Cat Cafe

More Kyoto fun! After our adventure at the shrine we wandered back down the street filling up with street food along the way and found a cat cafe. We've heard of them but this was our first time to actually see one. Hector opted out so the kids and I went up to the 2nd floor where we paid 500 yen/20 minutes of cat time. I think they had 8 cats inside, all rescued and it was very clean.

A couple of people were there just sitting with their beverages looking out onto the street and the cats had lots of treehouses, beds and toys to use. The kids enjoyed spotting all the cats and looking thru their individual cat books.

We had a fun time and I tried to get all the cats pictures but some were hiding.

2 happy kids

This one reminded us of Phil and he was the most friendly/playful at the time. Later you'll see his messed up tail.


















Don't know how this purebred Persian was a stray but there you go.

They have a nice life here.

Love Cats

Here is your dose of cat pictures.





They do crack me up with their antics.

I think I crack them up too.

Plugging Along

Wow, here we are almost to mid-January and I'm posting pretty regularly which feels really good. We have lots going on at Chez Fromage as usual but I'm making it a point to use my camera.

Of course, it helps that we now have kitties to entertain myself. Both for the most part are easy going and content although Shadow can get a bit hissy when cornered.  Phil is more comfortable around us, sleeping on the sofa in the family room where we spend the most time. 

They both love their head scratches and rubs so they become little purring machines. I do have to be careful with my yarn and knitting since Phil thinks these are for his amusement. I also have to put away our mesh pop laundry hampers since they're used to the same material used for their cat. 




These pics are taken with my new camera. It's super fast with 11 frames/second which I should do more since kittens are fast!

Sony A6000

Another sweet addition to my life which gave my photography a kick start. My Canon is awesome but lately its weight has been a real pain for me. Since I got the Sony, my Canon has been my in-house camera for kitty photos.

This little Sony is much smaller and lighter than a DSLR so it's easy to take out with me easily. I've been playing with it for about a week or so and I'm learning what it can do.




My first major outing was out hiking along the Palos Verdes cliffs/coast. A very bright day which can be problematic at times but the Sony adjusts well. Above, I have the sun to my left but we can still see nice details with the kids and their clothing.




A landscape photo catching the wave splash.




Next day, same area with totally different weather. I had to adjust a little in Lightroom to get more details but the camera still performs well for me.




A more difficult challenge. A black cat. Luckily the light was good to help but there is no editing, just straight from the camera. Pretty nice. Shadow helped by being extra still.

Stray Cats

I'm not sure what is happening in our cul de sac but another mystery cat has appeared along with the earlier black kitty. I thought the black one was pretty big and yesterday Hector came in saying there was a HUGE cat over there. Grab your camera!

So that's what I did. We walked on the other side of the street since we didn't know how this cat would react to people and judging from the size of it, I don't think it was capable of running away. Maybe lumbering away but man, at first glance this cat was big. I knew it was a cat but I was thinking of a miniature lion with its orange fur.

The black kitty was sitting nearby too and as I approached the huge cat, it made this yowling sound then it hissed at me but was calm. I kept getting closer enough to take pictures and see that it had a large growth by its chin/jaw.

Pretty eyes and nice enough cat but dirty, scraggly and sick. I'm not sure what these 2 fat cats are eating but they're definitely well fed.