Buddy pic of the week IX
Me, on Saturday afternoon, reading, and Buddy, licking his nose.
Out the other end
Last week’s view.
Hey. How goes it? It’s finally better here; our household all went down with Covid a couple of weeks ago, with Oomoo catching it in school and testing positive on his birthday - which seemed a bit mean. He’d actually asked to have the vaccine for his 12th birthday, but we’ll take natural immunity (of sorts) as a consolation. It’s a bit ironic, as I recently had secretly been craving a lockdown (I know, it makes no sense, but I think I was just tired and wanted a break, also, with everything seemingly being even more unknown at the moment, I should be careful what I wish for), and getting ill gave me that slow time that I wanted, needed. Both me and Mr Famapa were due our boosters, but the virus got us before we had the chance to get them. All I kept thinking was how lucky we were that we had had the vaccine to start with, and how, if I felt as badly as I did, what the hell would it have been like without it? So what did I do for 10 days? I set up camp in the spare room, placing my desktop computer in there and watching hours and hours of archive programmes on BBC iPlayer, pretty much only watching old architecture documentaries from the 60’s/70’s/80’s, and other random bits of old TV. I loved every minute of it; to see and hear real people talk about their lives, and see life on the streets as it actually was (and most shows I watched were from London as well) , made me realise that our visual history is usually passed on in time through dramas or interviews with famous people. Here are some of the programmes I watched, if you’re interested and in the UK:
Architecture at the Crossroads - 8. Houses Fit For People
Building Sights - Trellick Tower
Building Sights - Alexander Fleming House
Special Enquiry - A Girl Comes to London
Eye to Eye - Now We Are Married
We also watched Peter Jackson’s Get Back epic Beatles documentary, which was actually magical. Jackson has spent the past four years sifting through 57+ hours of footage that Michael Lindsay-Hogg shot for the 1970 film Let It Be, restoring it and polishing everything up, so it looks like it was shot just weeks ago, and re-telling the story of what led to The Beatles’ last live performance on top of the EMI’s roof on Savile Row. You get to be a fly on the wall as John, Paul, George and Ringo jam and find their way to finished songs like Get Back, Let It Be, I Me Mine and Don’t Let Me Down. The footage of Paul messing about and finally coming up with the intro to Get Back was truly jaw dropping. It felt like I stopped breathing when I watched it happen; it really came out of nowhere! And to see how they create, what are now some of the most famous songs ever written, and how relaxed they are as they figure them out, is just mind blowing. It is incredibly slow at times, but I loved the mundanity of some of it. AND! They’re in their late 20’s here (in fact George is only 25, and Billy Preston who joins the band on keyboards, 23), which is also just crazy. Weirdly, after the almost eight hours were up, we were sad that it was over. I’ve been playing their music non-stop for the past few days, and will keep doing so for a long long time. The two weeks that Covid gave me time wise have been immensely culturally rewarding, and for that I’m truly grateful. Silver linings yo, silver linings.
P.S. If you can’t watch the documentary itself this article sums it up perfectly (about a 10 min read).
Buddy pic of the week VIII
Haven’t done one of these in ages. I like how Buddy found the light, as if he knew how to light himself dramatically. Hope you guys have a great weekend! xx
Buddy in da house
No need for fancy cat toys for this guy. What he likes to play with is very random (a piece of rope or the inside of a roll of tape for example), but his newest favourite is ribbons. Specifically chasing ribbons. My mother-in-law always wraps her presents with them or string, and whilst opening one of her xmas gifts Buddy pounced on one. As a result, almost daily, one of his humans will run through the house trailing said ribbon behind them with him chasing madly after it. I wanted to capture it and catch him mid-run, but as soon as he saw me with the camera he stopped. 🙄
DJ Buddy?! I so wish I’d not taken this and instead gone over to see which record he was selecting. I’m pretty sure it was a funk album, seeing as almost the whole collection is funk.
Classic cat behaviour going on here. When we got Buddy nearly five years ago he behaved more like a dog (which Maine Coons tend to do); he’d play fetch, follow me around from room to room in the house, and never jump up on your lap or lie on your newspaper as you were reading it, as most cats do, and our old cat Little Mo used to (awwww Little Mo!!!). Instead he’d lay by your feet and we’d forever trip on him, as it’s not usually a place where a cat goes and we never got used to him lying there. That’s changed now; no more fetch games, and there can be whole days where you’ve not seen him as he has gone and curled up somewhere, and now he lays on laps/chests happily. Luckily he doesn’t lie on newspapers as he’s a big fella.
When I saw this clock in the morning of New Year’s Day it said Jan 1 2020. I gasped in mock horror and exclaimed “Nooooooooooo! We’re stuck!”. Ha. Ha. The year count is not automated so it has to be changed by hand, and Buddy was very curious to see his taunter/nemesis up close. You see, twice a day the day flips from AM to PM and vice versa, and when it does it makes a loud cranking sound which Buddy is fascinated by. He somehow knows when it’s about to happen and will sit and watch and wait a couple of minutes before it happens, but almost every time he gets bored and walks away just before it changes, and therefor misses the flip. I can’t remember now if he’s ever managed to see it. It’ll be a day to celebrate when he does, as it’s been a five year long project for him.