late in January this year, it was a sign of hope when I needed one. Part of me always wants to leave it up all year, but if I didn’t do it for Emma who would have loved nothing more, it doesn’t seem right to do it now. I couldn’t help but think of her as I took the tree down, especially since I kept finding Trixie under the tree as I dismantled different sections. No one will ever love it like Em did, but Trixie’s devotion at the end did make me smile.

Convalescence

Our three cats sleep on my legs

Although only four years old, the vet says Boo has the teeth of an elderly cat and he had to get a couple of teeth pulled on Thursday. As you’d expect he was in a great deal of pain so we kept him in isolation in the guest bedroom for a few days while he was getting painkillers, both to give him some quiet time in a house full of pets and to keep him from running and jumping until he was off the painkillers.

My wife stayed with him that night but he was making such a ruckus through the night from some combination of pain and hunger and frustration at being cooped up that none of us got much sleep. After finally falling asleep I got woken up not much later by our dog Ellie, so I put on my warm clothes and took her downstairs so she could go outside and go to the bathroom. At which point she looked at me with an expression of “I don’t have to go outside, I just wanted to spend some time with you!” “A lovely thought, pup,” I grumbled as I stumbled upstairs, “but save it for the morning!”

We got freezing rain overnight and with the sidewalks coated in ice and the trains off schedule, I decided to take a vacation day and Boo and I curled up and slept off the morning. Friday night was another rough one so Saturday morning we were back to the two of us sleeping it off while the other pets all went to the vet for routine checkups. They had to get shots and were pretty subdued when they came home, so I let them all come in and join us, this is a shot of Trixie, Boo, and Sam (from left to right) curled up on my legs. Ellie was sleeping on the floor, the guest bed is on the frame and she can’t jump up onto it at her age (we keep our bed on the floor so she can still get into it with a little effort).

Boo recovered nicely and was given free run of the house on Sunday after some trial periods on Saturday, although he reminded me of when we adopted him, he’d go exploring the main house and then come back to the guest bedroom for some quiet time. Sunday night we all slept peacefully, that’s Boo in my lap below.

Our black-and-white cat Boo sleeps in my lap

“Sometimes I Wish My Sister Didn’t Love Me Quite So Much”

Our cats Boo and Trixie sleep with their heads together

But she does Boo, she does.

Boo had been sleeping on my legs when Trixie curled up beside him, inching her head closer and closer to his, waiting to see if he would object with each advance. When she reached her goal of having her head completely on top of his, he opened his eyes briefly but to her great delight he let her stay, and they both soon fell asleep.