Shorty

Sunday, December 21, 2025

 15:03 (3:03 PM) in Greenwich

10:03 AM Eastern

5:03 AM in Hawaii

Monday, December 22, 2025 12:03 AM in Japan

The winter solstice has the least daylight of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and the sun is at its lowest angle.

Modern pagans and Wiccans use the Wheel of The Year.

Cookie or Biscuit Henge; image found on the interwebs.

There are many henges and rock formations created by ancient peoples in which the sun aligns with specific petroglyphs or chambers on different solstices.

Newgrange in Ireland, County Meath, is a neolithic passage tomb where the sunrise shines deep into the structure.

Learn more here.

Henges are a passion of mine, and since I keep finding Stonehenge lookalikes all over social media, I post them on the two solstices and two equinoxes.

🌞 🌚 🌞

At My Feets

It's Caturday!

Henry spends a lot of time at my feet under the desk.

I put this pic through a couple filters on Prisma; sorry, I didn't keep track of which ones.

I like the way his eyes are bright green.

Click on the image to enjoy a jigsaw puzzle.

Let's Hop!

Purr Increase

It's Inside and Even Less Feral Friday! 

The humans are so happy in Henryville, as some milestones have been reached:

1) Henry allows petting while sitting on the rug, as I walk up to him.

2) Henry has been combed and brushed.

3) Henry has been smooched on the noggin!!!

However, he's made it very clear that he dislikes the swishing noise of our winter puffy coats.

🧥 🥶 😼

As I type this, he's sitting at my feet, alternately rubbed against my shins and meowing for attention.

And he just licked my hand, as I reached down to give him some love.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 

So, it has come to this!

Every once in a while, I must give kudos to folks on social media who have the same twisted sense of humor as I do, 'cause they make me laugh!

Today's topic: cat food

😹😹😹

Let's Hop!

Maple Syrup Day & Wright Brothers Day

December 17 is National Maple Syrup Day.

Maple leaf on sideway

"The Northeastern U.S Indigenous Peoples are noted for inventing maple syrup. They created the method of tapping trees, know as Maple Tapping, along with the process of boiling the sap down into syrup. 

This technique is traditionally done by inserting a small spigot into the trunk of a maple tree and collecting the extract in a container. 

Learn more here: Maple Syrup Day.

December 17 is also Wright Brother's Day:

The USAF Thunderbirds put on show in the summer of 2017 at Selfridge A. N. G. B. Video taken from our front porch; those jets were LOUD!

"Wright Brothers Day is a United States national observation...and commemorates the first successful flights in a heavier-than-air, mechanically propelled airplane, the Wright Flyer, that were made by Orville and Wilbur Wright on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina."

Learn more here: Wright Brothers Day.

Near Mount Clemens, Michigan, where Eastside Cats reside, Selfridge Air National Guard Base plays a big role in our area.

Named for 1st Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge, the first person to be killed in a crash of a powered aircraft.  Also injured was Orville Wright, which is why I posted about our base to celebrate today.

Big Beddy

It's Twozday!

Manny and Chili Bruce snuggle together and separately in the big corner beddy.

It's a favorite place when the temperatures outside drop, maybe because of the fleece lining.

 

All I know, is that they look so cute, so I snap plenty of pictures of them.

😻😻😻

Let's Hop

Cuppa

International Tea Day is celebrated on December 15, in tea producing countries like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Uganda and Tanzania.

As an international tea drinker, I'll celebrate despite not actually residing in any of the above countries, and am darn glad that they grow the stuff!

~

Chag Urim Sameach

Heavy hearts for the victims at Bondi Beach, Sydney.

~~

Let's Hop

Eyes Closed

It's Sunday Selfies!

Just couldn't pick one, so here's all three Eastside Cats, with their eyes closed.

Chili Bruce

Manny

Henry

Let's Hop!

In The Bag

It's Caturday!

This is Manny, in a paper bag.

Prisma filter Comedy.

Click on the image to enjoy a jigsaw puzzle.

Let's Hop!

Lovey Dovey

It's Inside and Less Feral Friday!

Ta-DA!

Henry likes pets; video below:

Thank you for the feedback on last week's post: Up The Wall.

Henry has not done 'it' in a week; could be that having his fur stroked and combed will smooth out his anxiety?

Those pee pads will remain in place for some time yet; let's just see how it goes.

EDIT: Yeah, he high-peed last night...that'll show me. 😹

Cannot convince Henry to jump up on the bed; bending over is hard on our backs, dude, so c'mon up!

Henry is also hanging around my feet as I work at my desk, and I scratch his ears and noggin as often as I can.

Baby paw steps.

Henry is such a cutie!

🐾🐾🐾

Peaky

 December 11 is International Mountain Day!

The 2025 theme: “Glaciers matter for water, food and livelihoods in mountains and beyond”, highlights the critical role mountain regions play as a key source of global freshwater and calls for immediate measures to avoid the glaciers’ disappearance.

Learn more here.

A few images from my fabulous visit to Vancouver Island, British Columbia in May, 2025:

The mountains shown are the Beaufort Range.

Let's all be thankful for mountains, and for loving friends who spoil us rotten when we visit!

⛰️ ❤️ ⛰️ 

Let's Hop!

Sentient and Loving

December 10 is International Animal Rights Day.

"International Animal Rights Day is an annual event honoring animals as sentient beings who deserve the same protections as people. 

This global observance is marked by demonstrations that expose animal exploitation, mourn the animal victims of human tyranny, and rally support for universal animal welfare."

Learn more here.

~

December 10, 2023 is a Gotchaversary of sorts:

Celestial Paddy O'Malley inked on my right arm!

Today is another tattoo day, as I've scheduled two new designs, and yes, there are cat images involved.

Will provide pics after the healing process.

~

Walkin' and Readin'

Recommended audiobook listens:

Val McDermid's The Grave Tattoo

A psychological Lake District thriller in which a present-day murder has its roots in the eighteenth century and the mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty.

Michael John Witgen's Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America

Against long odds, the Anishinaabeg resisted removal, retaining much of their land in the Old Northwest—what’s now Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  Outnumbering white settlers well into the nineteenth century, they leveraged their political savvy to advance a dual citizenship that enabled mixed-race tribal members to lay claim to a place in US civil society. 

Dete Meserve's The Memory Collectors

Four strangers time travel to the past, to find themselves stuck on the day all their lives were changed.

Can history be rewritten?

~

Let's Hop, even if very wordy...

Not Easy

It's Twozday!

Manny and Chili Bruce are simply the bestest kitties on the planet, paws down.

It's mind-blowing that they've been with us for eight years now, and I never tire of snapping pics to show off their handsomeness.

Except, due to operator ineptitude, getting really clear images of both of them in one shot is not easy.

I try in sunshine, with different backgrounds, and using every setting I can think of.

Often, one cat is in purrfect focus, when the other is a tad blurry.

There is no quit in this cat mama, so my photo library will continue to be expand with Da Boyz images; you've been warned!

😹😹😹

A bit off kilter, yet I like that each has a different pose.

Up close with Manny; the lack of eyebrows is a dead giveaway to identification.

Chili Bruce, our Brown Bear, gets browner with the hot pink of the Pink Blue* chair.

*It's an old chair, with blue fabric and all wood is painted blue.

A bright pink-colored blankie mostly hides the clawed upholstery, thus the title of Pink Blue.

Didn't ever say we are totally rational 'round here...

Let's Hop!

December Ussies

It's PO'Monday!

December, 2016 was a very cuddly time of year for Celestial Paddy O'Malley and me.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 

Looks like he's had enough in this last photo; he's stuck his tongue out!

😹 😹 😹

One Plus One

It's time for Sunday Selfies!

However, Da Boyz refused to separate, so here is Manny and Chili Bruce's Ussie.

Let's Hop!

Click on the badge above to visit The Cat on My Head

Like Leaded Glass

It's Caturday!

Today, we present a playful Henry, artified in my Prisma app with the Trendy filter.

Sorta looks like he's laying on a leaded glass window.

Click on the image above to enjoy a jigsaw puzzle.

Let's Hop!