QUIBBLINGS

I just heard the word 'QUIBBLE' on the radio and was prompted to seek out the origin of this curious word. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins: 

 

"A quibble was originally a pun or play on words. It probably comes from Latin quibus, meaning ‘for which’ or ‘for whom’, a word that often appeared in legal documents and so was associated with subtle distinctions or verbal niceties. The idea of a pun led to that of basing an argument on some likeness or difference between words or their meanings, and from this arose the notion of a petty objection or a trivial point of criticism..."

 

I was also thinking, were I ever to have one, that QUIBBLES would make an excellent name for a cat!

 

FUDGING THE ISSUE

On a recent visit to Salisbury, Sheila and Roger picked up this edible souvenir: a 'Clotted Cream Flavour Fudge Bar' which comes 'as recommended by WOLFIE the Salisbury Cathedral Cat' who is engagingly featured on the wrapper...

BUT...

On the back of said wrapper we read:

That being so, how much confidence can we place in the recommendation of Wolfie?

Or has Wolfie already passed on to a more celestial abode as a result of excessive fudge consumption?!

Joking apart, after a little research, I discovered the following:

Although domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) possess an otherwise functional sense of taste, they, unlike most mammals, do not prefer and may be unable to detect the sweetness of sugars. One possible explanation for this behavior is that cats lack the sensory system to taste sugars and therefore are indifferent to them.

You (or your cat) can read more here!

KALYMNIAN KATS

Here are just a couple of the many cat photos I seem to take ever year. Emporios is perhaps unique among Greek villages (and certainly villages on Kalymnos) in not being overrun by felines, so these 2009 cat-shots were photographed elsewhere on the island.

The first, a beggar at a waterside taverna, had a seriously ravaged tail and this cultivated expression of pathos that probably keeps him supplied with scraps from sentimental tourists...

This cat, O Best Beloved...

...reminds me of 'The Cat That Walked by Himself' from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories...

Photo images: Brian Sibley © 2009 and uploaded via my flickr Photostream.

FISHY CATALOGUE

In my recent posts about Ronald Searle, I didn't mention his wonderful cats.

I am not really a 'cat-person' (with the exception of Zebedee and Dylan to whom - most of the time - I don't have an allergic reaction) but I love Searle's felines: knowing, devious, lazy, lustful: basically human-types in cat-suits!

Another devoted admirer of Searle's moggies (and the rest of the cartoonist's human and animal zoo) is my long-time friend, artist, animator and mosaic-maker Martin Cheek who recently produced a witty series of Catfish portraits: decidedly fishy felines that captures the eternal bond between the cat and its favourite food.

Even though it's not a Friday, I'm serving them up for your enjoyment...

And this Fish-face is made up of five fish - can you find them all?

UNLUCKY FOR SOME

Yes, that date's come round again...


Hope it turns out to be a day to remember!

Image: Steve Mack of Spot Illustration © 2009

EXCITEMINTS

Here are some more tempting tins of minty mischievousness...

Firstly, a useful aid to theatre-going - especially if it's the uncut version of Hamlet...


And for anyone - like Hamlet - grappling with an Oedipus-Complex, here's a handy aid - whether you are a Freud or a Freudee...


And for those intimate momints that may well get discussed 'on the couch'...




Why buy a packet of Polos (itself a sweet with Freudian undertones) when you could hand round a tin of these?

So, where to acquire them, you ask? The answer: from The Unemployed Philosophers Guild where you will also find many more witty and irresistibly silly items such as magnetic finger-puppets of famous philosophers, writers and scientists not to mention Pavlov's Dog and Schrödinger's Cat - the former with a bell that doesn't ring and a total absence of drool, the latter clearly both dead and alive...*

You can visit The Unemployed Philosophers Guild in complete confidence knowing that, as the disclaimer proclaims: No philosophers or artists were harmed in anyway in the making of this website.

* Here's some useful background information for those needing a reminder about Pavlov's Dog and Schrödinger's Cat and what they got up to.

WHAT A CORKER!

My friend Tony was a habitué of Pound Stores and, when abroad, always kept a eye open for products with unlikely names or quirky examples of mis-translation...

Here's a bottle cap-remover (or decapsulador uña) purchased in Spain which, on the face of it, looks pretty ordinary...


However, Tony's reason for purchasing it becomes clear when you take a closer look at the English translation for decapsulador uña...


And, talking of cats, don't forget there's only one more day before the closing date for entries to the current...

CA(P)TION COM-PET-ITION!

PUSS-ABILITIES

Our friend Sophie was having a bit of a clear out the other week, prior to major building work being undertaken on her house.

In the process of the purge, various knick-knacks and gee-gaws that had entered the category of 'clutter' were being tossed into the waiting maw of a Black Rubbish Sack. And among the casualties were three little kittens! True, they were made of wood, but even so... It was just too inhuman to contemplate. So, obviously, I was forced to save them and give them shelter.

So, here they are, sitting on the fence, and inviting you to enter our latest...

CA(P)TION COM-PET-ITION

Send us your ideas of Which Cat is saying What to Who? Deadline for entries: Friday 18th April.

Usual Terms and conditions apply!

NOT ON THE CARDS

More on Greek cats --- well tangentially, anyway...

Our Guest Blogger today, ANDY STOKES, who was once a regular holiday-visitor to the island of Kalymnos and who now lives there with his partner, animal artist (and cat-fancier) Sue Eisenhauer, sends us this report of their latest experience of Living the Greek Life...

The other day, I bought a pack of playing cards at a souvenir shop in Elies Square. I picked them as a present for Sue because each card has a picture of a Greek Pussycat. The box they came in stated quite clearly that these were "The Best Greek Souvenir", so I had no reason to question their quality.

We started playing a card game but after a few minutes it became clear that all was not well. We arranged them into suits, fanned them on the table... To me they began to look like the sort of deck David might have already 'got at' before saying those immortal words: "Here is a perfectly ordinary deck of cards..."

It does beg the question: if these are The Best, what the not-so-good ones are like?

Clearly the Trades Description Act -- along with other pieces of legislation like Health and Safety, Not Smoking in Public Places Act etc etc -- have yet to arrive at these shores!

Shocking news, Andy!

Leaving aside the question of whether or not a magician of David's calibre (I mean, Member of the Inner Magic Circle!) would ever use a deck of cards that have been 'got at' (whatever THAT means!), I do agree that it is decidedly unfair that whilst Andy and Sue clearly have a seriously deficient pack, there's probably someone else out there on Kalymnos or one of those other idyllic little chunks of paradise happily using a deck that - though lacking a Six of Hearts - does have the decided advantage of possibly containing up to as many as seven Kings!

MORAL: Never play poker in Greece - especially if anyone's using playing cards with cats on them!

PAWS FOR THOUGHT

When I blogged, the other day, about cats (in Greece and elsewhere), EUDORA posted a comment to say that her cat, Blimunda, is "the embodiment of stillness".

And, later, Eudora sent me a photo of the said Blimunda - perfectly and serenely embodying stillness...


Thank you, she is beautiful...

Eudora's comment set me thinking about this particular quality possessed by the denizens of catdom: from the sentinels guarding mummified pharaohs to the modern-day suburban moggy.

We look at cats - elegantly posed and poised - and see what to us appears to be an unhurried contemplation of life that has the stillness and focused concentration of a nun at prayer...

So, it didn't surprise me to discover that the Internet is crammed with thoughts on the subject, from observations such as this on a site called simply, About Cats...

They will position themselves in graceful stillness, focus on one spot, thing, or you (shudder), and with unblinking, unflinching pose will penetrate whatever (or whomever) it is they stare at.

I have paid close attention to this particular behavior on many an occasion, and can only see not a bored soul just watching the air molecules move about, but a extremely knowing being whose eyes, when you look deeply into them, reveal eras and ages of reincarnated mystique.

...to the kind of metaphysical speculation indulged in by u'da buddha: The Awakened One...

Cats are alert sublime meditation in stillness, action and interaction with total satisfaction. Gliding effortlessly through life entirely at ease, moving as slow fast as they please. Relaxed, in neutral, if something catches their attention they can shift in an instant into high or even warp speed. Playful, without excessive exertion or tension, expending only the amount of vitality that is necessary. Friendly and affectionate only when they want to be. Security purring ecstasy, congruent being in spiritual integrity...

We can learn from our feline friends to be in each moment, aware in our bodies, alive to our senses. To celebrate every touch, taste, sound, smell and see that we are continually surrounded by beauty. To be sensitive to breathing, movement, posture and our relationship to the earth. Not to get caught in excessive thought and activity. To rest, sleep and regenerate when our bodies tell us to.

To stop, be still, and realize that the game of life is the eternal impermanent play and interplay of form. To be conscious of our catlike nature; non-attached, less dependent, present and independent. To rediscover that we are and have always been light, enlightened, fully free, with the awareness and power to constantly appropriately authentically be.

Yes, well...

Personally, I think we envy cats because they are able to "authentically be", as The Awakened One puts it, without the tiresome burden of having to try and work out what that actually means --- let alone trying to discover a way to do it!

Image: © Sacra Cantero Mancebo, 2007

CATTINESS

Now... I have to explain how it with me and cats: I am - and have always been - allergic to felines. I only had my childhood pet, Tiddles (yes, I know!), for a week before the recurrent asthma attacks dictated that T------ had to go away to live with Auntie Margaret and Uncle Harry...

Since then, cats and I tend to keep a healthy distance from each other - except, of course, for those malicious ones who sense the opportunity of causing an allergic reaction and make a determined bee-line for me as soon as I enter a room!

Even our friend Sophie's new cats, Dylan and (below) Zebedee, who I only ever encounter after taking reasonable dosages of antihistamine, largely ignore me - other than posing for photographs, that is...



It's rather sad really, because I do like cats - it's just that I can't exactly ENJOY THEM...

When we were in Greece we saw a great many cats, but it was only since coming home that I ran across the following...

It is a little known fact that the untimely demise of the Ancient Greek civilisation is attributable to the lack of esteem in which they held their cats.

Compare them with the ancient Romans, who, whilst they still had a way to go before they were properly tamed, achieved the level of civilisation where they were able to have mutually beneficial feline relationships.

Modern Greeks however, are very different to their forbears - everyone likes cats in Greece...

Indeed they do, which accounts for the proliferation of Greek Cat Calendars, books, postcards and even graffiti...


So, today, I've chosen a few Greek feline encounters of my own.

There are guardians...


Sentinels...


Beggars...


Waifs...


And decidedly sinister-looking characters...


As well as those who insist on taking the chair and making their point...


And insignificant little characters who look as though they wouldn't say "Boo!" to a goose...


...but who will still go a couple of rounds with the local cock-of-the-walk!


As for this photo: it's (obviously) entitled Puss 'n' Boots!


Photographer Hans Sylvester astutely wrote in his book Les Chats du Soleil...

These cats, that are domestic cats, are not abandoned, neither wild, they live for centuries with the humans.

The Greek people of these islands like them without really liking them, they take care of them without really taking care of them; but they accept them totally.

These cats are part of daily life, they've always been here, like the wind, the sun, the sea, the day and the night.

Images: © Brian Sibley, 2007

THE CAT’S WHISKERS

I really wish I had a garden! And if I did have, then I’d require certain essentials such as a sundial, a nice clump of lavender, a tit-box (we had one when I was child but it was never occupied) and assorted beds bursting with country cottage type blooms - hollyhocks, foxgloves, lupins and such like - of the kind I remember seeing clustered around a little thatched house with lattice windows on a particularly devilish (5000-piece) jigsaw I once had and more or less finished --- except for the blue sky bit on the top right which was too boring to be bothered with…

Anyway, I digress…

I would - in the event of having a garden - also want a POND and, with it, what the gift catalogues from the House of Bath and other mail-order emporia are pleased to call a “water feature”. What’s more, I’ve seen just the one I want...

I very desperately desire this totally fantastical cat fountain --- with running water whiskers!


It's the work of my brilliantly gifted chum, Martin Cheek, who - when he’s not making cat fountains - is creating stunning mosaic images such as this golden tiger….


…this gold-crested crane…


…and a myriad other birds, beasts and glorious eccentricities, many of which can be viewed on Martin’s website.

Thinking back to my recent blog about the Cheshire Cat from Wonderland (I do seem to blog a lot about cats for someone who's allergic to them!), I can’t help thinking what fun it would be to have a Cheshire Cat Fountain with just the head --- the body having already vanished away of course --- suspended above a tree branch with whiskers cascading down onto the upturned face of the tirelessly inquisitive Alice?

Technically, it would probably be a tall order and, anyway, I don't have a pond - or a garden - but if and when I do...

Meanwhile, there's always 'Ginger'...

SAY (CHESHIRE) CHEEEESE!

That Cat is back! But only for a few hours!

A few weeks ago, I blogged a blog about The Cheshire Cat and anyone who shares my fondness for Lewis Carroll's evaporating feline and his cinematic incarnation in Disney's 1951 film, Alice in Wonderland should hurry along to the website of Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight [This link no longer works] in Los Angeles, where today is the last day of their We're All Mad Here exhibition of Cheshire Cat artworks.



In addition to two pages of wierd and wonderful paintings [This link no longer works] - including Alan Ausgang's 'The Cheshire Catechism' (above) - check out the auction of Customized Vinyl Cats.

This collection of outlandish creations includes a 'Genuine British Export' (left); a prickly 'Cheshire Cat-Tus'; a 'Cheshire Cat Bird-Feeder' (with birds); a battered, bruised (and partly plastered) 'Cat Accident' and a black-and-white chequered 'Chess-Hair Cat' (complete with chess pieces) that presumably snuck in from Looking-glass World!





There are five pages of these amazing moggies starting 'here. [This link no longer works]

The prototypes used by the artists for these startling creations can be visited at Span of Sunset.

Sadly, homes seem to have been found for the entire litter, including the delightful 'Mickey Pants Cheshire' which shows The Cheshire Cat cheekily impersonating The Mouse!

Since I can't add any of these engaging creatures to my collection, I'll simply have to content myself with this delightful lenticular Christmas tree decoration given to me a few years ago by the voice of Disney's Alice, Kathryn Beaumont, and which - when Twelfth Night rolled round was voted too much fun to be put away with the other seasonal baubles!

Thanks to A Blog of Bosh for rattling my cat-flap!

KATALOGUE

On a recent visit to Telendos I was able to add this kitty to my photo kollection of Kalymnian kats...


This waif was found inhabiting a half-built house in Vaithi...


And I can't resist posting this klassic kat shot from last year - since it is, probably, the best photograph I'll ever take of anything - especially for a photographer who's allergic to cats!