The Cat Lady Challenge

Take me on. Go ahead.

I challenge anyone who does not believe that art imitates life, and, often, vice versa. See what I mean?

Here is a page from the U.S. edition of Vogue, in which a fashionable Cat Lady was photographed recently by Raymond Meier for a feature titled the “Cat’s Meow.” And, a loud meow, please: Here is the cover design for my forthcoming book, Cat Lady Chronicles, published by Officina Libraria and distributed by the Antique Collectors' Club. The work reproduced is from the collections of my employer, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Cat Prowling Around a Staked Tomato Plant was created by Japanese artist Takahashi Shotei in about 1932.

My book is due in brick-and-mortar as well as virtual stores this fall, with the official publication date confirmed for September 16. I am eager to share with you, fellow Cat Ladies (and Gentlemen), my feel-good story about the fascinating human-animal bond (x ten). I am very pleased to be donating a percent of proceeds to cat-welfare causes.

Query of the Day: Will you “like” me and preorder my book? I will be very grateful!http://issuu.com/accpublishinggroup/docs/usa_fall_catalog_2012?mode=a_p

Mani-Pedi or a Pawdicure?

I just learned from reading today’s New York Times about another forthcoming book that is required reading: Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing, by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers.


I think non-scientifically about this subject often. In fact, I came across an artwork recently that reinforces one of the authors’ many enlightening theses:


“Grooming represents a hard-wired drive, one that’s evolved over millions of years with the positive benefits of keeping us clean and binding us socially.”


Did you know that cats have long subscribed to a favorite girly-girl, super-grooming indulgence: pedicures? The image from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (at right), Popular Hotspring Spa for Cats, by the 19th-century Japanese artist Utagawa Kunitoshi, puts a fine point on the shared animal-human appreciation for, shall we say, a polished form of cleanliness.


Query of the Day: Do your cats like to have pawdicures?