Of life and death and synchronicity

Philibert's trademark always was his tongue sticking out

 Philibert (you can read about him here) died last Friday. It was a shock, he always had some small health issues but things took a turn for the worst and he  was gone in 3 days.
Philibert was extremely cuddly and dominant...meaning he didn't let the other cats much room around me, though he was rarely attacking them.
He was a tiny little cat with rabbit like fur that always smelled like a baby. He loved cat treats (he could hear them from miles away), milk and belly rubs. He slept cuddled near me which gained him the nickname of "Little Spoon" (also, in French, little spoon is "petite cuiller" which rhymes with Philibert).
He was also always extremely energetic, making me forget he was in fact an older cat and not a kitten.
I still can't wrap my head around the fact he is gone.
Now, we all deal with death and grief in our own way. I have had a lot of practice at losing pets and people so I know what works for me.
I am a nerd, I read books. When I am upset there are 3 subjects I enjoy reading, philosophy, quantum physics and UFO's.

Last Friday morning I was reading  about synchronicity and conscience and the links they could have with quantum physics. "Synchronicity is a concept created by psychiatrist Carl Jung, which holds that events are "meaningful coincidences" if they occur with no apparent causal relationship, yet seem to be meaningfully related" (Wikipedia).
In short, they are no coincidences.
Shortly after I brought Philibert's body back from the vet, I started playing my current favorite video game, Animal Crossing New Leaf. If you're not familiar with it, it's game in which you're the mayor of a small town where you can collect objects to furnish your house and interact with the inhabitants. Occasionally they will give you objects, though usually you have to buy or trade for them.
Last Friday, one of the computer generated characters came to me and gave me a black cat.

Animal Crossing 4 available maneki neko

Out of the thousands of items in the game...

Later that day I decided to replace a watch battery. The watch had been lying there, opened on the workbench for weeks. I placed the new battery in, checked if the hands were moving and closed it. Then I was about to set the correct time...only to find out it was already set to the exact correct time...

So I guess the universe was telling me it was Philbert's exact and correct time to go. 

FACTS 2014

FACTS is the big Belgian film and animé con that is held each year in Gent. Even though I stopped collecting a few years back I still like to attend to see all the cool cosplay. Here are my favs from last year.

A cool Captain America

So neat :) 

Gandalf

Too cute

Another great trio

My favorites , Groot and Rocket

Great costumes and acting from these 2 !

Blurry...but well, 11th Doc and the Mistress.

I love all the Alice cosplay

Not cute...

Cutie ;)

New items at Captain Cosmos

New plugs and cuff links available at The Captain Cosmos shop on Etsy.
There's a 15% discount till June 30, 2015 (with code: opening15).
The new items are also available on Dawanda and Alittlemarket.

Spring in the garden

 Those photos were taken in late April...how the garden has changed already...
And I apologize to all the arachnophobes reading the blog ;)

Cute little spider weaving her web

Snail tree

A tortutous hazelnut tree.

Bumblebee

Another little spider

Neighbours' cherry tree

Blurry pretty bicolor leaf

Kitten

and another sort of kitten

And another little spider

Pepita's got things to do...

THE CAPTAIN COSMOS SHOP IS OPENED FOR BUSINESS

After thinking it through for several weeks I have finally decided to open a new shop where to sell my plugs/gauges and cufflinks.
I seldom have combined orders with my kawaii jewelry for those items, and I have been wanting to use that retro sci-fi theme for a long time too.
And in case you wonder, the Capatin Cosmos is my late cat Marvin. As you can see Marvin was a pretty laid back cat, letting me put a tin foil space hat on his cute little head and kindly posing for a photo.
You can use the discount code OPENING15 until June30,2015 for 15% off your order.

Of course, I'll combine shipping if you decide to purchase items from my 2 shops (I'll refund shipping after purchase).
I am still busy adding new items and moving my stock from the other shop every day.

The Captain Cosmos on Etsy 

The kittens' birthday

PARTY TIME!!!!!

Well, turning 6 today means they're not really kittens anymore...but they'll always be my babies ;)
Happy birthday Frank and Bob!

I don't like parties

I don't like crowds

I'll hide here until it's over

Pepita: Where there's a party, there's tuna.

More kittens' birthday : They're born, 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th birthday.

Bruno the cat

 If you follow me on Instagram, you have already met Bruno, the lastest addition to the family.
Bruno is a fairly large and older cat that regularly visited the garden (and ate some food left for my cats...). At the end of winter, I noticed he was hardly leaving the garden, spending the night in the outdoor cathouse. Extremely shy he was. It took me several weeks to gain his trust...but eventually I brought him inside.
Bruno is very endearing, he loves cuddles and attention (and treats). He is extremely well-behaved at the vet and uses the cat boxes like a pro. I wonder if he had a house once?
I call him my pink cat, he is diluted red...or cream and he has a big boopable nose.
He really doesn't want to miss out  on anything...he sees what the other cats do and he has to try it at least once.
Pepita is less than impressed.

I'm trying to nap here!