Peek a boo and cleaning day

 Tommy:  OK Mom if you are going to clean and move my tunnel then I'm going with it! Does the snake come with it? And, you know you probably should vacuum a little more often since our furs are still coming out so much! 

Quick post, but wanted y'all to know we are still alive. Love you all!

Purrs,

Tommy and Teaghan

Caturday Art Pretty Tabbies

In keeping with some Saturday Cat art, I wanted to show you some different styles that I have learned in AI art recently.  The first one is a double exposure, with a field of flowers inside the beautiful Tabby. And the second one is a mixup of a few things like alcohol ink colors, flowers, and lace in the furry features; and including words like panpsychic and utopic connectome. Loving the vibrant colors that come out of some of the images. Both created in NightCafe.

And, just for fun and giggles, Snakie came by for a visit! We think it's the baby of the big snake from a month or so ago. It slithered off into the stand of pine trees just off to the side of the house. I won't be going over there at all now. I have a feeling that's where it and maybe more of its kind are living. Ugh. At least Tommy and Teaghan got a little thrill out of seeing it. And when I finally scared it off, it was FAST! There is no outrunning that thing. Although hopefully I believe they will be running away from people not to them. 

Purrs,

Brenda and the Ts

 

Caturday Art with Tommy

Caturday Art

AI art creation of a red and white Norwegian Forest Cat made by me in NightCafe. And, NO I am not getting paid anything or getting credits on this post for telling you about Night Cafe. This post is my opinion and for information only.

Now y'all know Teaghan and I cannot go outside but we can pretend in a picture.  It's a pretty picture right? Mom makes these with a thing called AI. To get this picture, all Mom did was type in the words in Night Cafe (because she has thumbs she can do this and we cats cannot...): "beautiful red and white Norwegian forest cat painting done in pastel style".  I'll let her tell you more about it.

"Lately I've seen how easy it is for others to confuse an AI generated image with something that I have photographed. Many know I have posted many of my photos on FB over the years so I can see why some would be confused. But it's all over the place now where it's hard to tell the difference in many instances. You can see how easy it is to confuse a picture as something that is a real photo or as a painting actually painted in real life. In an AI art creator, like Night Cafe, all this is done with just a few words describing what you want and the style you'd like it to look like. 

Thank you Tommy.  Because of the closeness and inability of many to distinguish between AI art and a photograph taken by a human, or a photo of a painting, even "FaceBook is going to require images that users post to Facebook, Instagram and Threads when they can detect industry standard indicators that they are AI-generated so that people know they have been created using AI." 

Night Cafe is the program that I use the most. There are many ways to get a different output, choosing a different painting style, or a different preset that already has a particular set of modifiers in it. It's very addictive, as you enter the words and wait literally seconds before you get your result. It's as someone said, "it's like pulling the handle on a slot machine, and waiting for the jackpot".  The "jackpot" is a creation that comes out perfect the first time. It doesn't happen often. Many times there are extra paws, two heads, six or seven fingers, no thumbs, too many thumbs, the wrong thumbs, you get the idea.  

As with a slot machine, you have to use credits. With Night Cafe, you get credits to use to make your creation for things such as liking other's creations, publishing your own creations for 5 days in a row, welcoming and commenting on newbies creations, entering challenges (there's even a "Caturday" challenge) to win credits, and other things for credits. 

There are many other AI art generators that are free besides Night Cafe and/or you pay for a subscription. I just happen to use NC the most because of the ease of use and learning it and the community that is in there. It's like blogging, with commenting and meeting and liking others through a common interest, such as with us and our cats.  It's a dream for someone like me who likes to learn new things above all else.

In learning how to create AI images, I have learned from others in the Night Cafe community so many things about art terms that I never knew before. For instance, ever hear of "tenebrism"? It's a style of art mostly associated with the painter, Caravaggio, to do with the use of light in highlighting a subject. I had studied Caravaggio, but never heard of the term. And being able to create anything with a style of art like quilling, alcohol and ink painting (my favorite), watercolors, palette knife, just to name a few is simply amazing.  

So I will continue to create these beautiful images until I get tired of it and I will. I tend to jump from one thing to another all the time and never quite stay with something long enough to master it. But that's what makes my life so interesting to me. There's so much to learn and create in this wonderful life we live. If you've read this far then thank you. I just feel like I needed to get it out of me. :-).  Surprisingly though, I have stuck with blogging here for so long.  I have been on and off many times but that's all relating to me running off and spending time on something new. Thankfully I don't work anymore although I seem to spend the same amount of time on my computer as before if not more! At least now it's for me and not for work. lol.  So thanks again for reading and I'll be back writing, reading, and commenting again soon.  XO everyone and hope you continue to read and enjoy Tommy and Teaghans (real and AI created) photos!

Purrs,

Tommy

And Mom Brenda

Tommy and his plants

Tommy:  Hi y'all! We have been a little bizzy doing a lot of nothing lately. As you can see I have taken over the dining room table. Mom says if I stretch out end to end I can reach both sides of the table. I can do this because she took the orchids off the middle of it. Now I can be the center piece! 

As far as the plant scenario, you know how I like my tunnel time with the "fake" snake. Now here we have a real "snake" plant. Somehow I got blamed for a big piece of it that has broken off.  Just because I run back and forth watching the squirrels and the rabbits out there doesn't mean it was me. The rabbit WAS eating all the cucumber plants out there and I was trying to scare him away. That's all. That's a good thing right?

Tommy's the centerpiece

Back in my sunny spot.

I don't know how that got like that

 Purrs,

Tommy (and Teaghan)

Happy Earth Day from the Ts

Happy Earth Day!

We pledge to support and keep our planet healthy as much as we can within our little micro world inside our house. Here are some things we can do:

1.  Since the Earth Day theme this year, 2024, is "planet vs plastics", the pawrents will buy no more plastic toys because we have enough to play with already. And we hardly play with them anyway, well except for the springy ones.  Also, Mom wishes someone would invent a small box that you put on your counter and add all the plastics from the store into it and it melts down into a little tiny ball that gets recycled. Or somehow the plastics disappear after being put into the box. 

2.  We will be nice to the plants in the house and not put the bitey on them. 

3.  We will reuse any and all cardboard boxes that mysteriously appear in our house. Sometimes we put the bitey on the boxes but it does not seem to hurt them. 

4.  We will play with all the remaining feather toys and not chew them so Mom needs to buy more.

That is all we can think of for now.  

Purrs,

Tommy & Teaghan

xo

Joining Awww Mondays today!

Thankful Thursday and a real Snake!

Thankful Thursday already! Mom is thankful she is inside because guess what's outside? 

What da heck??! Is that a snakie?

Oooh look! I see you snakie! 

Let me out let me out! I wanna chase the snakie!

Tommy:  Me and Mom kept an eye on Blackie the snake as it went around the house. We went from window to window, then we didn't see it anymore.  That could only mean one thing... it found a place it liked in the pine straw next to the window. We kept an eye out and no more snake, until... after Mom came back from a store visit to get some purrvisions, she took a look see around the house and there it was - sittin' up staring at her from probably the same spot it stopped at before. It started to move and then slithered down into and under the pine straw. It looks like we got us a real live snakie to keep a watch out for. Mom will not be going outside for a while... 

MomB:

We will keep you posted on Blackie the Snake and his whereabouts. We do know it's a good snake because it eats poisonous snakes, but where it's hanging out is right near the water faucet we use to water the plants. Eeeeeeekkkkkk!

Till later....

Purrs,

Tommy and Teaghan

 

Thankful Thursday with the Ts

 

Tommy: "You back? I'm bizzy".  

Teaghan: "Where you been all this time?"

The Ts:  The pawrents are home! The pawrents are home! We are so thankful for all the great care we got from Auntie Mary and Uncle Mark. They played with us three times a day. Mom gave them special instructions to make sure they played with us in our tunnel. We like the snake game remember. And while they were gone a REAL snake a loooooong black snake much bigger than our stick fake snake, was in our yard! So Mom is thankful she wasn't here to see that in person, even though she knows they are good snakes.  And we got fed lots and everything is good. We are very happy they are home and so are they. 

The other best news we could give the Mom is that we got our story about our BIG MOVE from Connecticat to North Carolina (warm land) published in our local community magazine, CAT-TAILS, April 2024 edition.  That's something to be thankful of for sure! 

Mom B:  We also heard the news about Brian's Home Forever's Dad, Terry, and are sending prayers and love that he gets the best care ever and heals quickly and can come home to all his furry loves. xo.

We hope to be back to a normal blogging schedule very soon and post some Australia photos. Happy to be home!

Purrs,

Tommy & Teaghan and. Mom B

Joining the Thankful Thursday Bloghop at Brian's Home. 

And GREAT NEWS! Terry is home! 🙏

Caturday Art and Travel with the Ts

Travel Time and Happy Easter

Hoppy Easter! We got turned into bunnies! MOL

This one is a little softer looking for Easter. We just found out the beans are going somewhere. Good thing there's lots of eggs here but where are the chick-hens?

Teaghan: Wait, what? Where you goin? Is it far? What??? That far?!!! Oh my! (then nervously starts quickly cleaning herself up) 

Busily cleaning myself up to be nice and clean for Auntie Mary who feeds me. Schmaybe she'll give me more food. 

Keeping an eye out on the neighborhood. This is our room and we want to make sure she knows it.

Does anyone know where this is? We might want to teleport over for a visit too.

Purrs, Teaghan and Tommy, and Mom Brenda

 

Caturday Art with the Ts, Freya, and Brenda

Caturday Art with the Ts

We had some fun with this one in NightCafe using only the prompt "Freya the goddess of love and Queen of cats in her chariot being pulled by two long-haired red and white Norwegian forest cats".  It really captured their cat faces, well at least I think it looks just like Tommy. He must have a classic face for a Norwegian Forest Cat. At least it got one of them dressed as a female cat so Tommy and Teaghan are represented. For all who might not know, (quite a few of my friends on facebook think they are both boy cats... lol) Although the name Teaghan can be used for a boy or girl, our Teaghan is a girl :-)

 Prompt for this one and no chariot... "Freya the goddess of love and Queen of cats being pulled by two long-haired red and white Norwegian forest cats". Again it's like looking right at Tommy. 

And here's they are in real life. They've had this kitty condo since they were kittens. It was given to them by an old friend and they still use it every day. It's not used like this every day where both of them are on it at once. Teaghan got the top spot and Tommy let her stay there.

And lastly, I do real paintings not just AI :-).  Here's one mixed media painting I'm working on for a friend. It's almost finished, just some more line work and tweaking. I'm not sure I like how it came out enough to give her this one. I am starting another one soon as well.

I learned how to use the technique of incorporating imitation gold leaf and gold relief outliner onto the paper from an online art course I've been taking for a while now. It doesn't always work out right getting the gold leaf to look perfect since the sheets are small and sometimes leave a line between them. And my relief work tends to be a little shaky since I'm still learning.  If you want to check out the classes it's abyssimoartschool.com. And no, I do not get anything for recommending her classes. They just worked out wonderfully for me and inspired me to create many pieces of art using mixed media. It's a joyful freedom in creating freely with many materials. And it also uses a facebook group to share your work, learn and be inspired by others. 

Have a great weekend efurrybody! It's rainy today in warm land here in NC.  We think this weekend will finish off the cooler weather and bring in much warmer southern Spring warmth. OK, off to find a puzzle or two in the cat blogosphere. It takes me sooooo long to do them! lol!

XO

Purrs and love,

Brenda, Tommy and Teaghan

Wordless Wednesday with the Ts

 

Happy St. Patricks Day from the Ts

 Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's a fantasy day at the beach! 

Disclaimer: Clicking on the photo will bring you to owr page in NightCafe. Mom was amazed to get it to make this ai art without extra paws, heads, or tails.

 

And these are our real Sunday selfies.  This is the pose we do most frequently now with ears sharply pointed downward to hear when the "fake" snakie is coming under the tunnel. We love learning about Snakie 101 and can spend hours jumping on it in the tunnel, on the tunnel, or around the tunnel. 

We are joining Cat on my head for Sunday Selfies. It's a special day because it's their week #500 post. That's something to celebrate for sure. So we are dancing and having a pawty at the beach to celebrate. She also wrote a wonderful tribute to a friend, Jean. So stop on by to read all about it.

How are y'all spending your St. Patrick's Day today? 

Caturday Art with the Ts and NightCafe

Saturday Caturday Art Day

Continuing on the theme of "two cats eating fish by the seashore" here are a few that I did recently in NightCafe  

"Hey T, is this the appetizer? There is not as many fish as there used to be in the order." It used to be 9 fishies, then next time it was 7, now it's 5 and it costs more green papers too!

"I shoulda ordered the whole fish instead of the salad. I guess you got that cause yoo have a bigger paw to eat it with." 😹

"Does this taste fishy to you?" 

"These fishies are so fresh dey are jumpin' off da plate!"

This one should be clickable to bring you to NightCafe if you would like to see the prompt that created this.  I really like how the background came out and it's inspiring me to do a real painting like it. 

One of these days I will attempt to actually do my own painting of Tommy and Teaghan. I'm thinking I will start with a pastel to work out the shapes then go on to an acrylic painting. Wish me luck!  Have a fun artsy Saturday y'all! xo

Purrs and love,

Brenda, Tommy and Teaghan

 We are joining Athena Cat Goddess - Caturday Art blog hop.  

Tuesday in the tunnel

Teaghan: Hey Mom! I think there is a snakey inside this tunnel! I see a black stick like thing and it's pokin' around in there. 

Tommy: That's my tunnel Teaghan! Get away from there.

 Teaghan: I'll play here all day if I want to. It's my turn in the tunnel. 

Mom:  And then Tommy got jealous and jumped on Teaghan and that was the end of play time.😄 And it happened so fast I didn't even get a photo! 

Purrs, 

The Ts and B

Tommy's Girl Trubble

Ut oh. I got girl trubble here. Hey girl kitty! What yoo fink yoo doin takin a poop in owr yard? 

Purrs,

Tommy

Happy Birthday Tommy and Teaghan

Happy Birthday Tommy & Teaghan!

Adobe firefly generated image. AI doesn't seem to understand numbers so they get one candle instead of seven 😹. Prompt:  two red and white long haired tabby cats dancing and celebrating their birthday with a cake with 7 candles

Today they are 7 years old. Wow has the time gone by so quickly! But then again so many things have changed in that time for all of us. From their birth in Troy, New York at Finnishline Norwegian Forest Cats to their beautiful Mom McKenzie with her litter of three with their first Mom, Colleen. You can read about their birth story on that first post about them "the kitties are born" here.

Tommy:  "Yeah, lots have happened in that time. Our first scary ride away from our house to our new house. We had lots of fun there, looking out the windows and watching the squirrels eat peanuts right next to the door. We had lots of human friends come to visit us.  Then we had the loooong car ride from our big house in the land of snow to the land of no snow and lots of warm weather and pine trees."  

Teaghan: "And we have learned to not jump on Mommy at 3 or 4 am but to directly leap right onto Dad the food man.  Also we now sit in one room now with the birdie TV all around us."

The Mom, McKenzie, with Tyler, Teaghan, and Tomas

Teaghan's face looks a lot like her Mom's. 

Teaghan looking like her Mommy

Tomas (Tommy) kitten 1st week with his signature white heart on his back

Finnishline Teaghan - (with Angie's red spot on her back)

Tommy

Tommy with a T, or heart, or Angel marking depending on how you look at it and how the white fur lays

The T's tunnel standoff. Seven years later and they are still playing together, playing hide and seek, sometimes cuddling, most times not :-)

Here you can see his marking looking like a heart. 

Thanks to all our blogging furriends for reading our stories and visiting us all year. We appreciate it! 

We will be celebrating our purrthday today as usual, watching bird TV, eating plate after plate of food, and sleeping. :-) 

Purrs and love as always,

Tommy and Teaghan

EDIT:  We made another picture and didn't even ask AI for 7 candles and it gave it to us! WOW!

Created this one in NightCafe. 

 

Aww Monday with Teaghan

Awww Monday

with Teaghan

"What? I can sleep any way I want to!"

"Bet you can't do this!"

Purrs, Teaghan

xo

Awww Mondays Bloghop