New Year's Eve... bring it on!

It may still be daylight, but it's New Year's Eve and you know what that means? Flashy, noisy, bang-y things in the sky tonight! So I've got my hiding spot under Nick and Kate's bed all picked out.

By the way, me hiding here during the day has got NOTHING to do with the fact that Nick is mowing the lawns right now.

Nothing.

Happy New Year, everycat! See y'all in 2009!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Hey! I'm up here!

Can you see me? I'm not in jail, I'm just up on the patio, chilling out. Our garden is terraced so there's lots of great vertical space... and lots of jumping and climbing to be done. Keeps me young.But for now, I've got some chilling to do...

Cheers,
--Pabs
P.S. I'm a little slow with the news, but Jeter Harris is home! Woo hoo!!!

Here comes Momo!

Every year, on Boxing Day, the famous Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race begins, attracting entrants from all over Australia and the world. It's an amazing sight to see all the yachts leaving Sydney Harbour in full sail, and when the 'yachties' finally arrive in Hobart (most take three or so days to get here), it's one big party! Many stay for our New Year's celebrations on the famous Hobart waterfront.

Can you see who's at the helm (?) of this yacht? My Sydney mate Momo is coming down to see me! Woo hoo! She's much braver than me. I hate even thinking about getting my paws wet.

Cheers,

--Pabs

Merry Christmas from the blogging kitties of OZ!

Merry Christmas, everycat! The blogging kitties of OZ are celebrating in style this year, with amazing graphics from Zoolatry (thanks, Ann!!). Above is my individual portrait, depicting me lording it over Tasmania, my island home.

... and here we all are in our group montage. Who knew that there were so many blogging kitties in Australia? Along from our Kiwicat friend Poppy Q, (who's a few hours ahead of us) we are some of the first kitties in the world to celebrate Christmas. So if you want to get a sneaky early start to Christmas, visit the blogging cats of OZ (these are all links, even if they don't look like they are): Momo, Charlotte, Gypsy and Tasha, Fui and Suey, Bangles and Bombay, Vampy Vic and Mushka, Pye, Trixie and Tigger, Huffle Mawson, Oscar and Diamond.

Oh yeah, the Aussiecats are representing for Christmas 2008!

Wherever you are in the world, I hope that you have an awesome, safe, fun, peaceful Christmas (with lots of ham and turkey and chicken and pork and other yummy dead things!!!).

Cheers,
--Pabs

It's begining to look a lot like...

Christmas?

That's right, everycat! In Australia, Christmas looks like this. Hot sun, dry grass. I can't imagine what a snowy, wintry Christmas might be like. Now that summer has finally arrived, I've been spending my days like this, roasting in the sun and then taking to the shadier parts of the garden (behind me) for refuge when it gets too hot.

I can't stop thinking about my poor friend Jeter Harris, who is hanging around outside in the cold and snow and won't come inside. Jeter, mate, I'm purring for you and hoping that you're keeping warm, wherever you are, and that you're brave enough to go home and let your mum look after you. You can do it, matey!

Happy Christmas Eve, everycat!

Cheers,--Pabs

Saturday sun

Finally! A sunny morning in Hobart. This is the view over the rooftops down to the city.

It's a great morning for a roll on the cement.

Oh yeah.

Happy weekend, everycat!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Thanks, everycat!

My squishy-eyed smile of thanks to all of my buddies who voted for me

I'd just like to say a big THANKS to everycat who went to the trouble to vote for me in the My dream is... competition (see my post below if you're not sure what I'm talking about). The voting has closed, and it will be a week or so before we find out how we go. We're not expecting to win, but we're very happy because we got 175 votes! Thanks to everyone who voted, but some extra thanks to Skeezix, who posted about the competition on his blog, and to KC, who reported about it on the Cat Blogosphere website.

Whether we win any money or not (there are runner-up prizes), we're already winners because this competition has helped us to realise just how many friends we have around the world. That really means a lot... more than any money in the universe, or any forever home.

... and I'm a winner in another way, too! Last week, my new friends the Hyggecats (from 4 Cats Ruffin' It) gave me the Lemonade Award, for blogs which show great gratitude or attitude:

What an honour! The rules of the award are that I'm supposed to nominate 10 other blogs to receive this award, but I'm gonna break the rules a little... ok, a LOT. I hereby award the Lemonade Award to EVERYCAT who voted for me in the My dream is... competition! Woot!

Cheers,
--Pabs

I have a dream

... and YOU can help!
Kate and I have entered a competition to win $10,000 towards our dream (which is to save enough money to buy a forever home so we don't have to keep renting for the rest of our lives). The competition is being run by an investment company in Australia. To have a chance at winning, we need people to vote for the picture we've uploaded onto the competition website (it's the one here in this post, taken last time we had to move house, in 2007. I look so sad because I HATE MOVING HOUSE!!!).

If you would like to vote for me, please visit this website: http://mydreamis.ingdirect.com.au/?id=5329
and rate my photo out of five. Voting closes at 11.59pm (eastern Australian time) THIS SUNDAY, 14 December. We know that the competition is a long shot, but we thought it would be fun to give it a good old Aussie go. If you decide to vote for me, thanks! But it's ok if you don't vote... we can still be friends.

Happy weekend, everycat!

Cheers,
--Pabs

P.S. Thanks, everycat, for your kind thoughts and purrs at Sooty's passing. They meant a lot!

Goodbye, Sooty

We had some sad news at the weekend.

Sooty, Nick's family' s cat who lived with Nick's parents in northern Tasmania, had to be helped to the Bridge on Saturday. She was very old - around 20 years old - and was having a lot of trouble moving around. When Nick's dad took her to the v-e-t, they found that she had diabetes too. So the hard decision was made to help her to the Bridge.

Even though we will miss Sooty, we can be thankful that she had a very long, happy and adventurous life. She even had her own blog for a little while, which Nick's dad, Peter, helped her to write. Here's a photo of her that was taken in August this year. She's posing in front of her very own house in the courtyard of Nick's parent's place.

And here's a shot of just a part of her extensive territory beyond the courtyard, which she actively traversed and defended right to the end:
And just beyond the bushes in the background...

This most beautiful beach.

See you at the Bridge someday, Sooty. And big, rumbly purrs of thanks to Peter and Judy for looking after her so well for such a long time. (To read a post I wrote about Sooty last year, click here.)

Cheers,
--Pabs

A whole lotta Pabs

A few of my recent photographic collaborations with Kate to spice up your Thursday:

Hmm. Pablo, centerfold model?

This one is a little more artistic. I like the use of negative space.

Cheers,
--Pabs