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?
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?
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!
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?
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?
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?
What were the odds that E.L. James—yes, that E.L. James—would be signing copies in Houston of her hugely successful books on the same night that a Cat Lady was signing copies of her debut book, Cat Lady Chronicles?
I am not angry with the Master Scheduler of Book-Signings. It’s good to face the competition head-on. I was very grateful to be hosted by Jeanne Jard and Mike Jones at the River Oaks Bookstore, where I was delighted to meet a hard-core group of Cat Ladies. Each has a soft spot in her heart for felines, and, as was the case at The MFAH Shop, I loved signing copies for their cats.
And, for those in search of something slightly naughty, well, there are two naked ladies in my book. Tastefully and artistically naked, that is. Here is Félix Vallotton’s Laziness (La Paresse), a woodcut dated 1896, from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Query of the Day: Coming soon, Sexy Shades of White Cats?
