Sara Cat writes / Sara Katt skriver

P is for Peridot - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 9 - P

2011-11-02T18:41:00.014+01:00

If my mummy/mommie, Anna, can write posts about cats, I, Sara Cat, can certainly write about gemstones and jewellery! I am linking up with that wonderful alphabet-challenge, that Mrs Denise Nesbit started and others help her out, namely, ABC-Wednesday, round 9. This week the letter is P.

My post is called 'P is for Peridot', which is a lovely translucent, olivine, green gemstone; it is actually a mineral (Mg, Fe)₂SiO_4,and one of the few gemstones that occur in one colour, an olive green. But it can vary in colour from light yellow to dark olive green depending upon how much iron there is in the crystal structure.
I asked my friend, Tina, who has a shop Etsy, to make an special Etsy treasury-list with almost only pieces of jewellery made with peridot gemstones: Here it is:

Purrs, Sara Cat

First Commenter:

Roger Owen Green
of
Rambling with Roger

To visit other posts bout the letter P please go to this site or click on the image below:

S is for Sara's Silly Sibs - Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphbe-Thursday - Round 3 - S

2011-08-27T10:35:00.006+02:00

I'm helping my two-legged Mummy/Mommie by posting for Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday Challenge. This week's letter is s.

My four little kitten-siblings are still here. So I am writing another silly poem in the hope that they will go away: 'Sara's Silly Sibs':
------

Sara sighs and questions why,
Her Silly Siblings are sliding by.

They simply are so super-sloppy,
And force us all to use the moppy.

To use the box, they'll hopefully learn,
Meanwhile the stink, does give all a turn.

Washing up after my Silly Sibs, is not so cool.
Mummy wants a washer: a brand-new Whirlpool.

Sara sighs and wonders just how long
She'll have to sing this Silly Sib-Song.
------

Purrs, / Nospussar,
Sara Cat / Sara Katt

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

First Commenter:
XXX

To read more posts about the letter S, please visit this site or click on the image below:
För att ta del av fler inlägg om bokstaven S (på engelska) besök denna sida eller klicka på bilden nedan:

R is for Roses - Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday . Round 3 - R

2011-08-17T20:54:00.012+02:00

I'm helping my two-legged Mummy/Mommie by posting for Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday Challenge. This week's letter is R.

My four little kitten-siblings came home from the farm with the two-legged kits the day before yesterday. I'll make this post short for obvious reason. Here is my poem for the letter R, 'Roses are Red':
------

Roses are red, and violets are blue,
Gone is my summer, once it was new.

Four little kitties, are driving me wild,
There's nowhere to hide from a four-footed child.

They've taken all places, where I formerly napped,
Help me! Oh, Ceiling-Cat! I'm feeling quite trapped!

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

Purrs, / Nospussar,
Sara Cat / Sara Katt

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

First Commenter:
Pricilla
of
The Maaaaa of Pricilla

To read more posts about the letter R, please visit this site or click on the image below:
För att ta del av fler inlägg om bokstaven R (på engelska) besök denna sida eller klicka på bilden nedan:

E is for Elisabet and Erik, Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 9 - E

2011-08-16T18:09:00.017+02:00

E is for my two-legged siblings, Elisabet and Erik, seven and nine years old.

Text & Photo/Foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

They came back from their summer holiday on the farm yesterday; and guess what they had with them? Four kittens, my younger cat-siblings.

Text & Photo/Foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

I'm linking up with Mrs Denise Nesbitt's wonderful alphabet-challenge ABC-Wednesday, Round 9 - E.

Text & Photo/Foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

Here is Elisabet clowning around with my little brother Pelle, who is the spitting image of our mother, Cajsa Cat, who was left on the farm because no one could get her into the transport-carrier. She just did not what to leave; so they left our mother there.

Alas, my summer of peace and quiet has ended. I try to keep myself hidden from the kits.

I was going to write 'E is for EKORRE' as my e-word, until I remembered that 'Ekorre' is Swedish for 'squirrel'! You'll have to wait until we get to the letter 'S' for that one.

------
Purrs, / Nospussar,
Sara Cat / Sara Katt

Text & Photo/Foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

First Commenter / Den som lämnat första kommentaren var:
xxx

To see other posts about the letter 'E', please visit this site or click on the image below:
För att läsa andra inlägg om bokstaven "E" besök gärna denna sida här, eller klicka på bilden nedan:

D is for Dog, according to Sara Cat - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 9 - D

2011-08-09T14:25:00.007+02:00

D is for dog. I'm linking up with Mrs Denise Nesbitt's wonderful alphabet-challenge ABC-Wednesday, Round 9 - D. I'm sure that you expected me to show a real dog like this Labrador Retriever from Wikipedia:

Source:Wikipedia

Or a bull-terrier from the same source:

Source:Wikipedia

There are even dogs around my home town. This is a lab named Benzo that likes to play in the snow and even play with Elisabet.

Photo/foto Copyright 2010 Benzo's owner, Kia

And you can meet interesting blogging-dogs on the Internet. This is Duke, a very clever dog from Ann's Snap, Edit & Scrap. He's sleeping here, but you should see what he can do.

Photo Copyright Ann Thompson

BTW, Duke's two-legged Mummy/Mommie, Ann Thompson, looks like this:

Photo Copyright Ann Thompson

But frankly, I prefer to keep a safe distance from all dogs except for maybe this one:

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

Look at this shot with me and you can see how small he is:

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

This is the right kind of dog for me:

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren
------
Purrs, / Nospussar,
Sara Cat / Sara Katt

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

First Commenter / Den som lämnat första kommentaren var:

Photowannabe

To see other posts about the letter 'D', please visit this site or click on the image below:
För att läsa andra inlägg om bokstaven "D" besök gärna denna sida här, eller klicka på bilden nedan:

P is for Present(s), Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday - Round 3 - P

2011-08-04T00:41:00.022+02:00

I'm helping my two-legged Mummy/Mommie by posting for Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday Challenge. This week's letter is P. For me, P is for Present(s), which any good cat can receive from time to time. Mummy/Mommie bought a special climbing/clawing thing-a-ma-jig from a pet store. This is what it looks like:
Jag hjälper matte genom att göra ett inlägg för "Mrs Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday-Round 3 - P". Denna veckas bokstav är P; "P som i Presenter" tycker jag passar bra. Matte köpte en klätterställning åt mig på zooaffär, och ser ut så här:

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

Yes, it is nice, but I don't use it. I am hoping that my new half-siblings will like it. But I don't. There are so many other things that are much better and more fun to climb and claw, such as my ladder (I get to be as tall as Mummy/Mommie and can rub noses with her) :
Visst är fin, men jag använder den inte. Hoppas att småsyskonen gillar den, men jag gör inte det. Det finns så mycket annat som är roligare att klättra på och klösa, som t.ex. min stege (som gör att jag blir lika lång som matte och kan nosa med henne):

And of course brown boxes! One advantage of the move to the new apartment is that there are suddenly lots and lots of brown boxes, everywhere! Look at this solid block of boxes stacked in the middle of the bedroom. (There is hardly any floor-space left!):
Och naturligtvis bruna papplådor! En fördel med flytten till den nya lägenheten är att det plötsligt finns massor av bruna kartonger överallt! Se på den här kompakta kuben som består av flyttkartonger staplade mitt i sovrummet. (Det finns knappt någon golvyta kvar!):

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

No problem! This is what I call a 'Climb & Claw-Toy'! It really puts that puny toy from the pet shop to shame. See how I use it here:
Men inga problem! Så här använder jag min "klätterklösleksak"! Det här sätter den inköpta leksaken på plats. Se hur jag använder den:

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

And from another angle. (I can leap up on top of these closets to the right, but Mummy / Mommie does not like me to do that, so I try not to do that) :
Från en annan vinkel. (Jag kan hoppa upp på garderoben till höger på bilden, men matte gillar inte det, så jag föesöker låta bli):

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

But this box is still my favourite place to sleep (look at the far left-hand corner to find me):
Men det här lådan är min mest älsklade sovplats (titta på det övre vänstra hörnet för att hitta mig):

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

Here's a closer shot of me sleeping on the same box:
Här har vi en närbild på mig när jag sover på samma låda:

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

So be careful when you buy presents for your cat at the pet-store. We felines are very particular (=picky, also a P-word) and may not like what you choose.
Så tänk efter när du handlar presenter åt katten på zooaffären. Vi katter är petiga (ännu ett P-ord) och det är inte skert att presenten som du väljer blir uppskattad.

Purrs (yet another a P-word), / Nospussar,
Sara Cat / Sara Katt

Text & Photograph Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

First Commenter:
La
of
A Musing Potpourri

To read more posts about the letter P, please visit this site or click on the image below:
För att ta del av fler inlägg om bokstaven P (på engelska) besök denna sida eller klicka på bilden nedan:

C is for Citrus fruits - No! - for Confession - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 9 - C

2011-08-02T22:03:00.020+02:00

I bet you all expected me to do a post called 'C is for Citrus fruits' and see me sitting next to a huge painted lemon! No, for this week's ABC-Wednesday-post for the letter C, I have decided make a CONFESSION. Yes, 'C is for Confession'. Right after I posted my big banana-post, I did something that I am both proud of and ashamed of. What did I do? I found a new hiding-place! As a cat, I am very proud because my two-legged Mummy/Mommie did not think of it until after about ten hours! I felt like a very clever cat indeed.

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren
(I'm lying on top of the boxes from the move. Jag ligger uppflugen på flyttkartonger.)

Ni trodde att jag skulle kalla mitt inlägg för "C is for Citrus fruit" (="C som i citrusfrukter, citroner")! Ha! Och jag skulle avbildas bredvid en jättelik, målad citron! Nej, den här veckans inlägg heter "C is for Confession" (d.v.s. bekännelse), ty jag har något jag måste bekänna. Strax efter jag gjorde bananposten gjorde jag något som jag är både stolt över och skäms för. Vad var det? Jag hittade ett nytt gömställe som matte inte kom på förrän efter cirka tio timmar! Jag kände mig som en väldigt slug katt.

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren
(This is what it looks like while we are moving in. Så här ser det ut medan vi flyttar in.)

But I also felt a bit ashamed, because I made Mummy/Mommie very worried. She kept calling my name and looked all over the new apartment at my already discarded hiding places without finding me. I did not answer her when she called my name. Time went and after fooling her so many hours, she made a hand-written sign 'Have you seen my cat Sara?' and put it on the bulletin board in the entrance to the building. Then she telephoned a cat-shelter, Fiahemmet and asked them to call her if someone drops off a little black and white cat that fits my description! This was when I started to feel guilty about my cleverness. Tears came to her eyes when she told the person at the cat shelter how much she loves me. I was her favourite! So I meowed and showed myself. She immediately hugged and petted me. She said she was so happy to see me again.

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren
(I'm hiding. Can you see me? Jag gömmer mig. Ser Ni mig?)

Men jag skämdes också efteråt. Jag satte och tryckte och teg när hon ropade mitt namn. Tiden gick utan att hon hittade mig. Hon skrev "Har Ni sett min katt Sara" på en papperslapp och satte upp den på anslagstavlan vid ingången till huset. Sedan ringde hon till katthemmet, Fiahemmet, och rapporterade att jag saknades och bad dem ringa henne om någon lämnar in en liten svart och vit katta som passar mina signalement! Det var då jag började få dåligt samvete för min slughet. Hon började gråta och berättade för personen på katthemmet hur mycket hon älskar mig. Jag var hennes favorit! Då kom jag jamande fram. Hon omfamnade mig genast. Hon sade att hon var så lycklig för att se mig igen.

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren
(This is picture is slightly out of focus. Can you see me? Fotot är något oskarpt. Ser Ni mig?)

Where did I hide? Behind a row of books on the bookshelf! In the other place where we used to live, the books were kept in a fancy cabinet with mirrored doors. No way for a cat to hide there. But these open bookshelves are easy to climb up on and hide behind the books. If you are quiet, no one will find you!

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren
(Can you see me now? Ser Ni mig nu?)

Och var gömde jag mig? Bakom böckerna, så klart! Där vi bodde tidigare förvarades böckerna i ett skåp bakom spegeldörrar. Det gick inte för en katt att komma in bakom dem. De här luftiga, öppna hyllorna ger en katt oanade möjlighet att gömma sig. Det gäller att hålla tyst, så hittar ingen dig.
------
Purrs, / Nospussar,
Sara Cat / Sara Katt

P.S.
Click on the link to Fiahemmet to se adoptable cats in the Norrköping-area.
PS.
Klicka på länken till Fiahemmet för att se katter som söker nya hem i Norrköping och omnejd. DS.

First Commenter / Den som lämnat första kommentaren var:

Pricilla
of
The Maaaaa of Pricilla

To see other posts about the letter 'C', please visit this site or click on the image below:
För att läsa andra inlägg om bokstaven "C" besök gärna denna sida här, eller klicka på bilden nedan:

B is for Banana - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 9 - B

2011-07-27T09:44:00.012+02:00

'B is for Banana'! Actually I wanted to do a post called 'B is for brothers' and feature my three new little brothers, but they have not come home from the farm yet. My two-legged Mummy/Mommie is still carrying brown boxes into our new home and I am still learning where the best hiding places are here before the rest of the cats arrive.

"B som i Banan". Egentligen ville jag skriva ett inlägg om mina nya småbröder och kalla det för "B som i bröder". Men de har inte kommit hem ännu. Matte håller ännu på att flytta bruna papplådor till det nya hemmet medan jag letar efter möjliga gömställen innan de andra katterna kommer hit.

Once again, I am borrowing one of Mummy's/Mommie's paper-fruits. And you can see how big this banana-art is; it actually bigger that me. This second photo taken at a higher angle shows this very well:

Photo/foto Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren

Ännu en gång lånar jag Mattes fruktkonst; som är faktiskt större än jag! Det syns bättre i den andra bilden, ovan.

Purrs, / Nospussar,
Sara Cat / Sara Katt

First Commenter / Den som lämnat första kommentaren var:

Roger Owen Green
of
Ramblin' with Roger

To see other posts about the letter "B", please visit this site or click on the image below:
För att läsa andra inlägg om bokstaven "B" besök gärna denna sida här, eller klicka på bilden nedan:

A is for Apple (even it is only a painted one) - ABC -Wednesday - A - Round 9

2011-07-21T14:55:00.012+02:00

Hello! Sara Cat here! Because of the fact that I have been AWOL since April, I have a lot to write about. I thought the best way to get started blogging again would be Mrs Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, starting an incredible ninth round! So here is my take on the letter A: A is for apple, even if is only a painted one! (My two-legged Mummy/Mommie made this out of cardboard and painted it with acrylic paint. I put myself into the picture so that everyone can see the size of this apple-art.)

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

Hej på Er allihopa! Det är Sara Katt som skriver. Eftersom jag har varit borta sedan i april, har jag jättemycket att skriva om. Och vilket sätt vore bättre än att inleda med fru Nesbitts ABC-onsdag (på engelska) som börjar på ett ofattbart nionde varv! Här är mitt lilla giv för bokstaven A (fast det stämmer inte så bra på svenska) "A is for Apple" (=A som i äpple på engelska) även om det bara är ett påmålat sådant. (Det är matte som har målat äpplet. Jag sitter med i bilden för att alla ska uppfatta storleken på det här åpple-konstverket.)

Purrs, / Nospussar,
Sara Cat/Sara Katt

First Commenter: /
Första kommentaren har lämnats av:
Roger Owen Green

To visit other posts about the letter A, please go to this site or click on the image below:

L is for Lucifer- Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - L

2011-04-07T00:54:00.003+02:00

L is for Lucifer, as in Lucifer the Cat in Walt Disney's Cinderella.
In the original folk tale/fairy tale-versions of Cinderella that Charles Perrault (1697)

and then, Aschenputtel, that the brothers Grimm have written, there is no cat, only birds.

When the animated film was man someone decided that a stronger animal subplot would help this fairy tale.

As a cat myself, I am always happy to find important leading rolls given to deserving cats.

Lucifer is a shady character since he his loyal to the evil stepmother who gives Cinderella a hard time.

But face it. Lucifer is a wonderful character! He does have a certain charm, even if he is a bad guy.

He's loyal to till his mistress and he's a good mouser.

Objectively speaking, he is everything any young tom could dream about becoming. (He looks alot like my mother, Cajsa, too.)

It's just a pity that his name is 'Lucifer'.

'Lucifer' means 'the Devil', and really type-casts this roll.

This is another post about well-known cats in literature, the cinema and popular culture, that every kitten should learn about. Lucifer belongs to our feline-heritage, even if he is kind of a bad-egg.

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
Roger Owen Green

I am linking up with Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 8 - L.
To visit other posts about the letter L, please click on the image below!

PhotoHunt Theme # 254: Mostly Black

2011-02-27T16:28:00.010+01:00

PhotoHunt theme # 254: Mostly Black

I am participating in T.N.Chick's PhotoHunt Theme, which is 'Mostly Black', this week.
My photo is of my mostly black tuxedo-cat mother, Cajsa-mamma.

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:

Mr Puddy

To visit other PH-posts, please go to this site.

Ordlös Onsdag - Insnöad

2011-02-16T05:53:00.008+01:00

Det här är mitt bidrag till Susannes tema 'Ordlös Onsdag'!

Nospussar,
Sara Katt

Första kommentaren
lämnades av:

Annelie

av

Sandbergs - Fotoblogg

För att besöka andra inlägg med foto för temat 'Ordlös Onsdag' klicka här. Eller på bilden.

E is for E-games - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday, Round 8 - E

2011-02-16T05:30:00.003+01:00

E is for my two-legged siblings: Erik, Elisabet and their Enthusiasm for E-games!
For those few individuals who wonder what has happened to my blogging speed, here is the answer: Erik, nine and Elisabet, six years old, have discovered the wonderful world of online computer-games. As a small four-footed furry individual, it is not always so easy to get computer-time nowadays!

I am linking up with Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 8 - E.

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
XXX

To visit other posts about the letter E, please click on the image below!

D is for Dog - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 8 - D

2011-02-09T11:41:00.005+01:00

D is for dog. Here is one of my favourite dogs, Benzo, a huge but friendly Golden Retriever.

These shots are taken by his mother Kia who was baby-sitting my two-legged sister Elisabet when we had our first snowstorm on the First of Advent.

As you can see Benzo loves to roll around in the snow.

He was also very kind to little Elisabet.
Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
xxx

Wordless Wednesday: Cajsa Cat is eating a house plant!

2011-02-02T10:50:00.010+01:00

We really need to get Mamma-Cajsa Cat some cat-grass!

Purrs,
Sara Cat

P.S.
Since you already are here. Why not take a peek at my ABC-Wednesday-Round 8-C-post about a very special cat that every cat should know about. Please click here

First Commenter:
Deb Nance
of
Readerbuzz

C is for the Cheshire Cat - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 8 - C

2011-02-01T19:18:00.020+01:00

Hello again! Sara Cat here for another chapter of Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 8. This week the focal point of our attention should be on the letter C. Since I am more or less always writing about something that has to do with cats, it seems silly to choose that word. (I have also done the word 'cat' a couple of times now.) I need to be more specific about the word cat and say exactly what kind of cat I mean. And I mean a certain cat, a 'Cheshire Cat'. So my choice for 'C'-week is 'Cheshire Cat'.

Most people think of the Cheshire Cat as the character from Lewis Carroll's story, Alice in Wonderland (and later even in the second part, Through the Looking-Glass), when Alice meets up with the Cat that disappears gradually until only his head is visable and then, lastly, his grin.

Alice first encounters it at the Duchess's house in her kitchen, and then later outside on the branches of a tree, where it appears and disappears at will, engaging Alice in amusing but sometimes vexing conversation. The cat sometimes raises philosophical points that annoy or baffle Alice. It does, however, appear to cheer her up when it turns up suddenly at the Queen of Hearts' croquet field, and when sentenced to death baffles everyone by having made its head appear without its body, sparking a massive argument between the executioner and the King and Queen of Hearts about whether something that does not have a body can indeed be beheaded.

At one point, the cat disappears gradually until nothing is left but its grin, prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat.^[3]

Lewis Carroll did not invent the Cheshire Cat. As with so many characters in his fantasy-tales, he may have taken existing stories, expressions or rhymes and incorporated them into his own stories, where they have survived. The origin of the expression 'to smile like a Cheshire Cat' may be found here (according to Wikipedia):

The phrase appears in print in John Wolcot's pseudonymous Peter Pindar's Pair of Lyric Epistles in 1792: "Lo, like a Cheshire cat our court will grin." Earlier than that, A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue by Francis Grose (The Second Edition, Corrected and Enlarged, London 1788) contains the following entry: "CHESHIRE CAT. He grins like a Cheshire cat; said of any one who shows his teeth and gums in laughing."

Wikipedia is helping me with both information and images, and according to that site, there was a cheese in Cheshire made in a mold in the form of a cat, which one ate from the tail first and the head last:

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says grinning like a Cheshire cat is "an old simile, popularised by Lewis Carroll". Brewer adds, "The phrase has never been satisfactorily accounted for, but it has been said that cheese was formerly sold in Cheshire moulded like a cat that looked as though it was grinning".^[2] The cheese was cut from the tail end, so that the last part eaten was the head of the smiling cat.^{[citation needed]}

Lewis Carroll (whose real name was actually Charles Dodgeson) may have been inspired by church carvings:

There are many reports that Carroll found inspiration for the name and expression of the Cheshire Cat in the 16th century sandstone carving of a grinning cat, on the west face of St Wilfrid's Church tower in Grappenhall, a village adjacent to his birthplace- Daresbury in Warrington, Cheshire.

Grinning Cheshire Cat, St Wilfrid's Church. Grappenhall, Cheshire

Others^[who?] have attributed it to a gargoyle found on a pillar in St Nicolas Church, Cranleigh, where Carroll used to travel frequently when he lived in Guildford (though this is doubtful as he moved to Guildford some three years after Alice's Adventures in Wonderland had been published) and a carving in a church in the village of Croft-on-Tees, in the north east of England, where his father had been rector. St Christopher's church in Pott Shrigley, Cheshire, is believed to have been visited by Carroll and has the closest stone carving resemblance to the pictorial cat in the book.

The cat carving in St Nicolas Church, Cranleigh

Walt Disney's film-version of the Cheshire Cat looks like this. I have not had a chance to see this film, otherwise I would have been tempted to use stills as illustrations for this post.

Personally, I prefer John Tenniel's original illustrations.

For those who are interested in reading more about the Alice books, I can warmly recomend Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice. For this post, I have used information and images from Wikipedia's article here. (Take a look there. I have only just skimmed the surface here.)

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
ChrisJ
of
Flamblogger

To read other posts about the letter C, please go to this site or click on the image below:

Please leave a comment. 'Skicka en kommentar' means 'Post a Comment'.

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

P is for 'Puss 'n Boots' - Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, Round 2 - P

2011-01-26T00:01:00.011+01:00

P is for 'Puss in Boots'. Hi, I'm Sara Cat!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday-Round 2 - P. As a blogger, who is also a cat, I feel it is my duty to write about issues of interests to all cats. So for the letter 'P', I would like to mention that there is a fairy tale that has done much to raise the status of the cat, and that is 'Puss in Boot' or 'Master Cat' (Le Maistre Chat, ou Le Chat Botté, literally "The Booted Cat" by Charles Perrault (1628–1703).

'Puss in Boots' is the story about the youngest of three sons of a miller who only inherits a cat when their father dies. He is unhappy with his inheritence until the cat starts to talk asks for a pair of boots, which he says he will need if he is going to help his master. Puss is a trickster and not only earns money for the impouverished miller's son, he even helps him play the part of the fictional Marquis of Carabas and thereby making a good impression upon the king and winning the hand of his daughter, the princess. Here is Wikipedia's plot summary:

The tale opens with the third and youngest son of a miller receiving his inheritance — a cat. At first, the youngest son laments, as the eldest brother gains the mill, and the middle brother attains the mules. The feline is no ordinary cat, however, but one who requests and receives a pair of boots. Determined to make his master's fortune, the cat bags a rabbit in the forest and presents it to the king as a gift from his master, the fictional Marquis of Carabas. The cat continues making gifts of game to the king for several months.

Puss meets the ogre in a nineteenth-century illustration by Gustave Doré

One day, knowing the king and his daughter are traveling by coach along the riverside, the cat persuades his master to remove his clothes and enter the river. The cat disposes of his master's clothing beneath a rock. As the royal coach nears, the cat begins calling for help in great distress, and, when the king stops to investigate, the cat tells him that his master, the Marquis, has been bathing in the river and robbed of his clothing. The king has the young man brought from the river, dressed in a splendid suit of clothes, and seated in the coach with his daughter, who falls in love with him at once.

The cat hurries ahead of the coach, ordering the country folk along the road to tell the king that the land belongs to the "Marquis of Carabas", saying that if they do not he will cut them into mincemeat. The cat then happens upon a castle inhabited by an ogre who is capable of transforming himself into a number of creatures. The ogre displays his ability by changing into a lion, frightening the cat, who then tricks the ogre into changing into a mouse. Once that change is complete, the cat pounces upon the mouse and devours it. The king arrives at the castle which formerly belonged to the ogre, and, impressed with the bogus Marquis and his estate, gives the lad the princess in marriage. Thereafter, the cat enjoys life as a great lord who runs after mice only for his own amusement.^[6]

The tale is followed immediately by two morals: "one stresses the importance of possessing industrie and savoir faire while the other extols the virtues of dress, countenance, and youth to win the heart of a princess."^[7]

Peraults original French Le Maistre Chat, ou Le Chat Botté, was first published in 1697 and became immediately popular in France. An English translation of 'Puss in Boots' was first published in 1729.

But 'Puss in Boots' is not as popular in England as the British folktale, 'Dick Whittington's Cat' whose cat is not a trickster, but simply helps his master by being a good mouser. This is Wikipedia's summary of Dick Whittington and His Cat:

Dick Whittington and His Cat is a British folk tale that has often been used as the basis for stage pantomimes and other adaptations. It tells of a poor boy in the 14th century who becomes a wealthy merchant and eventually the Lord Mayor of London because of the ratting abilities of his cat. The character of the boy is named after a real-life person, Richard Whittington, but the real Whittington did not come from a poor family and there is no evidence that he had a cat.

Synopsis:

Dick Whittington was a poor orphan. Hearing of the great city of London, where the streets were said to be paved with gold, he set off to seek his fortune in the city. Once there, of course, Dick could not find any streets that were paved with gold. Hungry, cold and tired, he fell asleep in front of the great house of Mr. Fitzwarren, a rich merchant. The generous man took Dick into his house and employed him as a scullery boy. Unfortunately, Dick's little room was infested with rats. Dick earned a penny shining a gentleman's shoes, and with it he bought a cat, who drove off the rats.

One day, Mr. Fitzwarren asked his servants if they wished to send something in his ship, leaving on a journey to a far off port, to trade for gold. Reluctantly, Dick sent his cat. Dick was happy living with Mr. Fitzwarren, except that Fitzwarren's cook was cruel to Dick, who eventually decided to run away. But before he could leave the city, he heard the Bow Bells ring out. They seemed to be saying, "Turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London". Dick retraced his steps and found that Mr. Fitzwarren's ship had returned. His cat had been sold for a great fortune to the King of Barbary, whose palace was overrun with mice. Dick was a rich man. He joined Mr. Fitzwarren in his business and married his daughter Alice, and in time became the Lord Mayor of London three times, just as the bells had predicted.

The notion that a cat could be a hero in a fairy tale or do something that would help bring about a happy end, was not the usual role that the cat was given in early fables and tales; if a cat was even mentioned at all, in the printed word. In the earliest stories, the cat was always connected to the mouse, as a simple rodent-killer. The cat was rarely given a personality. But 'Puss in Boots' marks a turning-point for the status of the cat. Puss wins by being clever.

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
La
of
A Musing Potpourri

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B is for Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - ABC-Wednesday, Round 8 - B

2011-01-25T00:37:00.025+01:00

This is the first edition of Black Beauty
Photo source:Wikipedia

As a cat-blogger, I owe a debt of gratitude to others for the inspiration to write about my life as a cat. The first cat-blog that inspired me to get started with my own cat-page is Daisy the Curly Cat. Other cat-blogs have also inspired me: Beaded Tail, and Sparkle the Designer Cat . Other kinds of animal-blogs have taught me a lot such as The Maaaa of Pricilla, Marg's Pets and Ask Fisher. And as time passes I have discovered many, many interesting animal-sites, well worth visiting. But all of us, who write from the point of view of another species, owe a debt to the British writer, Anna Sewell and her novel Black Beauty.

(This Edition of Black Beauty can be ordered
through the Amazon UK-widget below.)

As a child, Anna Sewell (1820-1878) injured both her ankles very badly, so for the rest of her life she was depended upon horses to get her from one place to another. After reading her novel, it is easy to understand how she must have been grateful to these enormous, beautiful and intelligent creatures that she came to know so well. In her novel Black Beauty, Sewell describes, from a horse's point of view, how different owners and grooms treated their horses. She hoped that her novel would make people show more kindness and sympathy towards horses. In fact, her novel has inspired animal rights activists, other writers and film-makers, and remains a classic of children's literature (even though Anna Sewell never wrote it for children). Now there are many who write about animals from the animal's point of view.

The structure of this novel is staightforward and ingenious. Black Beauty tells his own life story, but meets and observes other horses; and he asks them about how their lives have been. This way we only get to hear about the very worst of the ill-treatment of horses since Black Beauty is a horse who is an observer and who is fortunate, having known kindness from the beginning as a colt, even though he is badly treated by several owners throughout the middle of his life. The novel, Black Beauty, ends happily, despite the many sad reports from the lives of other horses. Black Beauty himself is happy when he tells his story, leaving the reader with hope; as his very last owner is good and kind and has promised to never sell him.

One of the stories-within-a-story about other horses, is about the old war horse, Captain, who describes his time as a cavalry horse in the Crimean War. Here is part of Captain's story:

'I cannot tell all that happened on that day, but I will tell of the last charge that we made together. It was across a valley right in front of the enemy's cannon. By this time we were well used to the roar of heavy guns, the rattle of musket fire, and the flying of shots near us; but never had I been under such a fire as we rode through on that day. From the right, from the left. and from the front, shot and shell poured in upon us. Many a brave man went down, many a horse fell, flinging his rider to the earth; many a horse without a rider ran wildly out of the ranks, then, terrified at being alone, with no hand to guide him, came pressing in among his old campanions, to gallop with them to the charge.
'Fearful as it was, no one stopped, no one turned back. Every moment the ranks were thinned, but as our comrades fell, we closed in to keep together; and instead of being shaken or staggered in our pace, our gallop became faster and faster as we neared the cannon, all clouded in white smoke, while the red fire flashed through it.
'My master, my dear master, was cheering on his comrades with his right arm raised on high, when one of the balls, whizzing close to my head, struck him. I felt him stagger with the shock, though he uttered no cry; I tried to check my speed, but the sword dropped from his right hand, the rein fell loose from the left, and sinking backward from the saddle he fell to the earth; the other riders swept past us, and by the force of their charge I was driven from the spot where he fell.
'I wanted to keep my place by his side, and not leave him under that rush of horses' feet, but it was in vain; and now without a master or a friend, I was alone on that great slaughter ground; then fear took hold of me, and I trembled as I had never trembled before; and I too, as I had seen other horses do, tried to join in the ranks and gallop with them; but I was beaten off by the swords of the soldiers. Just then a soldier whose horse had been killed under him caught at my bridle and mounted me, and with this new master I was again going forward; but our gallant company was cruelly overpowered, and those who remained alive after the fierce fight for the guns came galloping back over the same ground. Some of the horses had been so badly wounded that they could scarcely move from the loss of blood; other noble creatures were trying on three legs to drag themelves along, others were struggling to rise on their forefeet, when their hind legs had been shattered by shot. Their groans were piteous to hear, and the beseeching look in their eyes as those who escaped passed by, and left them to their fate, I shall never forget. After the battle the wounded men were brought in, and the dead were burried."
'And what about the horses?' I said. 'Were they left to die?'
'No, the army farriers went over the field with their pistols and shot all that was ruined. Some that had only slight wounds were bought back and attended to, but the greater part of the noble, willing creatures that went out that morning never came back! In our stables there was only about on in four that returned.
'I never saw my dear master again. I believe he fell dead from the saddle. I never loved any other naster so well. I went into many other engagements but was only once wounded, and then not seriously; and when the war was over, I came back to England, as sound and strong as when I went out.'
I said, 'I have heard people talk about war as if it was a very fine thing."
'Ah!' said he, 'I should think they never saw it. No doubt it is very fine there is no enemy, when it is just exercise and parade, and sham fight. Yes, it is very fine then; but when thousands of good brave men and horses are killed, or crippled for life, it is a very different look.'
'Do you know what they fought about?' said I.
'No,' he said, 'that is more than a horse can understand, but the enemy must have been awfully wicked people, if it was right to go all that way over the sea on purpose to kill them.'

Does this sound familiar? The horse Captain lost his master in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Alfred, Lord Tennyson's well-known poem is about this battle, the Battle of Balaclava, that took place during the Crimean War on 25 October 1854. Anna Sewell has taken a poem about a battle where many, many soldiers die, and used its content in this chapter about a war horse who tells the same story from a horse's point of view. Take a look at the poem if you would like to hear it read aloud go to this page.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

[Source]

(Here are several links to Wikipedia's pages on these subjects.)

This passage is taken from pp.123-125 of the unabridged Dover Juvenile Classics edition (1999) of Anna Sewell's novel, Black Beauty, that was published in 1877, one year before her death. This is a book that is probably available at most public and school libraries, and has been translated into many languages.

Thank you for visiting!
Purrs,

Sara Cat

To read more about Anna Sewell and her only novel, Black Beauty, go to Wikipedia's page here.

First Commenter:
Francisca of
View thru my Global Lens

'Skicka en kommentar' means 'Post a comment'.
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Amazon.co.uk Widgets

O is for Ocelot - Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday

2011-01-21T21:54:00.010+01:00

O is for Ocelot.

It's time to link up with Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, Round 2 - O. I am at my wits end. Anna asked me to do something for this O-post and I keeping with the theme of my blog, I must write a post about a cat. I have already written two poems about the letter O [See 'O is a very round letter'], but now I have nothing poetic to say about the letter O. I am concerned about cats. So here is a few words about an O-cat, the Ocelot!

According to Wikipedia, the Ocelot :

The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), pronounced /ˈɒsəˌlɒt/, also known as the Dwarf Leopard, McKenney's Wildcat, Jaguatirica (in Brazil), Jaguarete (in Paraguay and Argentina), Tigrillo (in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru), Cunaguaro (in Venezuela), or Manigordo (in Costa Rica and Panama)
is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America and Mexico, but has been reported as far north as Texas and in Trinidad, in the Caribbean. North of Mexico, it is found regularly only in the extreme southern part of Texas^[3], although there are rare sightings in Southern Arizona.^[4]
The ocelot is similar in appearance to a domestic cat. Its fur resembles that of a Clouded Leopard or Jaguar and was once regarded as particularly valuable. As a result, hundreds of thousands of ocelots were once killed for their fur. The feline was classified a "vulnerable" endangered species from 1972 until 1996, but is now rated "least concern" by the 2008 IUCN Red List.

This is where the ocelot lives:

Wikipedia informs us more about the physical characteristics of the ocelot:

The ocelot ranges from 68 to 100 centimetres (27 to 39 in) in length, plus 26 to 45 centimetres (10 to 18 in) tail length, and typically weighs 8 to 10 kilograms (18 to 22 lb), although much larger individuals have occasionally been recorded,^[8]^[9] making it the largest of the generally dainty Leopardus wild cat genus. It has sleek fur, rounded ears and relatively large front paws. While similar in appearance to the Oncilla and Margay, which inhabit the same region, the ocelot is larger.

Like most felines, the ocelot is a night-animal, defends its territory fiercely and lives a solitary life. To read more about these beautiful, wild cats, ocelots go to this page. But after reading and writing about ocelots, I am happy that I have a nice warm bed and a kind Mommie who looks after me!

This post is one of my personal series 'Cats Around the World', and the ocelot is our O-cat for Alphabe-Thursday, Round 2, that is all about the letter O.

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
Judie of
Rogue Artists

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How we cats show our love - Fluffy Friday #56 / Hur vi katter visar vår kärlek - Dunig fredag nr 56

2011-01-21T20:33:00.014+01:00

Posting for Fluffy Friday, I would like to show some pictures from last May outside in the garden. Som inlägg för Dunig fredag, vill jag visa några gamla bilder tagna i trädgården i maj i fjol.

Mamma-Cajsa is weaving back and forth around our Mommie's/Mummy's legs.
Mamma-Cajsa gnider sig mot och runt mattes ben.

This is what we often see of our humans: their feet, shoes and legs.
Det är det här vi oftast ser av våra människor: deras fötter, skor och ben.

You can see that Cajsa really likes our two-legged Mother. And she likes us too!
Som ni ser tycker Cajsa om vår lilla matte. Och hon tycker också om oss!

Purrs,/Nospussar,
Sara Cat/Sara Katt

First Commenter: Kommentar lämnas först av:
xxx

Share your fluffy friends with us every Friday! Whether it's a favourite stuffed toy or an adorable pet - basically anything fluffy, we'd love to see your pictures & stories! Leave ONLY the POST URL here and grab the Fluffy Friday badge at Meow Diaries. Any unrelated links will be deleted.

N is for Nils, Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, Round 2 - N

2011-01-13T02:01:00.024+01:00

N is for Nils, and not just any boy named Nils, but Nils Holgersson, the main character in the novel, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (Nils Holgerssons Underbara Resa Genom Sverige, 1906-1907) by the famous Swedish author, Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940).

Selma Lagerlöf

Among Selma Lagerlöf's many claims to fame is the fact that she is the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1909). The first image on this post is a scene from The Wonderful Adventures of Nils on the back of a Swedish twenty crown note (remember that Sweden said no to the euro and kept the krona. So this money is currently still in use.) Here is the front side of the same bill, showing a portrait of Selma Lagerlöf.

Once again, it's Sara Cat here, posting instead of Anna (who has her mind on other things.) I promised Anna that I'd take care of this week's post for Mrs. Jenny Matlock's inspiring alphabet-meme, Alphabe-Thursday, Round 2, with the letter N, if she would let me do it my way! And 'doing it my way' means that I need to find a cat!

Here is the illustrated cover by Lars Klinting to a picture-book version of The Wonderful Adventures of Nils:

Judging by these illustrations you can guess what this story is about: a boy who somehow gets to ride on the back of a goose and travels through Sweden from south to north (and back again). Nils' air-trip with migratory birds is not purely an act of fancy by the author. It is the answer to the need for a new school book about geography for Swedish children. Those who are interested in learning more about the background to this 'writing assignment' can go to this site: 'Background to the commission to write The Wonderful Adventures of Nils', here.

Here is a portrait of Selma Lagerlöf painted by the artist Carl Larsson. And here is a map of Sweden that shows the route that Nils takes on his trip through Sweden.

There is so much written about Selma Lagerlöf and even the novel about Nils Holgersson that I must be selective. This story, about the naughty, lazy boy, Nils, who is magically reduced in size and takes a trip on the back of a goose, is really the framework for many stories as stops along the way to visit different parts of Sweden and learn about geography, packaged with local legends, tales, traditions and folklore.

Nils Holgersson, statue by Ralf Borselius in Karlskrona.

This is how the story begins: Nils is left alone at home on the farm, while his parents go to church, leaving him behind to read the Biblical lesson for the day until they return. Nils dozes instead of reading his lesson, and when he wakes up he sees a tomte (a small elf-like creature) whom Nils trys to catch in a butterfly-net. He is knocked out by a slap in the face and when he wakes up, he is reduced in size to about three inches tall. The tomte is gone, and Nils trys to find him. He goes out to the barn and discovers that he can understand the language of the cows and chickens there. But they don't help him. The chickens are huge but he forgets his change in size and throws a rock at them. They scream and run after him, but stop when the farm cat walks by.

Selma Lagerlöf

This is what happens next (in my English translation):

'Dear Kitty', he said, 'You know where every hole and hiding-place is here on the farm, don't you? Would you please tell me where I can find that tomte?'

The cat did not answer immediately. He sat down and wrapped his tail in a pretty circle in front of his legs and stared at the boy. He was a large black cat with a white spot on his chest. His coat looked smooth and sleek in the sunshine. His claws were sheathed and his eyes all gray with only very narrow slits in the middle. The cat looked completely pleasant and trustworthy.

'I think I know where the little elf lives', he said in a smooth voice, 'but that doesn't mean that I am going to tell you.'

'But dear Kitty, you must help me,' the boy said,'Don't you see that he has cast a spell on me?'

The cat opened his eyes a little, so that the green wickedness started to show. He purred and hummed with satisfaction, before he answered.

'Am I to help you because you have pulled my tail so many times?' he said finally.
It was then that the boy became angry and forgot how little and helpless he had become. 'I can still pull your tail if I want to,' and ran towards the cat.

In the next instant, the cat was so completely transformed, that the boy could hardly believe that it was the same animal. Every hair on his body stood straight out. His back was arched, his legs were longer, and his claws scraped the ground. His tail had become short and thick, his ears lay backward, his mouth hissed, and his eyes were wide open and as red as fire. The boy did not want to be threatened by a cat, so he took one step forward. But then the cat lunged toward him, landing on top of the boy, knocking him over. The cat pressed his front paws on his chest and opened his jaws over his throat. The boy felt the sharp claws sink through his vest and shirt to his skin, and how the sharp fangs tickled his throat. He cried out for help as loud as he could. But no one came, and he thought that this was to be his last moment alive. It was then that the cat sheathed his claws and let go of his neck.

Selma Lagerlöf

'Now then.' he said, 'That's probably enough. I'll let you go this time for the sake of your mother. I just wanted you to know which one of us is in charge now.' And with that, the cat walked away looking just as sleek and gentle as he did before, when he came.

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
JDaniel4's Mom

To visit other posts about the letter N, please visit this site by clicking on the image below:

*Here is the Swedish orginal text (source):

Pojken försökte komma undan dem, men hönsen sprungo efter och skreko, så att han höll på att mista hörseln. Han hade väl aldrig sluppit ifrån dem, om inte stugkatten hade kommit gående. Så snart hönsen sågo katten, tystnade de och låtsades inte tänka på annat än att krafsa i jorden efter mask.
Pojken sprang genast fram till katten.
"Kära du Misse," sade han, "du känner väl till alla vrår och smyghål här på gården? Du får vara snäll och tala om för mig var jag kan finna tomten.
"Katten svarade inte genast. Han satte sig ner, lade svansen prydligt i ring framför benen och stirrade på pojken. Det var en stor, svart katt med en vit fläck i bringan. Håret låg slätt och blänkte i solskenet. Klorna voro indragna, och ögonen voro jämngråa med bara en liten, smal springa mittpå. Katten såg genombeskedlig ut.
"Nog vet jag var tomten bor," sade han med len röst, "men inte är det sagt, att jag vill tala om det för dig."
"Kära Misse, du får lov att hjälpa mig," sade pojken. "Ser du inte hur han har förtrollat mig?"
Katten öppnade litet på ögonen, så att den gröna elakheten började lysa fram. Han spann och surrande av belåtenhet, innan han svarade. "Ska jag kanske hjälpa dig, för det att du så ofta har ryckt mig i svansen?" sade han till sist. Då blev pojken ond och glömde alldeles hur liten och maktlös han nu var. "Jag kan allt rycka dig i svansen än en gång, jag," sade han och sprang emot katten. I nästa ögonblick var katten så förändrad, att pojken knappt kunde tro, att det var samma djur. Vartenda hår på hans kropp stod på ända. Ryggen hade krökt sig, benen hade längt sig, klorna skrapade i marken, svansen hade blivit kort och tjock, öronen lade sig bakåt, munnen fräste, ögonen stodo vidöppna och lyste av röd eld.Pojken ville inte låta skrämma sig av en katt, utan tog än ett steg framåt. Men då gjorde katten ett språng, kom ner rätt på pojken, slog omkull honom och ställde sig över honom med framfötterna på hans bröst och gapet öppet över hans strupe.Pojken kände hur klorna trängde genom västen och skjortan in i skinnet, och hur de vassa hörntänderna kittlade strupen. Han skrek på hjälp, allt vad han förmådde.Men ingen kom, och han trodde förvisso, att hans sista stund var inne. Då kände han, att katten drog in klorna och släppte taget om strupen."Så där," sade han, "nu kan det vara nog. Jag ska låta dig slippa undan den här gången för matmors skull. Jag ville bara, att du skulle veta vem av oss två det är, som nu har makten." Därmed gick katten sin väg och såg lika slät och from ut som nyss, när han kom.

Z is for Zarah Leander - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 7 - Z

2011-01-11T12:27:00.028+01:00

Z is for Zarah Leander! I am linking up with Mrs Denise Nesbitt's and other's ABC-Wednesday - Round 7 , now at the very last letter of the alphabet. My Z-word is the name Zarah (Sarah) spelled with a Z. This post is part of my own mini-series about those whose name is Sara(h) like my name, Sara Cat. (Take a peek at some other Saras here.)

Zarah Leander, the famous Swedish actress and singer, was born Sara Stina Hedborg, in Karlstad in Värmland, March 15, 1907, and had four older brothers, (the oldest, Jonas Hedberg, living to be 104 years old and died as recently as in December 2007). Zarah's interest for the theatre was awaken early as she walked by the theatre in Karlstad every day on her way to school and admired Gösta Ekman's theatre company.

She then studied song in Riga in Latvia (where she learned that she was a contralto, that her voice had an unusually low range). She worked in an office in Stockholm and then wound up married and as the mother of two children living on her father-in-law's Leander's pastor's residence in Risinge near Finspång in Östergötland.

When she heard that Ernst Rolf was on his way to Norrköping and that the star of his show on tour, Margit Rosengren was not well, she took this opportunity to realize her dream to become a singer. After auditioning for Ernst Rolf he let her join his company and her debut was in Borås. Leander took over Rosengren's number about Greta Garbo "Vill ni se en stjärna?" (='Would you like to see a star?'). This was 1929. (Later, in the 1950's Zarah Leander would use this song as her own signature-song.) January first 1930, Leander gets her big break at Folkan Theatre in a Kar de Mumma-show in Stockholm. (This is a rough English translation of Wikipedia's Swedish-language article about Zarah Leander.)

Wikipedia's English language article summerizes her carreer thus: Leander began her career in the late 1920s, and by the mid 1930s her success in Europe, particularly in Germany and the Scandinavian countries, led to invitations to work in the United States. Leander was reluctant to relocate her children, and opted to remain in Europe, and from 1936 was contracted to work for the German Universum Film AG (UFA) while continuing to record songs. Leander later noted that while her films were successful, her work as a recording artist was more profitable.

I continue with my own translation of the Swedish article, which goes into greater detail: In 1931 she played Glada änkan (The Merry Widow) with Gösta Ekman in the Municple Concert Hall in Stockholm with arrangments by Jules Sylvain och Hanna Glawaris, the part transposed down to Zarah's contralto. It is unclear whether or not the composer, Franz Lehár, accepted these changes in his score, but he did not protest.

She soon became favourite star of Karl Gerhard and participated in his shows intil 1936. He wrote specifically for her such songs as 'Lysistrate', 'Jag vill ha en gondol' (='I want to have a gondolin') and 'I skuggan av en stövel' ('In the shadow of a boot') which was a sharp protest against the persecution of the Jews in Europe, a song that she chose never to sing again after 1936. She acted in three Swedish films and recorded many songs on records that sold very well. Her dark contralto voice and distinct articulation suited the technical limitations of the grammophone-recordings at that time.

In 1936 she played in an operetta by Ralph Benatzky and the year after she made her first film in Germany. She remained in Germany to become one of the most popular artists in Nazi Germany. She played in tem films for the Ufa and recorded many songs such as 'Ich steh' im Regen', 'Ich weiss es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh'n', 'Nur nicht aus Liebe weinen' and 'Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt'.In many of her melodramatic films she became something of a 'kitsch-diva', an image that stayed with her as performer even after the war. She was a box-office-success and public-idol in Germany. In 1940 she signed a two-year contract with UFA and received the highest payment for European film ever paid. She received an honourary grade of colonel of a regement in Germany (source: Trots Allt May 18th, 1940).

Zarah's time in Germany in the middle of the ongoing world war was very controversial, but she never did propaganda for the Nazi Regime, other than indirectly, by her presence there. She gave the German people the escape that they wishes for. This was in line with Joseph Goebbels plan for cultural politics: to distract people with light entertainment from the greater problems. There was a void to fill after Marlene Dietrich and other film acters left the country. Around 1937, both the Swedish actresses Ingrid Bergman and Signe Hasso each made a film for Ufa, when Sweden felt too provencial for them, but chose Hollywood instead.

For Zarah Leander, who spoke fluent German and had two children, Germany was the closest she could come to an international career. Her own explanation was that she was bored with all of the conventional and stereotype roles she was given in Sweden. In Germany, she was given music by the best popular composers there. She liked singing in the German lanuage with its diftongs and consonant sounds. Money was also important in her career choices. She drove a hard bargain with Goebbels. She refused to become a German citizen and demanded that half (53%) of her payment would be paid in Swedish currency to a Swedish bank.

The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported in 1999 about a find in an archive that seems to show that Zarah Leander did some kind of espionage-assignments for the Russians in Germany. She was supposed to have the cover-name 'Rose Marie'. This information comes from one of the leaders for the Soviet Secret Service, Pavel Sudoplatov just before he died. But this has yet to be proven.

And to return to Wikipedia's English-language article about Zarah Leander: As a result of her controversial choice to work for the state-owned UFA in Adolf Hitler's Germany, her films and song lyrics were viewed by some as propaganda for the Nazi cause, although she took no public political position. Leander was strongly criticized as a result, particularly in Sweden where she returned after her Berlin home was bombed during an air raid. Initially she was shunned by much of the artistic community and public in Sweden, and found herself unable to resume her career after the Second World War. It was several years before she could make a comeback in Sweden, and she would remain a figure of public controversy for the rest of her life.

Eventually she returned to performing throughout Europe, but was unable to equal the level of success she had previously achieved. She spent her later years in retirement in Stockholm, and died there at the age of 74. (Here is were Wikipedia's English Language Article ends.)

Picture-source: Wikipedia - Zarah Leander in 1949

My translation of the more detailed Swedish Wikipedia article continues here:

It wasn't until 1943 that Zarah Leander returned to Sweden and to the estate Lönö in Häradshammars parish in Vikbolandet, in Östergötland that she purchased in 1939. She was shunned by the Swedish theatrical community for several years. She made a sensational comeback in Malmö in 1949, in which she seems to be 'forgiven' and perfomed successfully in theatres and gave concerts in both Sweden, Germany and Austria. One of her hits was 'Wunderbar' från Cole Porters musical Kiss Me Kate 1948. A British musical historian Kurt Gänzl says that he has never heard a so tasteless recording of that song. Zarah liked it very much, and was after that often called 'Den wunderbara Zarah'.

The anti-Nazist Karl Gerhard chose to loyally defend her by pointing to the fact that other well-known names in Swedish industry, press and politics were far more deeply involved with the Third Reich, than Zarah. But his attempts to get her for his show for 1944 was not well received with critics such as Torgny Segerstedt and Carl-Adam Nycop, and Karl Gerhard did not dare to work with her until 1952. Then in a show at Cirkus in Stockholm, they played in "Det rara gamla paret från anno dazumal". In 1957, for her 50th birthday, Gösta Stevens wrote a memoir-song to her, without mentioning her career in Germany at all. But in the refrain she repeats again and again: 'Jag har blivit mycket, mycket bättre nu på gamla dar' (='I've improved with age.')

Gösta Rybrant has written more lyrics for Zarah Leander than anyone else. He gave her the more literary songs such as 'Abel', 'Det skönaste som livet gav', 'Sång om syrsor' and 'Gåtor'. In colabloration with the pianist Arne Hülphers, her third husband (from 1956), she developed a dramatic style that is almost as a characture, but with genuine temperment and respect for the text. The best example of her unique style in on a record from her fairwell-concert in the municipal concert hall in Stockholm in 1973.

The Swedish author, Bosse Schön published in 2008 the book Sanningen om Zarah Leander [approx. 'The Truth about Zarah Leander'] focuses on how Zarah was treated by the Swedes after the war. According to Schön, she was badly treated after the war [my English translation]:'In post-World War II-Sweden she was shunned and ignored by the Swedish Radio Company, that refused to air her music. But all documents from the Swedish Secret Police shows that every accusasion against her was false, and that she was subjected to ruthless slander. Two police investigations that remained secret until the present, cleared her from all suspicion. She was neither a Nazi or a spy.' [Read the original Swedish quote here.]

Read more about Zarah Leander on Wikipedia's page in English and in Swedish.

Purrs,

Sara Cat

First Commenter:
XXX

To visit other posts about the letter Z, please go to this site by clicking on the image below:

Listen to Zarah Leander's voice here:

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

A Winter Cat Treasury on Etsy!

2011-01-10T12:04:00.002+01:00

Purrs,
Sara Cat

Fluffy Friday #54 / Dunig Fredag nr 54

2011-01-08T22:34:00.009+01:00

For Fluffy Friday, I would like to report that life is not all just 'fluffiness' for a blogger-jewellery-designing cat. Sometimes I have to work really hard at this!

Purrs,

Sara Cat

Y is slightly easier than X - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC- Wednesday - Round 7 - Y

2011-01-05T01:18:00.014+01:00

Once again I have been asked to write a poem for Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday. Anna seems to be too busy making Etsy-treasuries to have time to play this really delightful meme. (She doesn't know what fun she is missing!)
Here is my poem:

A short poem about the letter 'Y' (That's the title)

It's time for 'Y' to take a bow,
A talented letter, he'll show us how!

In 'Yeast', he lets dough for bread to rise,
As the opposite to 'no', he feels so worldly-wise.

In words like 'Yield', he seems a meek little fellow,
But reveals in 'Yoke' (of egg), his true colour - Yellow.

In words like 'Yowl' and 'Yell', he thinks he shows us strength,
In words like 'Yard', he measures cloth in length.

I just hope 'Y' won't be bored and start to 'Yawn',
He's often 'here-today-tomorrow-gone'.

But 'Y' can be quite jolly, it's clear to see,
In words like 'Yummy' and 'Yippee'!

No need to weep over the letter 'Y'!
(Well, maybe just a little sigh.)

------

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
Roger Owen Green of
Ramblin' with Roger

Second Commenter:
Nanka of Quills

To visit other posts about the letter Y, please go this site by clicking on the image below:

Fluffy Friday (on Monday!) Happy New Year! Dunig fredag (på en måndag) Gott Nytt År!

2011-01-03T23:42:00.006+01:00

Here's wishing all my fluffy bloggy friends a very Happy 2011!
Jag önskar alla mina svenska bloggkatter ett riktigt gott nytt år!
Purrs,/Nospussar,
Sara Cat

A New Etsy Cat Treasury! Happy Cats!

2011-01-02T02:29:00.004+01:00

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
The Creek Cats

X is for Xylophone - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 7 - X

2010-12-31T09:57:00.012+01:00

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

This is my little two-legged sister, Elisabet, playing her xylophone. X is for Xylophone. I am linking with Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 7, which has arrived at the letter X this week.

According to Wikipedia, a xylophone is a musical instrument made out of wood:

The xylophone (from the Greek words ξύλον—xylon, "wood" + φωνή—phone, "voice", meaning "wooden sound") is a musical instrument in the percussion family which probably originated independently in Africa and Asia.^[1] It consists of wooden bars of various lengths that are struck by plastic, wooden, or rubber mallets. Each bar is tuned to a specific pitch of the musical scale. The term "xylophone" can refer to Western-style concert xylophones or to one of the many wooden mallet percussion instruments found around the world. Xylophones are tuned to different scale systems depending on their origin, including pentatonic, heptatonic, diatonic, or chromatic. The arrangement of the bars is generally from low (longer bars) to high (shorter bars).

The Xylophone is a very old type of musical instrument. For those who are interested, Wikipedia's English-language article about the xylophone gives more information about the history of this type of musical instrument and its different variants. Here are some images of xylophones provided by Wikipedia:

The following five
photos are copyright Wikipedia:

The letter X is not an easy letter. I am sure that many participants will choose this musical instrument as their solution. Next week is the letter Y, which should be a little easier. I have already planned my Z-post. So welcome back then!

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
Mrs Denise Nesbitt of
mrsnesbitt's space

Please visit other posts about the letter X, by going to this site or clicking on the image below:

Yippie! Another TWO Etsy Treasuries with CATS!!!

2010-12-30T14:10:00.004+01:00

Best wishes,
Anna
Purrs,
Sara Cat

Finally, an Etsy treasury about cat-motifs!

2010-12-30T10:30:00.000+01:00

Anna: 'Are you happy now Sara Cat?'
Sara Cat: 'Yes, I am.'
Anna: 'Good!'

W is for Warriors, as in Warrior-Cats - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 7 - W

2010-12-27T15:02:00.019+01:00

'Warriors' is a series of novels about the adventures of four rivaling groups or clans of feral cats living in a wooded area of the UK. Stop here, if you want to read this amazing story without knowing too many details. Scroll down to the row of stars after this one:

******

Six novels follow the career of Rusty, an ordinary ginger tom kitten, who runs away from his humans and joins a band of feral cats called Thunderclan, who are the wild cats living in the woods behind his suburban home. Because of his daring and sense of pride in being a cat, Rusty is accepted into the clan and rises through the ranks within their cat-heirarchy from apprentice to warrior and finally clan-leader.

With each new status, Rusty is renamed. Rusty becomes Firepaw as apprentice, Fireheart as warrior and finally Firestar as clan leader. There are many memorable characters throughout these six books. Bluestar is Thunderclan's amazing female leader and Rusty's mentor.

Tigerclaw/Tigerstar is a strong, powerful, but corrupt warrior and then later deputy in Thunderclan. Tigerclaw/Tigerstar becomes Rusty's/Firepaw's/Fireheart's/ Firestar's arch-rival.

Spotted-Leaf, a beautiful young medicine-cat, with whom Firepaw falls in love and dreams about many times long after her tragic death.

Yes, death. These are books in which many cats die. The cats believe in Starclan, where the spirits of dead cats who have lived a clan-cat-worthy life, dwell. It is Cat-Heaven. Among the clan-cats, dreams and visions reveal what is to happen or which way to choose in this very harsh outdoor feline-life. In several ways these cat societies resemble primative human tribes. There are no human characters in the Warrior Cat-books. Cats must rely on themselves or other cats. There are a lot of clever solutions to how cats can do things. The medicine cats show many wonderful examples of this.

******

These are fantasy-books for us cats, even though the publishers market them as good reading for two-legged kits from eight years old of age and up. (They are real 'page-turners' that even grown-up-humans can enjoy, if they want to read fast-paced adventure with happy ends and even a good moral.) If you have ever wondered or dreamed about how life would be if you left home for good and joined forces with strong and clever wild cats, these are the books for you. Ask your human to read them aloud for you.

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
xxx

Please visit other posts about the letter W, by going to this site or clicking on the image below:

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Sara & Cajsa watch and wait - Fluffy Friday #52 / Sara och Cajsa vaktar och väntar - Dunig fredag nr 52

2010-12-25T21:58:00.016+01:00

Photos Copyright Christina Wigren

For Fluffy Friday, I would like to thank Sara and Cajsa for staying with me while I blog. (And sleeping on or by my bed at night when I sleep.)

Jag besöker Saras blogg för att hjälpa henne med hennes 'Duniga fredag'-inlägg. Jag vill passa på och tacka mina söta missar för att de håller sig nära mig när jag arbetar vid datorn och när jag sover om nätterna.

Photos Copyright Christina Wigren

This is where I sit when I am working with my blog posts. (Even if I a not sitting down in my chair for the moment.) Sara sits behind my chair and Cajsa to the one side. They wait and watch to see if I need moral support! Thank you my dear sentinel kitties!

Så här ser det ut där jag brukar skriva (trots att jag inte sitter där för ögonblicket). Sara sitter strax bakom stolen och Cajsa något på sidan om. De väntar och avvaktar och är beredda att rycka in ifall jag skulle behöva lite moraliskt stöd. Tack kära vaktkatterna mina!

Best wishes,/Vänliga hälsningar,
Anna

First Commenter:/
Den som lämnar första kommentaren:
Grrreta of Grrreta

Second Commenter: /
Den som lämnar den andra kommentaren:
Mr Puddy of Everyday Mr Puddy

Mamma/Mommie/Mummy's Etsy shop is in a Treasury!

2010-12-15T18:52:00.004+01:00

This yellow stretch-bracelet was chosen for Catish' treasury!

Purrs,
Sara Cat

T is for Tom - Mrs Denise Nesbett's ABC-Wed, Round 7 -T

2010-12-02T10:35:00.018+01:00

T is for 'Tom', as in tomcat*. I am linking up with Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 7, which has its focus on the letter T.

My Mommie/Mummy wanted me to do a Christmas recipe, but I protested. 'Enough is enough! I'm a cat! This is a cat-blog!' (If you want to read her recipe, click here.)

So this time I am writng a post about one of my favourite T-words - TOM! Here are some tom cats that are dear to me. First picture (above) is of Calle Cat (who has his own blog with Hobbes.) This is Hobbes, by the way. We've never met, but he seems very charming. I do like ginger toms.

This is Nils, one of Anna-Lisa'a kits. The kits were going to move in with us, but alas, they found another forever-home. Good for them, pity for us. It would have been fun.

There was one tom cat in particular that I was very fond of. (Unfortunately, I have no picture of him.) His name was 'Kurre' and he was a dark tabby cat who could fly. Yes it's true. He could fly out of the second-story building where he lived, like a flying squirrel! He lived in a large cat colony on a horse farm. He was very socialable too. The two-leggeds called him 'Kurre' because he purred so loud. He was also very adept at hopping up and perching on Mommie's/Mummy's shoulders. (Sigh)
I don't know what happened to him. But he was a beautiful tom.

Purrs, Sara Cat

P.S.

*Tomcat. I usually try to insert some learning into my posts, such as historical backgrounds or the etemology of words. So, why is an 'unfixed' male cat (he can still make a female cat with kittens) called a 'tom'? Wikipedia had nothing to say other than that a neutered male cat is called a 'gib' in English. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary the word tomcat is from 1809:

tomcat: 1809, from Tom + cat; probably influenced by Tom the Cat in the popular children's book "The Life and Adventures of a Cat" (1760); replaced earlier Gib-cat, from dim. of Gilbert, though Tom was applied to male kittens c.1300. Used of the males of other beasts and birds since 1791. Cf. also Tibert. /---/ Sources

'Tom' is used in other words such as 'tomboy', which is actually a girl who does things that boys do, such as climb trees, etc. A 'tommy' is an informal term for a British soldier. 'Tomfoolery'is self-explanitory.

There is no exact translation of the English word 'tomcat' in Swedish, which makes translating English cat stories into Swedish a real chore. Just 'katt' implys a male cat, since there is a female counterpart, 'katta'. 'Hankatt' feels a tad too scientific in stories for children. This is something to think about when you think you want to reform a language and throw out all of those seemingly unnecessary and politically incorrect genus forms! They can come in handy when you want to write a poem or a story.
But through reading, I have discovered some fun Swedish counterparts for the English word 'Tomcat'. These are 'kattpojke', 'kattherre',and even 'kattkille' !

------

Vart har den svenska parallella texten tagit vägen? Brist på tid och ork! Finns det intresse för en fortsättning, kommer jag att lägga till en svensk översättning där det går och passar. Jag kommer också att göra nya försök till att deltaga i norska ABC-Wed/ABC i Ord og Bild där svenska såsom andra nordiska språk får vara huvudspråk.

First Commenter:
Reader Wil

Please visit other posts about the letter T, by going to this site or clicking on the image below:

S is for Sara - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's abc-Wednesday-Round 7 - S

2010-11-23T12:17:00.021+01:00

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

My mommie/mummy has asked me to help out with a blog post for Mrs Denise Nesbitt's popular challenge ABC-Wednesday, round 7. 'S' is the letter for this week. And since I know nothing about silver or silver-smithing or silver jewellery, I am writng about what I know best: Sara. Yes, the name Sara! My name. It is from the Bible, the Old Testament. Sara was the wife of Abraham. You can read about her here. (Or read Genesis 17:15)

Many of you already know who I am. I am an ordinary house cat named Sara. Mommie/Mummy tells me that she was so delighted when she first saw me as a new-born kitten, that she decided to keep me as her own cat and not sell me, which is what happened to the rest of my siblings. (But they found very good forever homes, I am happy to say.)

I like the idea of writing about different Saras so much that I am not going to stop at Mrs Nesbitt's challenge. I have decided to do a little series about Saras, starting with today's post.

Sara Bernhardt (1844 - 1923) was a very famous French stage and even early film actress.

Photo Copyright Wikipedia

Bernhardt photographed by Nadar

Photo Copyright Wikipedia

This is Sarah Bernhardt during a visit to Boston, Massachusetts in June 1877.

Photo Copyright Wikipedia

This is Sarah Bernhardt playing Hamlet in the early 1880s.

Photo Copyright Wikipedia

Sarah Bernhardt as Queen in Victor Hugo’s Ruy Blas

------

Since 'S' could also stand for 'Sweden' I feel I must include at least one Swedish Sara. Sara Lidman (1923-2004) was a famous Swedish writer whose first successful novel Tjardalen (The Tar Still) is about the hard conditions of people living in the provence of Västerbotten, where she grew up. She help put this part of Sweden 'on the map' as far as literature is concerned, letting local dialects and biblical language colour her innovative writing style. (See Wikipedia in English as source here.)

------

While we are still on the subject of Swedish literature, I would like to name a Sarah who has helped make works by Swedish authors known to the English-speaking world: British translator Sarah Death. Sarah Death has translated works by Victoria Benedictsson, Johanna Ekström, Kerstin Ekman, Sven Lindqvist, Ellen Mattson, Sven Lindqvist, Carl-Johan Vallgren, Harvill Secker, Alexander Ahndoril, and Katarina Mazetti.

So happy Sara-week to everyone whose name is Sara!

Purrs,
Sara Cat

P.S.

The name's day for Sara in Sweden is July 19th, one of the names that are in the one week of the year that only has female names, 'Fruntimmarsvecka' (July 19-24). Isn't it cool that there is even a name for that girls-names-only week?

Yes, I know, I should have done a post for 'Sweden' this time. We'll do that when Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday gets to the letter 'S'!

First Commenter:
Sylvia K
of Sylvia From Over the Hill

To read more posts about the letter S, please go to this site.

Curious about Sarah Death's Translations? Please look here:

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

H is for HOME / H som i HEM-Mrs.Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday

2010-11-11T22:53:00.011+01:00

Once more I am asked by my Mommie/Mummy to help out with blog-posts that I have not really planned to do. She has asked me to write something about a word that begins with the letter H, for Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, and of course I would like to help her, since she is knee-deep in reading all of the titles that have been suggested for that little short-short story about Gloria Goodman for the letter G.
Here is my H-post:

H is for Home (That's the title)

I'm such a happy Catty,
What a lucky kitty, am I!
And do you happen to know why?
It's because I have a home,
my very own home.

I'm a happy cat with a Forever-Home!
I'm loved, the truth be told.
I'm never hungry, wet or cold,
I know where I belong, I have a home.
My Forever Home!

To all lost kitties, abandonned or forgotten,
Be you Persian or Cat-Mix, Angora or Coon,
Hope you'll find your Forever-Home soon!

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
MAGSMCC of
Fraise Lachrymose

Please visit other H-posts here.

P is for Pirate-Wedding Mrs Denise Nebitt's ABC Wednesday, Round 7 - P

2010-11-02T09:43:00.044+01:00

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

Since my Mommie/Mummy went and did the book review that I wanted to do (a review of Rita Mae Brown's mystery series, starting with Outfoxed.) I have convinced her that she should let me do a movie review.

All film-photos copyright Disney Pictures
(even though I took them off the screen myself.)

This is less of a review than two scenes to illustrate my P-word for this week: PIRATE WEDDING! Taking two scenes, from two movies, the second scene is the real Pirate wedding.

These first pictures are from the opening scene of part two of the Pirates of the Carribean Trilogy, Dead Man's Chest, when Elizabeth Swan (played by Keira Knightley) and William Turner (played by Olando Bloom) are supposed to be married. But their garden wedding is totally rained out.

(Something to think about when you are planning your wedding. Make sure you have a tent or an indoor alternative if you plan an outdoor summer garden wedding.) The rain, however, is not the worst thing.

What happens is that they are both arrested,

And sentenced to death for helping a man flee the gallows in the first film The Curse of the Black Pearl.

And the man they helped escape is, of course,

Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp).

I am not going reveal anything more about part two. I'll just hopp over to one of the last scenes toward the end of part three, At World's End. Both Elizabeth Swan and William Turner have become pirates, joining forces with Captain Jack Sparrow, but also Jack's rival, Captain Barbossa, in a battle against the very, very evil Captain Davey Jones of the 'Flying Dutchman',

Right in the middle of an attack of the fish-people from the 'Flying Dutchman', Will Turner decides to propose to Elizabeth Swan.

Elizabeth Swan says that this is not really the best time, in the middle of an on-deck battle with creepy sea-monsters.

Will says that it might be the only time that they have.

Instead of saying yes, Elizabeth asks Captain Barbossa to marry them.

Captain Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush) explains that he is a little busy at the moment, while fighting off two or three slimmy fish-people.

But how can he say no?

"Dearly beloved..." he starts to say, as he fights off more fish-people.

"...In sickness and in health...the former being the most likely" says Elizabeth taking her vows. They are interrupted by having to have to fight off more monsters from the Dutchman.

But amazingly, they keep holding hands through the ceremony and even while fighting off fish-people.

"I do" , says Will Turner.

Barbossa says: "Now you may.." but stops there as he has to keep on fighting off even more fish-people. "Just kiss! Just kiss!"

"Just kiss!"

"Kiss!"

"Just Kiss!" And that's what they do.

Not everyone has time to see the actual wedding, but some of the crew members take a moment to look.

Remember, it's not the wedding, but the marriage, that is important.

Purrs,

Sara Cat

To visit other posts about the letter P, please click here.

This is the second of my own miniseries about 'Weddings in the Cinema'. If you missed my post about Marion Ravenwood's and Indiana Jones' Wedding visit here.

P.S.

I am no longer sitting at the Public Library. Hooray! Yay! Meow! If you think you would like to see the rest of this movie, you can order it through Amazon if you live in the US or UK or through CDON if you live in Scandinavia. Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Associate and get a small reward if you order your DVD-movie from my blog-widget. For all of you folks in Scandinavia, I get nothing from CDON, but the satisfaction that I have helped someone buy their movie at a lower price.

First Commenter:

Photowannabe

If you live in the UK, order it here:
Amazon.co.uk Widgets

If you live in the US, order it here:

Amazon.com Widgets

Om Ni bor i Sverige beställ filmerna här:

O is a very round letter - MrsDenise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 7

2010-10-28T10:04:00.012+02:00

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

Once again my Mommie/Mummy is in need of assistance writing a post for Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday Challenge. This week we are examining words that begin with the letter O.
This is not an easy assignment for me. I really shined when I could write about those little rodents that I know so well and love. But the letter O?? Well folks, this is what I think about the letter O:

The letter O is a round letter (That's also the title)

The letter O is indisputably round,
Yes, undeniably, both its shape and sound,
And even many O-objects are round,
A rounder letter is hardly found!

O is for Olive, Orb, Onion and Orange - all round!

But also non-round things like

Owls, Ocelots, Otters and Ostriches,
Oysters, Opals, Orchids and Orchards,
Orchestras, Orangutans, the month of October and Ocarina.

I'm sorry. I can seem to get these O-words to rhyme.
I'll try again:

I dreamed of the letter O, last night,
Like an Opal, it glowed soft and light,
Then an Otter, Offered an Omelette,
But I said no thank you, we've just met!

Purrs,
Sara Cat

To visit other posts about the letter O, please click here.

P.S.
I am sitting at the Public Library, hiding behind a pile of books. I have to make this post short and hopp into my Mommie's/Mummy's special cat-hiding-bag before the librarian tells us to leave the premises! Meow!

First Commenter:
xxx

Fluffy Friday #43 / Dunig fredag nr 43

2010-10-15T00:15:00.004+02:00

Sometimes you just have to be the fluffy one,

if there is no one else around! / Ibland får man själv vara utvald

Om ingen annan ställer upp!

Purrs, / Nospussar,
Sara Cat / Sara Katt

M is for Mousies - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday, Round 7 - M

2010-10-11T23:38:00.022+02:00

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

Hello folks! Sara Cat here. Once again my Mommie/Mummy, Anna, has given me an assignment to post something for Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday - Round 7. This week is devoted to the letter M. Can you guess what my M-word is?? Yes! My M-word is MOUSE! Yippie!!

Source: Wikipedia

M is for Mouse, or more specifically 'house mouse'. The house mouse is a small fur covered animal, a rodent, that lives near the two-leggeds and has done so for many, many years. They don't live in the wild at all. You will never find a house mouse in the woods. A vole or a shrew or a field mouse or a lemming or a muskrat/musquash or even a dormouse, but not a house mouse.

As a representative of a species that also has a long history of living near the two-leggeds, I can explain how these two groups have had a parallell development through history. We cats became tame (but not domesticated like sheep or cattle) when we were offered a partnership, a job, to put it simply, by the two-leggeds. As humans (another word for the two-leggeds) stopped hunting and gathering food and begain farming and raising crops, they discovered that they needed help with guarding their grain stores. Mice eat anything and loved to eat their grain. So we were introduced as guardians of the store bins! Why? Because we don't eat grain! We are meateaters only, carnivores. We hunted the little grain-thieves in the grain bins and kept them free from these intruders. This was our ticket to a long journey in partnership with humans and basically why cats are to be found almost all over the world. (Maybe we should be thankful to the little mousies?)

Source: Wikipedia

Here is a little poem I put together today in honour of all house mice:

An Ode to a Mouse (That's the title)

Oh sweet mousey, how I love you.
You are so little and soft and cute and furry!
Your sweet whiskers, your pink little nose,
Now wait a minute, what's your hurry?

Oh sweet mousey, how I love you,
Your pretty eyes, and little paws,
Let me hold you by your nice tail,
Let me hug you with my paws!

No, don't run away now, I'm not finished yet!

Oh sweet mousey, how I love you,
You smell so sweet, let me sniff you.
Let me lick your fur, or bite you - just a little.
Oops, Sorry. Shouldn't have done that.

Oh sweet mousey, how I loved you,
All the way down to my tummy.
So sad that you're gone.
You sure were yummy!

(I think I'll go take a little nap now...)

Purrs,
Sara
Cat

First Commenter:

Sylvia K.

of Sylvia From Over the Hill

To see more posts with M-words, please visit ABC-Wednesday, Round 7 - M, please click here.

I love comments! Sorry about all the instructions in Swedish. Here is a little key:

'kommentarer' means 'comments'

'förhandsgranska' means 'preview'

'publicera din kommentar' means 'publish your comment' or 'post comment'

'länkar till det här inlägget' means 'links to this post'

'startsida' means 'home'

Thank you!

Fluffy Friday #42-Visit with Some Grey Fluffies

2010-10-09T18:42:00.008+02:00

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

My two-legged sister and brother went to a farm and met some new gray fluffies.

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

I don't understand the reason behind this visit. There were sheep and big dogs and chickens and several grownup cats there too.

Photo Copyright Christina Wigren

They haven't explain any of this. But the pics are cute. Enjoy!

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
Boom Nisanart
of
Everyday Melbourne

L is for Lions and Leopards - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday Round 7 - L

2010-10-06T10:22:00.007+02:00

It's Wednesday and time to link up with Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's wonderful meme, ABC-Wednesday - Round 7. This week is all about the letter L. Here is my L-text:

------

L is for Lions and Leopards and Lynxes this time,
Oh, so many L-words, but so very hard to rhyme.

Lawyers and Lyrics and Lessons and Learning,
Levity, Lipstick and Light-weight yearning.

Liberty, Luxury, Loyalty, Light,
Lettuce and Lemons and Lizards that fight.

L is for life, and all of the above,
But more than anything, L is for love.

------

Purrs,
Sara
Cat

First Commenter:
ChiIl Mama

To see more posts with L-words, please visit ABC-Wednesday, Round 7 - L please click here.

B is for brides, Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday -B

2010-10-01T13:04:00.031+02:00

Photo Copyright 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd/Paramount
Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood and Harrison Ford as Henry Jones Jr. in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

B is for brides. It's time to link up with Jenny Matlock' Alphabe-Thursday, round 2. This week's letter is B. My B-word is Brides, unusual brides. By unusual brides, I mean brides that don't fit into the general mold of being young and having a normal wedding in a church with family and friends in attendance.

My first exemple is the fictional character, Marion Ravenwood, who plays Indiana Jones love interest in two films, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). This first scene, from Raiders of the Lost Ark, shows Marion in a drinking contest in her own tavern in Nepal, just before Indiana Jones comes back in her life. Below, Marion and film-viewers, see a familiar shadow.

Indy has returned!

I knew you would come back one day.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark Karen Allen, as Marion Ravenwood, is very pretty in her white dress in Cairo.

The 'Bad-Guys' capture Marion, tie her up and hide her in a tent in the desert. But Indy finds her, but decides not to rescue her yet. He needs to find the Lost Ark first.

The Lost Ark is in a chamber buried under the desert. He finds it, but his adversaries find him also.

They take the Ark and throw Marion down the hole to die with him in the closed chamber. Marion's white dress is pretty enough for a party or as a bridal gown, but is impractical in a snake pit.

In the chamber where the Lost Ark used to be, there are snakes, poisonous asps, all over the floor. This is why Marion does not mine Indy holding her in this next picture.

But the young professor of archeology, Dr Jones, does not propose to her in this first film. She asks him out for a drink before they part. In the next adventure film, Indy has a different female protagonist. In Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, made 27 years later, Indiana meets Marion Ravenwood again and discovers that he has a grown son with her. At the end of the film he finally proposes .

And their wedding is the very last scene.
What do you wear when you are a widow or a divorcee getting married again after you have already have had a wedding with a long white dress in your youth?
Instead of a long gown, Marion wears a white skirt-suit with a hat with a short veil and large white beaded earrings.

Marion dumps her bouquet in the hands of the minister and gives Indy a long awaited kiss.

Marion's and Indy's son is a sort of a 'best man'.

The wind blows open the doors of the church and Indy's famous hat rolls over to Indy's son. He picks it up.

But never puts it on. Indy walks by and takes it out of his hand.

This post is for Leslie, whose own story is an inspiration to me. She is like a real-life, Marion Ravenwood! Thanks Leslie!

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:
Margaret of
Splendid Little Stars

Visit other posts about words that begin with the letter B at Mrs. Jenny Matlock's site.
Visit also Anna's B-post. Her B-post is also about brides with an example from the cinema.

I love comments! Sorry about all the instructions in Swedish. Here is a little key:

'kommentarer' means 'comments'

'förhandsgranska' means 'preview'

'publicera din kommentar' means 'post comment'

'länkar till det här inlägget' means 'links to this post'

'startsida' means 'home'

Thank you!

K is difficult - Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday -K

2010-09-30T09:00:00.008+02:00

Hello. My name is Sara Cat. I was awaken this morning by my Mommie/Mummy, Anna, of Anna's Adornments and she asked me to help her write a post for Mrs Denise Nesbitt's ABC-Wednesday meme. I was not fully awake, as you can see in this second photo.

When my eyes are open, I look like this. This is my blog's avatar. (I know, it is not very sharp. I am working on a new one.)

Anna's avatar looks like this.

Anna dropped a crumpled envelope on the bed beside me and asked me to finish writing her poem and post it and link it to ABC-Wednesday where lots of other posts about words that begin with the letter K are listed and linked.

I took a look at the crumpled envelope and saw lots of words that begin with the letter K. I then typed and edited her poem.

Here it is:

K is difficult (that's the title)

K is a difficult letter.
But is there any better?

It's Kingly and feudal and cold.
It's Knightly and Kneeling and old.

It's Kinship, Kinfolk and Kinsmen.
It's Kilted and 'beyond my Ken'.

It speaks kindly, without mettle,
The warmth of Kitchen and Kettle.

It is also warm Knitted mittens,
Or playful Kalico Kittens.

It's promise-Keeping and Keepsake.
K envys C for words like Cake.

K has one trump card over C,
And that is the little word Key.
------

Purrs,
Sara Cat

First Commenter:

Mrs. Denise Nesbitt of
mrsnebitt's space:K is for kidney beans

To see more posts with K-words, please visit ABC-Wednesday, Round 7 -K please click here.

Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus Week 20

2010-09-21T08:47:00.016+02:00

This is a themed writing meme.

You can use UP to 100 words (not including the prompt) to tell your story. You cannot use pictures to illustrate your story. It can be fact or fiction. The only restrictions is the prompt must be left intact WHICH MEANS you cannot split up the words in the prompt.
You have the entire week to link your work to the meme and you can link more than one story if you like.
Please display link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.
I would suggest that since these are so short, if you can't think of a title just use your blog name as the title in the Linky.
Try to visit each one because there are some amazing writers participating in this meme. Since the links are so short they are also a fun and quick read.

WEEK 20 PROMPT

"This is never going to come out," she thought as she scrubbed at the spot on the worn carpet.

This is my text:

"I can still smell it", said Rebecca, kneeling with her nose just inches above the floor.
"Pity, it was an heirloom from Grandma, genuine Persian," lamented Cathy.
"Well, let's try some of this special soap that Peter at Pet Palace recommended," Rebecca replied, opening a bottle and dabbing a quantiy of a liquid onto a sponge.
"This is never going to come out," she thought as she scrubbed at the spot on the worn carpet.
Anna-Matilda, the new red-striped kitten, looked on, shaking and cowering, hidden under the antique china cabinet, out of sight.

Purrs,/Nospussar,
Sara Cat/Sara Katt

First Commenter: /
Den första kommentaren lämnades av:
Kat of
Emptynester

Visit other Saturday Centus participants at this site.

Here's a Swedish translation of this writing exercise:
Här följer en svensköversättning av skrivövningen:

------

"Det luktar fortfarande", sade Rebecka, när hon stod på knä med näsan bara några centimeter ovanför golvet.
"Så synd. Det var en verklig släktklenod efter mormor. Äkta persisk matta," klagade Katarina.
"Men då får vi pröva det här nya rengöringsmedlet som Peter på Djurmagasinet rekommenderade", svarade Rebecka, när hon öppnade flaskan och hällde en skvätt vätska på tvättsvampen. "Det här kommer aldrig att försvinna", tänkte hon och gned fläcken på den slitna mattan.
Anna-Matilda, den nya rödrandiga kattungen, tittade ängsligt och darrande på, där hon stod gömd under porslinsskåpet, utom synhåll.

------

P.S.

Meow!! Please leave a comment! To open the comment box, go to the end of the post and click on link with the phrase "Skicka en kommentar", which literally means "Send a comment". "Förhandsgranska" means "Preview". "Publicera din kommentar" means "Post Comment". Thank you for your patience!

Purrs,
Sara Cat