Back on the Beat

I’m back on the beat, and it’s great to be here.

I took several weeks off to prepare Catland for the holidays, and I also was in need of a personal “reboot.” I think all of us Cat Ladies can relate. Sometimes the need to be on-call for felines is overwhelming because our duties converge at once. Also, a certain alpha named Lucius had indicated that he was looking for even more “incessant stroking” to keep his spirits jolly and bright.

At this time of the year, material temptations are also potentially overwhelming. Don’t get me wrong; I am a firm believer in retail therapy. But, as this year draws to a close, I am thinking especially about the infinite gifts of unconditional love that our cats deliver to us every day. As Cat Ladies, we have our own version of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

My reboot worked, and I was reminded recently of the simple joy of being a Cat Lady when I read an opinion piece by Peggy Noonan. She had asked a colleague, who serves as an editor of a news site, about what makes him grateful. He lives near a forest and responded that he is grateful for “love, nature, and innocence.” She wrote back and rephrased the question slightly. Yes, but, “what do you love right now?” He replied with a photo of his beloved cat, appropriately named Buddy. He went on to write that, while the topsy-turvy world of news is spinning around him 24/7, he looks to Buddy to help him “slow down” and to savor each moment. Buddy’s world “ends up being the preferred reality.”

I guess it goes without saying that I, too, prefer the reality of a life surrounded by cats.

Query of the Day: Do your cats allow you to slow down during the holidays?

Lucius for President

I love that Hank, the now-famous feline from Springfield, Virginia, placed third in a seat for the U.S. Senate. As part of his write-in campaign for the senatorial post, Hank netted $60,000 for animal-rescue causes dear to his heart. Way to go, Hank!

Tabulating votes for a tabby led me to think…that I should nominate Lucius for President of the United States of Catland. I feel certain that his platform of “Me, Myself, and I” would appeal to other felines casting their votes based primarily on personal paw appeal.

Here’s a funny photo that a friend sent to me in honor of Election Day last Tuesday. No matter in what U.S. state we may have cast our ballots, the vote is in, and, big surprise: Cats Rule!

Query of the Day: Has a cat ever run (and chased…and hunted…) for Senate in your hometown?

Catoberfest 2012

What more could a Cat Lady have asked for on a cold “Caturday” in late October, when The Cat Doctor veterinary clinic hosted its annual client-appreciation event, “Catoberfest”?


I had a terrific time mingling with Dr. Caroline Oeben’s clients, who represent a wide range of cat lovers in the Houston community. As always, Dr. O. and her team were great ambassadors for felines.

I enjoyed learning about new feline products on the market, and I especially enjoyed playing with the cats available for adoption. Cat Man was manning the fort, ensuring that these cats would get noticed. Three cats were adopted, plus a one-month-old kitten who literally had just been rescued from a major intersection in downtown Houston. Meet Sophie, who knows she is a beauty. Seeing her reminds me of a recurring thought: Are the words “kitten” and “adorable” synonymous in your dictionary?

I also am excited to report that Dr. O.’s clients embraced
Cat Lady Chronicles with open arms. The MFAH Shop was invited to set up a satellite booth at the clinic and succeeded in selling nearly 50 copies. Meow! Twenty percent of the proceeds were donated to the Rescue Fund at The Cat Doctor.

Thanks to Dr. O. for a wonderful Catoberfest, and Happy Halloween to all!

Query of the Day: Will your cats greet trick-or-treaters tonight?

Masquerade

I think I have finally found a way to mask those, um, recurring odors that waft mightily from the litter boxes at Catland.

While visiting Target yesterday, I noticed a special promotion for Glade’s new and limited-edition fall collection of room fragrances. I bought the Rosemary Sage deodorizer spray, which I now realize smells a bit too much like a spice-infused turkey roasting in the oven. I am reserving this scent for Thanksgiving Day, just to reinforce the aromas in the kitchen.

The Maple Pumpkin spray is another story; it’s made for a pre-Halloween dousing at home. My cats love me even more because the scent makes them think I am about to dispense treats coated with maple syrup.

Glade describes its maple pumpkin flavor-of-the-month fragrance as “decadent.” I would advise that you use the spray sparingly, because a little goes a very long way. Or, if you want your house to smell like a Michaels craft store, then spray forcefully, and to your heart’s content.

Query of the Day: Can you believe I am writing about something other than a stray cat’s spray? Thankfully!

Memory

Before you start thinking, “Oh, no, don’t tell me she’s going there,” yes, I am going there. But let me explain.

I am not a Cats groupie, by any means. I saw the Broadway production once, when it first debuted, in 1982, only a few years after I graduated from college and was living in a tiny studio apartment on the Upper East Side. I remember bringing my 12-year-old brother, Matt, to a Saturday matinee. We ate lunch first at my favorite neighborhood coffee shop, the Viand, and then took a bus down Fifth Avenue and across town to the Winter Garden Theatre. I suppose I was training for my current Mama Kitty role–though I could not know it, then—because I am much older than Matt and felt protective of him as I led him through the bustling and noisy streets of the big city.

Interestingly, a few of my friends who have read Cat Lady Chronicles have referenced the TV commercials that accompanied the longest-running musical of all time, in which people leaving the theatre gushed about Cats’s “awesome” multisensory production values. One friend wrote, “I laughed, I cried, and I can honestly say that I enjoyed the experience better than Cats.” Are you listening, Andrew Lloyd Webber?

Now, thirty years after the first Broadway performance of Cats, I have grown up to become Cat Lady, and my first cat, Lucius, can only reminisce about his youthful “days in the sun.” I, too, cherish my memories of those early days of discovering why I love cats. I am buoyed by that love, and, thanks to my feline family, I most certainly “understand what happiness is.”

Query of the Day: Is "Memory" your favorite song from Cats?

"O Romeo, Romeo! ...”

I have many BFFs in the feline world, and then, there is the one-and-only Romeo. As “The Bard” himself wrote, "Did my heart love till now?”

Why do I love Romeo so much? Let me explain. Most of my friends who are authors serve as curators at art museums. They are accustomed to having their books reviewed in scholarly journals. I am willing to bet that not one of my friends has received a paws-up endorsement like the one I received from Romeo. http://www.romeothecat.com/2012/10/05/cat-lady-chronicles

I am extremely flattered that Romeo has encouraged feline enthusiasts to read my Cat Lady Chronicles. In fact, Romeo confessed that his “staff” could not put the book down. I owe you one, Romeo!

Query of the Day: Does your cat write and publish book reviews?

Downstairs Upstairs

What a difference a preposition makes.

In my book Cat Lady Chronicles, I have brought together reproductions of cats from diverse museum collections worldwide. And what about certain cats who live literally in museums as opposed to those who historically have come alive on canvas?

Several museum registrars tipped me off to a fascinating New Yorker blog post this week by Sally McGrane about cats living in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg—specifically, cats who hang out in the museum’s basement, several floors below where the famed collections are displayed. Extraordinarily dedicated museum employees care for these previously undomesticated, nearly starving creatures.

Cats roaming the halls of museums are taboo, for obvious reasons. But cats featured in art that hangs on the walls of prestigious galleries is a different matter altogether.



 Take, for example, one of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s genre scenes, The Washerwoman (c. 1733–39). Recently discovered by Toledo Museum of Art curator Lawrence Nichols, who made his "out-of-sight" find in a private collection in France, this small painting is described by critic and independent curator Karen Wilkin as a wonderful example of “Chardin’s magic.” What attracts me to the painting most? The well-fed calico cat, of course, who appears to be dutifully protecting his Cat Lady.

Long live the cat-and-museum connection, whether downstairs or upstairs.

Query of the Day: Would this painting be complete without a cat up front?