Category Archives: Musique

Lucky

6 November, 2025 By in General, Green Zone, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , 81 Comments

Coffee, tea… me! As you probably already know, I prefer spring and summer. But I have to be honest and admit that I enjoy the beautiful and warm autumn colours in the nature during my walks. For instance, look at this beautiful old oak tree. It’s a perfect wonder of nature and example of the miraculous circle of life. I decided to have a rest period under the tree to do a meditation exercise. I was completely feeling Zen, being in a state of calm, peace, and acceptance, especially in a way that is unbothered by stress or chaos.


A few minutes later I found this rusty horseshoe. According to Google finding a horseshoe is widely considered a sign of good luck and protection against evil. This superstition stems from the belief that horseshoes, particularly those made of iron, possess mystical properties, and the horseshoe’s crescent shape or association with the strength and prosperity of horses are also linked to its meaning. For centuries, people have hung horseshoes over doorways to protect their homes and attract good fortune. So I guess it was my lucky day. Just like Joan Armatrading sang, ‘I’m lucky. I’m lucky. I can walk under ladders.’ I left the horseshoe behind so someone else could also experience his lucky day.


Meanwhile at home, everything is ok with Niki. He’s 9 months old and his BW is +4kg. Niki’s new habit is to steal the tea bag out of my cup. Wet or dry makes no difference for the little rascal.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Sleep

7 September, 2025 By in General, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 63 Comments

Why do we sleep? We sleep for essential physical and mental rest. Sleep gives your body time to repair itself and carry out important functions, like clearing out waste and releasing hormones and boost the immune system. Without these processes, our bodies can’t function correctly. The brain also benefits significantly, processing and storing memories, strengthening important neural connections, clearing out waste products, and regulating emotions, which supports improved concentration, judgment, and problem-solving.

I am a bad sleeper but in recent years there has been improvement through therapy, meditation and breathing exercises. I also found a lot of advice and tips in Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, the essential bestseller from Matthew Walker, PhD. It’s simply a must-read.
I can also really enjoy the music from Max Richter. Richter is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. In 2015, Richter released his most ambitious project to date titled Sleep, an 8.5-hour listening experience targeted to fit a full night’s rest. The album contains 31 compositions, most of them 20–30 minutes in duration, all based on variations of 4-5 themes. The music is calm, slow, and mellow, and composed for piano, cello, two violas, two violins, organ, soprano vocals, synthesisers, and electronics. Max Richter’s recent album Sleep Circle is the newly recorded and abridged version of Richter’s 2012 project Sleep. Sleep Circle is informed by the experience of his concert performances of the original album.

Some nights I wish I was a cat. Yes, cats sleep a lot, typically for 12-16 hours a day on average, with some napping for up to 20 hours. Niki is my new therapist. He’s learning me to fall asleep faster and sleep better. Here we are, listening to Max Richter’s Sleep Circle and enjoying our first session.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Transmission

12 July, 2025 By in General, Ha Ha Ha, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , , 32 Comments

Ici Londres. This weird industrial device is crucial for the Cat Resistance, offering news, coded messages for resistance cat fighters, and a source of hope during the Human occupation.

In their spare time cats are also monitoring electromagnetic waves for signs of transmissions from intelligent extraterrestrial life and civilisations on other planets. But Niki is afraid the universe is a pretty empty place…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Stuck

6 July, 2025 By in General, Ha Ha Ha, Musique, Quotes, Snapshot Tags: , , , , , , , , 72 Comments

Clowns to the left of me. Jokers to the right.

Yes, I’m stuck in the middle with you
And I’m wondering what it is I should do
It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face
Losing control, yeah, I’m all over the place

“Stuck in the Middle With You” – Stealers Wheel

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Believer

1 July, 2025 By in General, Ha Ha Ha, Musique, Snapshot Tags: , , , , , , , 60 Comments

And then I saw her face. I’m a Believer from the Monkees, an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960, was playing on the radio. This was the response from Niki while I was singing along. Please, don’t jump to conclusions too quickly…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Music

24 June, 2025 By in General, Musique, Snapshot Tags: , , , , , , , 54 Comments

Looking for the right vinyl album to enjoy a hot summer day. Wait a minute Niki, you just passed Tchaikovsky… But I presume you are a Jazz Cat?

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Happy

12 June, 2025 By in General, Movies, Musique, Snapshot Tags: , , , , , , , , 76 Comments

A very very mad world, mad world. In a world that is going mad I’m lucky to find some peace of mind thanks to the company of a sweet cat. After 6 weeks you can see that Niki is settling in very well. He seems to enjoy my company too. I can recognise and predict what he wants by changes in his behaviour.

The first weeks Niki didn’t like the sound of the TV. But now he doesn’t mind me watching movies with a 5.1 home cinema system. He falls asleep after 10 minutes, even with sci-fi or action movies. But we haven’t watched Flow or Ratatouille together.
It reminds me a little bit of Jimi. Jimi loved to watch documentaries about nature on TV. But just like Niki and Mr. Bowie, he also fell asleep while we were watching movies.

Meanwhile Niki feels at ease while I’m working in the studio. He’s having a great time checking all the wires and connections. Thank goodness he stopped chewing on the wires after one week.

So yes, despite all the craziness in the world I feel happy. Even with sometimes an uncontrollable missile that’s no longer guided or controlled by its human.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Week 1

1 May, 2025 By in General, Musique, Snapshot Tags: , , , , , 90 Comments

It’s been a tough week. I’m almost completely exhausted. I can’t remember it being this hard 16 years ago with Mr. Bowie. But it’s also really fun and there’s so much love. More details will follow once I’m physically recovered, or if Niki is a bit calmer and can enjoy himself… But he’s an incredibly sweet boy!

Completely at home.

The Bed’s Too Big Without You.

Application for studio technician.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Lust for Life

20 February, 2025 By in General, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , 114 Comments

Well, I’m just a modern cat
Of course, I’ve had it in the ear before
And I’ve a lust for life (lust for life)
‘Cause I’ve a lust for life (lust for life)

“Lust for Life” – Iggy Pop

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Niki (phonetic spelling: ˈnɪki, pronunciation: /nɪk/) and I was born on 31 January 2025. I am a male Color Point Russian Blue cat (aka Blue Point Russian Blue or Pika Blu).


Niki is a gender-neutral name of Greek origin, meaning “victory of the people”. It is considered to be the modern Greek form of the name Nike, the goddess who personifies victory in any field including art, music, war, and athletics. My name was also inspired by famous people like Niki Lauda – an Austrian racing driver, motorsport executive and aviation entrepreneur, who competed in Formula One from 1971 to 1979 and from 1982 to 1985. Or maybe Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev – the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. But please be careful, at this time it is not appropriate to talk about Russian topics in a positive way so I will pick that F1 pilot.
Right now I am still living with my Mom, sister and brother. But I am looking forward to move to my forever home and new human ASAP. People told me he is a special one, a true devoted cat lover. I think I am lucky. I sparkle from lust for life.

Editorial note: Please keep in mind this cat language conversation was translated with a Universal Translator from Star Trek. I bought the device many years ago on eBay in mint condition, with the signature of Lt. Uhura on it. While a universal translator seems unlikely to you, I can tell you the result was much better than Google Translate. Although I wonder if I should lay off the factcheckers?

One more thing… I recently deactivated my Twitter/X account. I know a lot of you readers were following me just like I was following a lot of interesting people, musicians, artists and cat lovers. But I don’t want to be involved with this social networking platform anymore due to the annoying stupid antics and political statements of the acquisitor.
I would actually also like to say goodbye to FB/Meta for the same reason. But this is not possible for practical reasons for the time being. Unfortunately.

Cut the cackle ’cause we’re getting to the facts now
Guilt edged security hold me back now
Cold blanket at the drop of a hat man
Bully for you, I’m just mad about that man

“Bully for You” – Tom Robinson Band

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Teaser 1

7 February, 2025 By in General, Musique, Quotes, Snapshot Tags: , , , 56 Comments

Let it grow, let it grow
Let it blossom, let it flow
In the sun, the rain, the snow
Love is lovely, let it grow

“Let It Grow” – Eric Clapton

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Chapter 3: Definitely, Maybe

24 January, 2025 By in General, Movies, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , 102 Comments

What’s the buzz, tell me what’s a-happening?
What’s the buzz, tell me what’s a-happening?
(From the movie Jesus Christ Superstar)

And I am back again. First, I want to thank you with all my heart. It comforts me to know Jimi was loved by so many people from all over the world. All your heartwarming comments made me feel better and helped me get through those empty, sad and painful days. I sincerely apologise for not replying to your supportive comments.

When Jimi passed away last December my first reaction was to stop with this blog. 2024 was a bad year for me in different ways. It was also a bad year for some family members and close friends. But soon I realised a lot of people around the world suffer way more than I do. I’m very lucky to live in a peaceful place surrounded with wonderful people and beautiful nature, with good health facilities; no fool, criminal or dictator as political leader and no bombs falling on schools and hospitals and killing children. Life goes on through the good and bad, with ups and downs, smiles and tears.
So, I will probably keep this blog alive. I don’t know if I’m going to post new stuff on a regular base. But stopping this blog with the tragic end of Jimi doesn’t feel right. Let’s give it a try and bring back some happiness and joy in these dark and uncertain times.

My best friend and his wife gave me this beautiful coffee cup. They both, together with a lot of kind hearted people around me, said to go out and look for another cat when the time is right. More or less by accident I met a woman online who told me that she had a pregnant cat. She also asked me if I was interested in one of the kittens. I answered slightly positively and I’ll see what time will bring the next months. To be honest, it looks like there will be a new furry friend in my life and house later this year… Let’s say definitely, maybe.

Is one of these kittens coming to my house? Definitely, maybe…

Everything’s alright, yes, everything’s alright, yes
Everything’s alright, yes, everything’s alright, yes
Close your eyes, close your eyes
And relax, think of nothing tonight
Everything’s alright, yes, everything’s alright, yes
(From the movie Jesus Christ Superstar)

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are.
Peace, love and understanding across the world.

Catching Up

13 October, 2024 By in General, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , 32 Comments

Catch up on some reading… Due to my back problems and movement limitations I read a lot of interesting books last year. One that really blew my mind was ‘Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind’ by Yuval Noah Harari. It was on my reading list for a long time but only after my therapist recommend it I finally bought it. Don’t know why it took so long but this book changed my view of life.

Yesterday I began reading ‘The Creative Act: A Way of Being’ by Rick Rubin. Critics say Rubin’s book is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It can help people get out of their own way and commune with the powerful creative signal that is their birthright.
It’s pretty clear that Jimi agrees with this conclusion…


Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Waving Bye-Bye

19 March, 2024 By in General, Green Zone, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , 127 Comments

We finally got through it. The winter is gone. To be honest, I can’t really complain about the winter this year. We only had one week with snow in January. This week the temperatures will rise up to 18° Celsius. Hurrah! Spring is my favourite season of the year. I love to see everything coming back alive in the nature.
I’m also happy to report I’m back walking after some mild physical discomfort although I still need physiotherapy the next two months. But having an espresso in the afternoon outside cheers me up a lot.

Jimi is back in a good condition. He had a bladder infection for the third time in one year. He was checked thoroughly and found in an excellent health. The problem seems to be he’s having acute stress attacks the last months which are probably the cause of the infections. A lot happened in my house recently; the AC installation, the solar panels installation and some other small works inside. So fingers crossed he stays calm the next months…

One more thing… I rediscovered the Shazam app lately. Shazam is a useful application that can identify music based on a short sample played using the microphone on your phone. I had a few returning songs on my playlist of which I thought were from an American artist. After using Shazam I found out the songs are from Sarah Dawn Finer, a Swedish singer/songwriter and the Hindley Street Country Club, an Australian band. Life can be full of surprises.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

15 February, 2024 By in Ha Ha Ha, Musique, Quotes, Snapshot Tags: , , , , , 91 Comments

Bomb-disposal expert. Defusing a potentially dangerous situation.

Inspired by Destination Moon, The Adventures of Tintin.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Casino

26 November, 2022 By in General, Movies, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 102 Comments

Let’s talk about music. But first, let’s talk about something else. I had some busy weeks lately with lot’s of meetings, getting a COVID booster and flu shot, a medical check up, a minor medical issue with Jimi (no worries)… But we’re all doing well.


I had to join my best friend for a meeting with a notary. My friend who owned a publicity agency retired this month and decided to shut down his company. I’ve been a shareholder of the company for many years so I was needed to sign a lot of documents. Afterwards, we went to a local restaurant and had a celebration with delicious pancakes and wine. Later that evening while we were having coffee at his home, my friend showed up with a big box and he said ‘Take it… for services rendered.’ I immediately recognised my favourite dream guitar by the size of the box. What a big surprise!


I’ve been a Beatles fan as long as I can remember. My older sister and brother bought all their albums and I grew up with their music. Last year I watched the Peter Jackson documentary series The Beatles: Get Back 3 times. Get Back received critical acclaim for its coverage of the group’s creative process but I was intrigued by John Lennon’s Epiphone Casino guitar. I immediately started a search to find one but it was almost impossible because this guitar was suddenly hipper and more successful than ever before. After 6 months I gave up the search but my friend kept searching secretly and found one in mint condition on the second hand market. This is the most beautiful gift ever!


Maybe the most iconic image of Lennon’s Casino, and perhaps of Lennon himself, is from The Beatles’ legendary rooftop concert on their Apple Corps office building in London. This was also to be the last public performance of The Beatles.
Jimi took a look at the box but decided that the Casino guitar was more interesting.


Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Almost 3 Years

24 September, 2022 By in General, Green Zone, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , 98 Comments

A special day. Tomorrow it’s 3 years ago when Jimi moved into my house. I enjoyed every day and I’m still surprised by the little changes in Jimi’s character, in a positive way. He also became more passionate about his job as a studio technician. And as you probably know, that’s a very heavy task.


I finally bought a Neumann microphone. I wanted one for years but for some reason I never got my hands on one. Accidentally, I found a TLM 103 mic in a shop a few minutes from my home.

As promised in my comments in the previous post, here’s an update on Jos. The little guy has recovered completely and enjoys his outdoor adventures again. Jos doesn’t seems to suffer from his tailless life, thank goodness.

Meanwhile the days are getting shorter. And colder. I’m not happy about this. Spring is my favourite season and I wish I could move to the other side of the globe for the next 6 months. I’m also still very concerned about the situation in Ukraine and that unpredictable irrational madman in Moscow. I’m afraid history doesn’t offer much hope for a happy ending.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

The Gentle Art

1 June, 2022 By in General, Musique, Quotes, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 64 Comments

The gentle art of making music. My studio technician Jimi wanted a new computer because the current 8-year-old Intel iMac was too slow and couldn’t run the recent music apps and heavy sample libraries smoothly. So with some reluctance I went shopping at the Apple Store and bought a Mac Studio (Max) computer and a 27″ Studio Display. Getting everything back to work took a long time, almost 20 h. After using the Migration Assistant app, checking and updating a lot of stuff and solving some compatibility issues, I was back in business.

I was also pleasantly surprised by Jimi a few days ago. After ignoring Mr. Bowie’s cat bed for almost 3 years, he finally decided it was time to sleep in this comfortable king size luxurious bed. It seems everybody is very happy right now.

I’ve just started reading The Gentle Art of Tramping by Stephen Graham, originally published in 1926. Stephen Graham was a British journalist, travel-writer, essayist and novelist. The Gentle Art of Tramping is a guide for anyone who has dreamed of taking to the road with nothing more than a bag full of essentials and big ideas. It gives guidance on walking, being open to discovery and being kind – advice as relevant now as it was then. ‘The adventure is not the getting there, it is the on-the-way. It is not the expected; it is the surprise; not the fulfilment of prophecy but the providence of something better than prophesied.’ Tramping is a way of approach, to nature, to your fellow-man, to a nation, to beauty, to life itself.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Stratocaster

18 May, 2022 By in General, Green Zone, Musique, Quotes, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , , 65 Comments

Keep on rockin’ in the free world. Despite living in a world of electronic music with synthesizers, samplers, computers, trying out new things, tweaking knobs and pushing buttons on vintage analog machinery and high-tech equipment, I have always dreamed of owning a real Fender Stratocaster guitar one day. Just bought an almost 50 year old vintage 70’s USA Mocha Brown Maple Fender Stratocaster! The guitar belonged to a good friend and member of the LNE collective, a group of musicians, singers, artists and one comeback electronic musician.


Jimi H (the cat) wonders if he can set the guitar on fire to honour the historic night when Jimi Hendrix sets his Fender Stratocaster guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967). The burned guitar would later sell for more than $380,000 at an auction. It was definitely time to show Jimi the way out to the garden. And let’s all unite to kick the barbaric and inhuman Russian army out of Ukraine.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Fixing a Hole

31 March, 2022 By in General, Green Zone, Musique, Quotes, Snapshot Tags: , , , , , , , 79 Comments

Wild is the wind. I just realised I didn’t write a post this month. Shame on me… So here’s a quick note. I’m ok, and Jimi’s ok. We’re both enjoying the first warm sunny days in spring. Unfortunately, snow is predicted for tomorrow and it’s no April Fool’s joke.

“I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in. And stops my mind from wandering. Where it will go…” – The Beatles

In February two storms passed over Europe, Eunice and Franklin. I had some minor damage on the roof and a few weeks ago a team of experienced roofers came to fix the problem. Thank goodness we had a devoted supervisor on the site.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Sunday Evening Somewhere in Outer Space

28 November, 2021 By in General, Ha Ha Ha, Movies, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , 63 Comments

Slow Sunday. As the search for alien life heats up, Jimi’s still looking for signals from alien cats in outer space. Unfortunately with no luck. Maybe alien cats are taking a break from their everyday life and folding space during the week.

Meanwhile I’m waiting to get my Star Trek transporter device back from the repair shop. I bought it some time ago on eBay, but it never worked. It looks like they conned me or is this a conspiracy from the alien cats?

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding. 

Daytime Job of a Cat

18 August, 2021 By in General, Musique, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , 89 Comments

More rainy days. The summer of 2021 is already the wettest summer ever recorded in this part of the world. And it looks like it’s also one of the coolest. It makes me think about all the heatwaves in the previous summers and the ice cream we enjoyed in the garden. What is going wrong with the weather lately? All these extreme changes in weather conditions…

I’m spending more time in the studio because of all the heavy rainfall. Sir Jimi, the studio technician, keeps me company but always falls asleep on the job, just like my previous technician, Mr. Bowie. But there’s one big difference; Jimi stays in the studio while Mr. Bowie always left the building due to his ear problems and the effect of very high-frequency sounds of synths. Or maybe he just didn’t like my music.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Snow On a Tuesday

6 April, 2021 By in General, Green Zone, Musique, Quotes, Snapshot, TechTalk Tags: , , , , , , 84 Comments

And you may ask yourself, “Where is that beautiful spring?” Last week I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I was drinking coffee outside in the garden. Today I’m wearing winter clothes. It’s cold. It’s snowing. O Spring where art thou?

Jimi keeps checking out all the special places in the garden, just like Mr. Bowie did. While walking on this high gabion wall he can spy on the neighbours.

Meanwhile, I declared war on those pesky blackbirds. Each morning, they keep destroying our catnip plantation. Jimi’s also kind of in a foul mood. We need to take some action asap…

A few days ago I came across this remarkable phenomena of nature. This tree fungus is called Tonderzwam Fomes fomentarius. According to a specialised website this is lethal for the birch in a long term. I’m always enjoying my daily walks in the nature. There are always new things to discover. While walking is the most underrated form of exercise, it improves fitness, cardiac health, alleviates depression and fatigue, improves mood, creates less stress on joints and reduces pain. And when you get back home there’s always chocolate and an espresso waiting for you…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.