Kats‘n’Grammar Kids

Remember back in the early golden days of the movies when a gang of neighborhood kids would be playing in someone’s back yard and one kid (such as Judy Garland or Mickey Rooney) would get a brilliant idea and shout, “Hey, kids, let’s put on a show!” These productions were always scatterbrained and silly yet everyone had a grand time and in the movies back then everyone always lived happily ever after.

Well, once upon a time there was an awe-inspiring author who wrote charming stories about a guy in Seattle and a clowder of cats and kittens who were world famous on the Internet.  A number of the fans of these cats and kittens and these charming stories wished that there could be a real honest-to-goodness book, printed on real paper in the time-honored fashion, a book you could hold in your hands so the stories could be read again and again (even if there was a power failure).

 

There was a shout, “Hey, kids, let’s make a book!” The magic wand was waved, the incantation was recited, and voilà—“Sing to the Moon” by Jill Pickford popped into existence! 

It was like magic!

But perhaps I exaggerate a tad. It may not have been quite as simple as that. 

Let’s go back in time and tell this story from its beginning.  Jill Pickford began watching Foster Dad John’s Critter Room on Livestream with Rosemary’s Spice Kittens in the Fall of 2012.  Several litters later, by the Spring of 2013, while watching Kari’s Mythbuster litter, her first story was born.  She shared this with FDJ’s Critter Room Facebook page and everyone who read it loved it.  The fandom began.

More stories came along now and again—Jill was carefully developing and slowly unveiling a complete mythos, with a cast of characters (feline and human) spanning recorded history, the cosmos, and kittens on the Internet.  It was a mesmerizing world, causing readers to both laugh and weep (ofttimes both at once).

By November of 2015, The Critter Room was celebrating its Golden Jubilee—and John had raised and nurtured well over 200 cats and kittens in The Critter Room. Through his sponsoring shelter (Purrfect Pals in Arlington, Washington) most of them had been adopted into wonderful forever homes and a majority of the ones who had been on the Kitten Cam had their own Facebook pages. Many more delightful stories followed from Jill's fruitful imagination.  The richly embroidered fantasy world she envisioned slowly expanded and coalesced into a continuing story line, taking place on both the earthly plane and in the spiritual realm on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

In addition to FDJ’s cats and kittens finding perfect forever homes, and these heart-warming stories being written, another unexpected phenomenon was unfolding.  A wondrous group of people from all over the world were getting to know each other, first through their computers and phones and tablets, and then many met in person at a series of yearly Kitten Cam Cons, taking place initially in Seattle, then several European conventions—and next, who knows?  Kitten Cammers will take over the world!

But back to our timeline: February of 2016—enter Nancy, one of Jill’s most ardent fans, who wrote  her the following message on Facebook:  “I am sure you have been asked, but is there ever a chance that you will compile all your fantastic writings into a book that could be printed and sold to benefit Purrfect Pals?  #patientlywaitingfirstinline"

Jill responded, “If anyone cares to show me how… :) ”

Enter Susan, another fan of Jill’s, who responded, “You may be sorry you asked that question ;) ”

  

This exchange resulted in the setting up of a small and private Facebook group for a handful of us to explore the possibilities of bringing Jill’s book into fruition.  As I had had some experience being a “content and continuity” editor for an author friend, I volunteered my services as editor.  I also said I had some ideas for a cover.  Susan, as a multi-talented and accomplished author in several fields (Susan's website, Be As One), volunteered to do the formatting and layout and publishing stuff.  Here is the link to her book inspired by Foster Dad John’s kittens and cats: The Critter Room Memory Book. Nancy cheered us on with wise observations, gentle urging, and barely contained excitement. 

With fewer than a half a dozen active members in our Facebook group, it is astonishing how many posts we generated in a year’s time.  We discussed every single facet of the book-to-be, from Oxford commas to em dashes and ellipses, when to capitalize Moon, the whole babbies versus babies discussion and the stirring ‘dopshun versus dopshun debate—not a single word or a punctuation mark escaped our fierce scrutiny.  An early decision was to keep Jill’s British spelling but change the punctuation to American (with one tiny exception). 

“Hey!  We ought to find people to illustrate the stories!”  “What a great idea! There are loads of Critter Room fans that have created amazing artwork.”  After putting the word out, we were disappointed to receive only a lukewarm response.  But hey, it was understandable, folks were busy: working for a living, studying for degrees, raising children—you know—life got in the way.

I began working on the cover, starting with some full moon photos I had shot.  For six months or more I spent the nights of every full moon out in my driveway with my cumbersome Nikon D80 and my dad’s rickety old tripod (stabilized with an rusty antique flat iron hanging from a bungee cord), trying to achieve the perfect photograph that matched my vision.  At times my moon shot seemed almost within reach, but I just could not get it the way I saw it in my head.  Mother Nature kept raining on me, beclouding my sky, or blowing wind at my trees and by the end of the night the muscles in my neck would be twitching and my eyes would be crossed from trying to peer into the viewfinder (I have grown way too accustomed to LCD screens on my newer my little point and shoot cameras).

With only a few semi-suitable shots in my computer I began laying out the cover.  I envisioned a cat face within the moon.  The first cat image I found was Suzanne Hoag's painting  of Alice (Hitchhiker Mom) who looked to me like she was singing.  Alas, it was decided she looked too scary, as if she were growling.  Back to searching through FDJ’s Critter Room alumnae photos.  No luck. 

  

Alice by Suzanne Hoag, painted for FDJ's Jubilee in 2016

Enter Mister Ripley.  We had earlier convinced him to write a foreword for Jill’s book and on Ripley’s Facebook page he posted a great shot of her that would be perfect for the cover.  He was kind enough to send me a hi-res file.  I cut it out in Photoshop and placed it into the moon—but to my dismay, no matter what I did with it, it just did not work.  But I continued to tinker with the layout and if nothing else, I found a perfect font for the title.  How can a book of cat stories miss with a font called Cataneo?

The one and only Ripley, photo courtesy of Mister Ripley (James Petts)

Alice on the left, Ripley on the right, Super Moon on the bottom

Various attempts at the cover

In the meantime, Jill had created several appliqued and embroidered covers for throw pillows with a variety of cat and moon designs.  She packed them up and mailed them to Purrfect Pals for their Black Cat Ball auction in the Fall of 2016.  The only photos she had taken were not book-cover reproduction quality, so I tried my darndest to reach the liaison from Purrfect Pals who had been the recipient of the package so she could take a good photo our chosen design.  Unfortunately, by the time she received my frantic message, the pillow covers had already been stuffed, sewn up and plumped, so thus trying to take a good photo was pretty much out of the question and the auction was on and the pillows were sold and gone.

Jill's original applique pillow cover design

Jill responded by sitting down with a sheet of paper, some markers, and a large plate (to trace around for the moon), and re-created the pillow design.  It was then that she also shyly admitted that she had been doing some simple illustrations for her stories.  When she shared them with us we were blown away—our author has been twice blessed to be not only a talented writer but a whimsical artist as well.  Her drawings were absolutely perfect for her stories and it was an easy project for me to turn her marker drawing into a striking cover. 

Ta da!  The finished cover!

As soon as the cover design was solidified, Susan leapt into action and designed a postcard with "how to buy this book" information that could be used for publicity.

Front of the postcard (and poster)

By the time the holidays were over and we were into 2017, real editing began in earnest.  Emails, messages, and Facebook posts flew back and forth around the world, discussing and debating every single question about encountered grammatical quandaries, spelling conundrums, or  punctuation dilemmas.  Continuity was our main concern; as Jill had written these stories and poems over a span of several years, it never occurred to her that folks would be sitting down to devour all of them together in book form.  They had to be perfect. 

When it was as perfect as it could be in this first go-round, I sent the Word doc off to Susan (who had been ever so politely hinting that we had better get a move on) for formatting.  Susan began working with Word in Create Space and transformed our document into a PDF, carefully setting up margins, gutters, and making sure there were no dreaded widows or orphans or unwanted hyphens.  It even had a Table of Contents!  It looked so impressive (especially with the addition of Jill’s illustrations).  It was starting to look like a real book!

We  read through this PDF, each finding a few more spelling questions or typos or missing or misplaced punctuation marks.  Back and forth the document went to Susan, who most skillfully fine-tuned and massaged the manuscript into shape.  With each incarnation the number of notated mistakes lessened until finally there were none (we hoped!).

Yet another decision had to be made.  We needed to come up with a name that Jill could use for her publishing house; several names were suggested and after chewing on it for a while we chose Great Circle Productions (once you have read the stories this will make sense to you).

The next step was to have proof copies printed up (paid for by our financier Nancy who was, by this time, shall we say, completely over the moon and quivering with anticipation) so we could each go through with our red pencils for one final look-see.  And yes, we each found more errors—but Susan set about making repairs with her usual serene determination and soon “Sing to the Moon” by Jill Pickford was all finished.  Had it really been over a year since Nancy first expressed her wistful wish?

In the midst of all of our editing struggles, another kid in our gang, after patiently standing in the wings for months (she was getting tired!), stepped into her long-awaited role in the publicity and merchandising department.  Enter Joan, proprietor of the Club Chickenfish Store on Café Press, and she took our designs and ran with them to create T-shirts and mugs (or any of their offerings from their vast array of available merchandise) with the book cover or Great Circle Productions logo and one of Jill’s drawings from the book.  Joan also had the large publicity posters (of the postcard front) printed and mounted which will eventually make their way to Purrfect Pals’ headquarters.  Here is the link to Club Chickenfish where you will find all Critter Room and kitten cam related merchandise, all sold to the benefit of Purrfect Pals. 

Logo or book cover on front of shirts and mugs, ETKHAND logo on backs

Joan and Nancy will be staffing the Sing to the Moon booth at Purrfect Pal’s annual Average Joe Cat Show on May 6th 2017 at Shoreline's Spartan Recreation Center.  Between the two of them they have gone to great lengths to color-coordinate every detail in the display from the large posters to plush kitties, cat pens, and a kitty/moon designed fabric for a table runner.  They will be talking up the book, showing the few precious copies in existence (these will be tied to the table!) and handing out Susan's lovely postcards  with all of the info on how to order your very own copy of this marvelous little book.  (Keep the postcard—it will make a great bookmark for your copy of “Sing to the Moon”!)  And if your timing is right, you may have the honor of meeting  Foster Dad John or Mister Ripley in person!    

We have set up a Facebook Group with all of the information about the book, where to buy it and with an album of adorable photographs of many of the cast of characters from the book.  You will also find a glossary in case the British words prove puzzling, and on this page you can ask questions of Jill and she promises to answer in a timely fashion.  Here is the direct link to the Facebook page:  Sing to the Moon

Before the book,  Jill had been publishing her stories on her own blog called KittenKamKattery.  This will be the place to go to read older stories and find new ones, as she writes them.

For those not on Facebook, the link to the Create Space page to purchase your very own copy of this book is Create Space Sing to the Moon book. After you buy it and read it and enjoy the heck out of it we would also be very pleased indeed if you could pop over to Amazon and leave a review.  Amazon Sing to the Moon book  (Be sure to buy it from the Create Space link, however, because they give a much larger portion of the proceeds to Purrfect Pals than does Amazon.)

So that is the backstory of how a great guy and a clowder of cats and kittens in Seattle inspired a writer in Colchester, UK, and a small team of dedicated “fan gals” from all over the USA (from Washington State to Worcester, Mass and Tucson, Arizona with Buffalo in the middle) were able to gather in cyber space to produce this little book without ever setting foot together the same room.  Wishes can come true.

  

And now, to paraphrase the inimitable Mehitabel the cat, I’ll end with our favorite motto:  “Enjoy the kittens, have a nice day.”

 

ETKHAND, drawing by Jill Pickford

Cupid

Cupid, October 28, 2016 - January 4, 2017

More Kitten Camaraderie

Today is my second anniversary of discovering the Kitten Cam(s).  With six thousand other watchers all over the globe, I spent last evening fascinated and glued to the screen witnessing Mama Dorothy give birth to the six Kittens of Oz on foster mom Shelly's Tiny Kittens cam.  Dorothy was kicked out of her home after coming home pregnant and luckily found herself at Langley Animal Protection Services, LAPS, near Vancouver, British Columbia.  She hit the kitty lottery and ended up for the last several weeks growing huge and healthy in Shelly's care.  She is a tiny young first-time mother (and last-time, too!) and was exhausted and confused during the birthing process - without Shelly's tender ministrations the story may not have had such a happy ending/new beginning.

Shelly is orchestrating seating at the milk bar and feeding Mama Dorothy (talk about a lovin' spoonful!) in her nest.  One of the tiny kittens is really tiny so Shelly is supplementing her with formula, to jumpstart her interest in nursing.  Little by little the mothering instincts are kicking in and soon, with Shelly's skillful assistance, Dorothy will be a pro.The poor dear is plumb knackered (as is Shelly, who had been on active birth-watch for four days or more!  She has also been talking on camera for nearly all of this time and I just do not know how she does it.).

I am thinking a lot about my own semi-feral rescue kitty, Mama Lucy.  Although she managed to win the affection of a number of people in her neighborhood - some who made sure she had food when they discovered her pregnancy - when she gave birth to her six little boys, it was all alone and in the dark and on the packed dirt floor of a dusty crawl space.  It was also during the no-doubt frightful aural onslaught of Fourth of July fireworks.  Mama Lucy is a city kitty, but that racket must have been terrifying for her.  We will never know for sure - this litter may not have been her first.  By the time I met Mama Lucy her boys were five weeks old, they were fat and happy and she was giving them her all.  If she had experienced a retained placenta or tangled umbilical cords, kittens might have died.  She did not have the luxury of clean blankets, fresh towels, heated nests and the soothing voice and hands of the amazing Shelly (and all the unsung heroes of the rescue world).  Mama Lucy was fortunate to have found shelter.

Mama Lucy and her boys at 7 weeks of age

In my lifetime of living with cats, three have given birth in my own home and I have never learned so much about cats as I have from watching Kitten Cams.  Malaika gave birth to two kittens who suffered from congenital complications and died tragically, little Leela gave birth to a litter which included Shadow and Junior (Leela Junior)  and Junior gave birth to two litters, making Joker (from the May litter)  and Sunday (born one day after the rest of her September littermates) half-siblings.  All of these pregnancies were quite unplanned - this was the early eighties - spaying and neutering was not done as young as it is now. I remember my vet making me wait until a female was at least six months old.  Too late!  In those days it was easier to find homes for the kittens that I was not keeping as my friends were not all way over their limit of kitties. 

Right now in Seattle, another lucky mama-to-be kitty named Marge is awaiting the birth of her litter, which will go on to be raised by the inimitable Foster Dad John.  Marge and her kittens will move into FDJ's care as soon as mama kitty is comfortable.  In the last year John has raised and graduated several more litters of marvelous rockstar kittens and mamas into the world, and he broke all his own rules when he fell in love with one amazing little soul and adopted her into his own feline household.  If Kitten Cam kitties win the lottery, Trillian won the Powerball. 

In the last year Kitten Cam watchers have developed even closer bonds - we have supported each other through thick and thin, triumph and tragedy.  So far I have met one avid watcher in person and I am trying my darndest to talk myself into traveling to Seattle in May for the Kitten Cam Convention - me, the world's least likely traveler!  Will the Camaraderie of the Kitten Cams be enough to lure me out of my cave and onto an airplane?  Stay tuned....

The Seeker

Peter Ghostbuster, the Seeker

Where am I? 

Why am I here?

I do not think I am supposed to be here.

Not yet, not yet – it is too soon;

I am not ready.

I must return,

find my way back to the beginning.

I must start over.  Why am I here?

But first, inventory:

I am colorless.

I cannot see, I cannot hear;

but I have a voice,

and I have legs.

I must use everything I have been given

to find the way.

And what is here?

I feel softness and warmth, and something else.

It is love - a mighty love.

This mighty love seems to be coming at me

from all directions; it surrounds me, comforts me.

But I must not rest,

I must continue my quest.

I call out, “I am here!”

My small head quivers like a compass needle,

Seeking, seeking, seeking….

I am not sure what it is that I seek,

but I cannot find it.

Where is it?

What is it?

My limbs are weak,

but still I feel the compulsion to move.

I cannot, must not be contained.

Exhausted at last, I call out,

“Help me, help me! I am lost.”

My mom is worried;

she retrieves me and tries her best to soothe me.

The mighty love envelopes me.

Ahhh. 

 

I remember now – it is coming clear to me at last.

I was sent here on a very important mission.

A very brief mission, and somehow, somehow,

I have accomplished this mission.

I have done all I came here to do;

I have found the mighty love.

I am free now to return to my home in the stars.

Gratitude fills my heart.

I am home.

But you will see me again;

and you will recognize me.

I will be resplendent in my tabby pants.

Kitten Camaraderie

The Internet has changed our world.  As soon as folks were able to post photographs online, the cats began showing up.  Cute cats, dramatic cats, pathetic cats.  Kittens.  Lots and lots of kittens.  According to Wikipedia, it was in 2005 that the first LOLcat appeared.  In 2006 I Can Has Cheezburger propelled cats into an even wider spotlight.  With the arrival of Facebook the floodgates opened and soon we were drowning in cats:  adorable sour puss Grumpy Cat, angst-ridden Henri, box-loving Maru, Roomba Cat, Venus the Amazing Chimera Cat amongst many other feline cyber stars.

Live video feeds soon added yet another dimension to this phenomena, but the first animals I found were not cats.   In 2008 millions were mesmerized watching the first famous Shiba Inu litter of puppies.  They were so cute, so klutzy, so endearing!  After this feed ended, I went in search of more live events.  I watched a wind-blown nest of eagles high in a tree in the Pacific Northwest.  I followed the adventures of Pale Male in his Central Park aerie.  I sat watching the sun rise and set over the pyramids at Giza.  I clicked into and out of many live cams, but nothing held the staying power of our little Shibas.  If there were any cats on a live cam back then, I never found them.

I continued to "Like" many cats and cat groups on Facebook.  Many of these cats had triumphed over horrible adversity - there were blind cats and three-legged cats, cats that had been abandoned, cats that had been abused - I read some truly horrifying stories.  I found dozens of rescue groups, each pleading for money, fosters, homes for their needy animals.  Their approach seemed to be, "See how awful this situation is?  Give us money now!"   After a time I grew weary of these sad stories.  How much empathy (and money) can one poor person muster?  

Just as I was becoming disheartened by the enormous need, along came the cat pages.  Hank the Cat ran for the Senate in 2012 (I heard he got 6,000 write-in votes).  Tuxedo Stan ran for the office of Mayor in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He did not win but he managed to inspire many of the human candidates to sign his Pledge (promoting a low-cost spay/neuter solution to the feral cat problem) and the first one to sign was elected Mayor.  Humans with savvy social marketing skills and great graphics were behind both Hank and Stan.  Stan recently passed away from cancer but his littermate Earl Grey is following in his footsteps.  Awareness seems to be increasing and with awareness comes solutions. 

On November 18, 2012, the Tuxedo Party's Facebook page posted a link to a live cam which would indeed change my life.  It was a Livestream feed of Foster Dad John (FDJ) and his now world-famous Kitten Cam.  I honestly did not think that watching this cam would be any different from the previous ones I had watched.  But then I fell through the looking glass of my computer screen into the Wonderland of John Bartlett and his kittens.  I started watching when the Spice Kittens were six weeks old.  Mama cat Rosemary and her kittens Sage, Basil, Pepper and Mace.  Rosemary was such a beautiful and attentive mother and the kittens were so danged cute - running, tumbling, prancing, twitching in their sleep.  Only a year before I had rescued my own feral cat Mama Lucy and raised her six little boys, so watching these kittens brought back that experience in all its tumultuous glory.

In addition to the draw of watching the kittens another interesting feature of the Livestream feed was the chat.  At any given time of the day or night, hundreds of cat lovers from all over the world are chatting about the kittens and if the kittens are sleeping or off-camera, they exchange recipes, talk about world events, tell stories, quote movies, recommend music - the sky is the limit on this group.  The kittens can be gone to a vet appointment for hours and still nothing stops the chat except technical difficulties.  Chatters are united by the love of the kittens.  I read the chat, got to know the routines, and I was sad when the kittens were adopted and the live event ended.  But I kept checking back to see if there were any new kittens and one day I found the new litter.

Ripley's Kittens drew me in from day one.  All of John's litters have name themes - this litter was named after the characters in the Alien movie.  Mama was Ripley, and the kittens were Ash, Bishop, Newt, Parker and Dallas.  Ripley was a stunning cat - black with white trim and HUGE gold eyes, painfully thin and giving everything she had to her babies.  She was wary at first but soon grew to trust and then love FDJ.  He won her over with pure love and gentleness, and he won me over the same way.  I watched morning, noon and night.  At the shop, at home - I could not stop watching these precious little balls of fluff and their sleek mama.

And it was not just the cuteness that drew me in - there was the drama.  I'll never forget the day my favorite kitten changed gender.  "Ash is a boy!"  He was so floofy that he had originally been thought of as a girl.   By this time I had studied all of the written material on the Kitten Cam page - I learned the names and lore of all of the toys and cat furniture (named by chatters).  Chickenfish (Hail!) the most famous yellow fish/chicken cat toy, perfect for cradling the kittens when they are wee and wrestling with when they are larger.  Chickenfish has made it into the Urban Dictionary and there are several Facebook pages devoted to Chickenfish and many products offered for sale to benefit Purrfect Pals, FDJ's rescue organization.  The second most famous is Fishbed, which unless clipped to the enclosure wall has an alarming tendency to migrate about the room (propelled by tiny kittens).  The furniture includes the Tardis, The Mewniverse, The Ziggurat, The Enterprise, the Transpawter, the Hammock of Destiny (HOD), the Contact Rings (this group likes science fiction!). 

Ripley's kittens grew and grew.  They moved from the little cage to a bigger area and then an ever bigger room.  I watched them until the fateful Adoption Day.  All of the kittens had adopters lined up; the adopters just had to show up, pay the fee, sign their names and voila - the kittens had new homes!  But not one single person had put in an application for the Most Wonderful Mother Cat in the Universe - Mama Ripley!  How could that be???  Chatters around the world were mortified and miserable.  I could not stop crying (and I was watching this drama unfold at my shop on a busy Saturday afternoon).  One by one the kittens went home and there was Ripley, alone and seemingly unloved.  Oh!  The horror!

Suddenly the word spread like wildfire that a lady had phoned and was on her way to adopt her.  Joy filled my heart.  Then another announcement was made that  there was yet another person who was also interested in her.  Was there about to be a fist fight in the aisle at Petsmart?  Our fears were alleviated when the full story emerged - it was a husband and wife who were coming for our dear girl and they had each phoned and thus the mix-up.  But would they be good enough for this special gal?  We could only hope.  By the time this photo was posted I, for one, was a basket case.  It still makes me weep.  Ripley had found her forever home.

The "English Gentleman" and Ripley.

After this chaotic Adoption Day, I discovered that not only did FDJ have a Facebook page (The Critter Room) but many of the adopters had made pages for their cats.  I began what has turned out to be an ever-growing collection of FDJ related cat pages.   I joined several Kitten Cam related groups on Facebook and began getting to know the chatters on a more personal level.  As I have never participated in the chat, they did not know me at all but I can now say with confidence that I have made friends for life and they are scattered all over the world.  If I were a traveler I would go visit some of them and hug them in person.

The next litter for FDJ was named after Russian astronauts - The Cosmo Fosters.  Mama was Laika, the kittens were fierce torti Valentina, mischievous orange Yuri, and the black twins Boris and Pavel, often referred to as the Borvels since they were identical.  I followed their progress from their arrival to their departure and I am still following most of them on Facebook.  Laika (now renamed Mimi) is gorgeous and content and Boris is simply glowing with happiness and mischief.

Along came The Mythbusters:  Mama Kari, Siamese colored Adam (who later turned into a girl - Addie), Tory, Jamie and Grant.  Grant touched our hearts when he began sleeping on his back and we noticed his breathing was rapid and shallow.  Turns out he was diagnosed with a rare congenital malformation of his ribcage so his respiration was labored and used up a lot of the calories he was getting at Mama's milkbar.  John began supplementing his mother's milk with special formula.  Kittens mostly outgrow this defect if they can be kept healthy.  Watching John doing these feedings further endeared him to me.  So dedicated - so gentle!  Oh, be still my heart!

Foster Dad John feeding Grant.

By the time Adoption Day rolled around for this litter everyone had been spoken for except Grant and Tory.  Could it be that Grant's medical history had scared off a potential adopter?  We watched, clutching our tissues, while all of the kittens and mama went to their new homes and both Grant and Tory were still there!  Oh no!  This meant that they had to remain in the Petsmart store until someone wanted them.  Those poor little dears - at least they had each other!  Fortunately, a young couple showed up and adopted them the very next day and everything has turned out for the best.  We receive constant updates and photos on their Facebook page and these clever humans even came up with a way to raise money for Purrfect Pals - anyone who made donations to PP would receive (on FB) a personalized greeting from the cat of their choice.  I chose Grant (since he looks so much like my very own Mister Fletcher) and you can see from this photo how healthy he is now.

Mythbuster Grant and a personal greeting for me!

John is a techie guy, always upgrading his cameras and tweaking the lighting and fussing with the placement of the cat furniture for best viewing and also for best kitten growth experiences.  One night I stayed up way past bedtime watching him install a new light in the cage and he kept having to crawl in and out because he needed tools and drill bits and he reminded me of myself when I attempt a project.  He installed blue towels when the Borvels were not showing up on the white towels (camera had trouble focusing with the sharp contrast).  Then there was the night he decided to repair one of the fuzzy planets on the Mewniverse.   He brought in what looked like a dollar store sewing kit and between fiddling with what he called the "cheap ass scissors" and fumbling with trying to thread the needle, I had tears running down my cheeks from laughing so much.   By the time he managed to complete this job I was ready to mail him a proper sewing kit.

John has fostered over three dozen litters and never once been a "foster failure."  (I am a foster failure - I have fostered 9 cats and adopted 5 of them!)  He has eight cats of his own (sometimes heard outside the door to the kitten room).  Unbelievably, he is allergic to cats, but he does not let this interfere with any of his feline activities.  He is a man with a mission.

One of John's stated missions is to inspire others to do as he does - foster cats and kittens.  He has inspired many followers to do just that and some have also set up cams.  More and more felines are finding forever homes thanks to John's lead.  But not everyone can make room in their lives for this endeavor, so other creative avenues have been pioneered.  I have read some heartwarming and beautifully written fiction and poetry, motivated by the lives of "our" kittens and their mamas. Thousands of images have been screen capped so there is a vast digital vault of material from which many images and videos have been produced to commemorate each litter and each stage of their lives with John and beyond.  A world wide variety of artists have been influenced to create in many mediums:  digital, anime, watercolor, collage, fabric, and sculpture.  Katja, an artist in Finland, has been inspired to begin making little felted miniatures of each kitten and mama.  She auctions them on Ebay with part of the proceeds going to Purrfect Pals.  I bought a T-shirt with the Mythbusters on it, designed by my cyber-friend Hanna Fate.  She has designed wallpaper, wrapping paper, all kinds of products offered for sale through Zazzle, also with a portion of the sale to benefit Purrfect Pals.

Mythbusters by Hanna Fate

Awareness is spreading and kittens are becoming famous on camera; then they are adopted and some become even more famous.  Donations are being made - money, catfood, litter, toys, furniture.  All Purrfect Pals has to do is post their Amazon wish list and the catfood rolls in.  Chatters are also helping each other, all around the world.  This whole thing has turned into an amazing community.   Many other rescue groups are also being inspired by Purrfect Pals and Foster Dad John.  He probably never dreamed when he tossed that first little pebble into the pond what a ripple effect he would create.  He has helped cats he will never even see. 

The next litter that came along after Mythbusters was The Looney Tunes Fosters.  Stunning Mama Hazel, and her kittens Taz, Sylvester, Marvin and Penelope. Honey, a plucky and fuzzy solo kitten, was briefly introduced to Hazel and her kittens  She was only in the crate for a couple of hours when she was returned to her first foster human mom as she had been sick and it was hoped she would rejoin the group for kitten socialization when she became well.   There was not a dry eye in the Kitten Cam world when word came that Honey had passed away from congestive heart failure.  It was just not meant to be.  I like to think that all felines on the Kitten Cam now have the presence of a very special little guardian angel.  All of the Mythbusters found forever homes and ended up with Facebook Pages after adoption.  

FDJ and the Looney Tunes Fosters - on their Last Day in his care.

The most recent litter was the AI Fosters  - all named after artificial intelligence entities in various science fiction productions.  Mama was GlaDOS, slender, jet-black yet somehow silvery, huge Ripley eyes, constantly mrrring to her babies.  She gave birth to one kitten, Hal, but later adopted as her own three little guys from another litter - Eddie, Holly and Jarvis.  Their successful Adoption Day was yesterday and she and Holly went home together.  Jarvis has had a name change, too.  Now he is to be called Bartlett, a fitting tribute to the man who raised him.

Cats all over the world also watch the Kitten Cam.  My Leto will watch for an hour or so, falling asleep on my laptop and Mama Lucy was quite puzzled the first time she heard kittens squeaking on camera.  She jumped up on my workbench and searched for them behind the laptop.

Leto watching and reaching out to Laika.

Mama Lucy wondering "Where are those kittens?"

For many months I viewed all of the artwork pouring from the hearts and hands of the kitten cam people and wished I had something I could make for a contribution.  Without practice, my drawing skills have evaporated  and my digital skills are severely lacking.  What could I do?  I decided to dust off my miniature skills and began making small versions of the cat furniture and toys I saw on John's cam.  My eventual goal is to create an entire miniature roombox of his Kitten Cam.  If I ever figure out how to complete this, I will then auction it off and offer a portion of the proceeds to Purrfect Pals and also my local rescue groups.  The box itself is proving tricky, I am still trying to figure it out.  The mama and kittens (maybe the next litter?) ought to be a snap as I am pretty good with polymer clay.  I keep plugging along.  Having a real Chickenfish (Hail!) and a real Fishbed are invaluable, but working in 1:8.5 scale is fun to say the least.

Fishbed, Chickenfish and their little friends.

I have tried and tried to explain to anyone within earshot why I watch the Kitten Cam.  Next time I feel the urge to preach I will just steer them to this blog entry.  I daresay I will probably be writing about them again some day.

Thank you dear Tuxedo Stan for sharing the Kitten Cam link with your readers.  Thank you Purrfect Pals for finding such a wonderful man, and thank you Kitten Cam followers and my new friends from all over the world.  But most of all, thank you John Bartlett.  You are an inspiration to so many and a mighty hero to those little fuzzy creatures that you so take such great care to socialize and send out into their forever homes. 

I will end this as FDJ ends each visit with his small charges:  "Have a nice day.  Enjoy the kittens."