Caturday Art: Paisley, Coffee & Sunshine

Since this is officially the first week of autumn, and since yesterday was National Coffee Day, Old SoLT hoped to combine those concepts in our Caturday Art this week. (Either that, or she totally lucked into some autumnal colors and a coffee effect, and she just made up this "concept" thing to sound cooler than she really is.)

She went to LunaPic, where she applied the Coffee art effect, followed by the Sunshine effect, to get the result above. Here is the original picture of Real Cat Paisley falling asleep:

We're joining Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

Words with Webster: Saturn’s Kittens, Plus Friendly Fill-Ins

We have two fun Friday features for you today. First up is Real Cat Webster, who has a spacey cat word to share. After that, it’s on to Friendly Fill-Ins!

Words with Webster

Hi, all! It’s me, Real Cat Webster. Welcome to Words with Me. Our word this week is kind of different. It’s “Saturn’s kittens.” Saturn is a big planet that is famous for its rings, and kittens are baby cats, so I bet you’re wondering how Saturn could have kittens, right? Well, it’s because scientists who study Saturn call a group of objects orbiting one of the planet’s rings “kittens.” They also give the individual objects kitten names, like Mittens. Cute, right? Especially when you consider that Mittens’s “official” name is “Alpha Leonis Rev 9.” Not cute at all.

Mittens is a moonlet (baby moon) that orbits Saturn’s F ring. Another moonlet orbiting this ring is named Sylvester. So far, at least 60 objects of varying sizes have been discovered orbiting the F ring, and they’re all named (unofficially) after cats. There’s Fluffy, Socks, Whiskers, Garfield.… You get the idea.

Saturn with the Cassini spacecraft in the upper
foreground and the moon Titan in the background. The
kittens would be too small to be visible in this artist's rendering.
Image via Adobe Stock.

Mittens and the other kittens form when particles in Saturn’s F ring collide and stick together, forming clumps that eventually get big enough to be given a kitten name. They were discovered thanks to the Cassini mission. Cassini “saw” them when a star passed behind one of the kittens, and the kitten blocked part of the star’s light. The kittens get their official, cumbersome names from these light-blocking events, which are called “stellar occultations” (no, this will not be on the final!).

A kitten, possibly named
Mittens, or perhaps
Alpha Leonis Rev 9?
Image via Adobe Stock.

Unfortunately, you should not get too attached to Saturn’s kittens, because with all those things banging into each other, they are sort of temporary. Even if one of Saturn’s kittens collects enough particles to grow bigger, seeing one of these objects is sort of a matter of chance, because the observing spacecraft has to be in the right place when the star passes behind the kitten … and oh, there’s no spacecraft out there anymore since the end of the Cassini mission on September 15, 2017.

I wanted to share Saturn’s kittens with you to remind you that cats show up in the darnedest places. Also, scientists can be a lot of fun.

You can learn more about Saturn’s kittens in the article “Cosmic Kittens: Saturn Features Get Feline Names” from Space.com.

Friendly Fill-Ins

And now it’s time for Friendly Fill-Ins, from 15andmeowing and McGuffy’s Reader. They are a fun way to learn a little bit about the authors of the blogs you read. The first two questions, answered by Old SoLT this week, are from Ellen of 15andmeowing, and the next two, answered by Real Cat Paisley, are from Annie of McGuffy’s Reader.

Old SoLT’s answers:

1. I am far too busy to have a life beyond my office. Between working, blogging, and writing books, it seems like I am here at the computer all day every day, and it is exhausting. I would really like to find time to go to the park before the current nice weather is over!

2. To save money, I don’t buy many things for myself. If I need something, I buy it, but if I just want something, I usually pass it up (except on vacation; I can be a spending fool on vacation!).

Real Cat Paisley’s answers:

3. Schedules matter(s). For example, it’s good for a cat to wake their person up early and on schedule every morning, even on weekends, and no matter how loudly the person protests. People need structure in their lives.

4. Our dog makes me think evolution took a seriously wrong turn somewhere.

Remember Me Thursday

We are taking a moment today to light a candle and join in on the Remember Me Thursday movement, spending some time remembering the rescue pets who have touched our lives, as well as those who are in shelters waiting for their chance to become someone’s beloved pet.

First, our candle burns for those rescue pets we fondly remember from the past:

Penny, Robin, Dodger, Darya, Steva, Bucky, Shannan, Tyler, CJ, and Jack

Next, our candle burns for those currently adding so much joy and love to our lives:

Webster, Paisley, and Layla

Finally, our candle burns for the millions of animals in shelters, and especially for those older animals who have known love and companionship and lost it through no fault of their own. Too many of these beautiful animals land in kill shelters where their precious lives are in jeopardy. To help them, first we must remember them. Then, we must remember that we are not powerless. Each of us can adopt, or sponsor an adoption; we can donate our time and/or resources to a shelter; we can spread the word on social media about adoptable animals. If we each did something, no matter how small, imagine what a difference we would make in the lives of those animals!

Our “thing” here at Cuddlywumps Cat Chronicles is to spread the word about adoptable mature and senior cats in our area. So, today we are sharing some recent Cats of the Week who are still waiting for their forever homes:

 Chloe is a great girl who is looking for a conversation partner. We understand she can talk about anything!

Maggie is a little shy. She lived in one home for 10 years, so the shelter environment has been difficult for her. She would probably do best as an only cat.

Star is another talkative lady who is also quite affectionate. We think she has the prettiest face!

And finally, Scamp is our Cat of the Week this week. He will make a wonderful companion to someone, we just know it.

All of these cats, and many others, are adoptable through the Baltimore Humane Society.

Finally, join us today in remembering shelter animals who are waiting for our help. Follow #RememberTheRescue and #RememberMeThursday on social media. Together, we can make a difference in their lives.

Cat of the Week: Scamp in Baltimore

Each week in this space, we feature an older adult or senior cat (7 years +) in need of adoption or sponsorship. Mature cats make great companions, and unlike kittens, they (probably) won’t climb the curtains! Adopt an older cat, and help them enjoy the best years of their life.

Today, say hello to Scamp, a large, handsome, gray and white gentleman who is described as sweet and active. Scamp is 11 years old, and his main interests are lounging and eating. Looking for a buddy to keep you company while you watch some TV in the evening? This could be just the guy for you. Scamp has lived with kids and cats before, but he might not take so well to dogs.

Scamp is currently at the Charm Kitty Café in Baltimore, MD. Learn more about him here.

Can’t adopt? You can still help! Check out Sammy’s Cat Necessities Fund, which provides money for everyday and medical needs of cats at the Baltimore Humane Society. You can also make a general donation or sponsor a particular animal on this page. Every little bit helps!

Book Review: Cat Got Your Secrets

On this Mysterious Monday, we review Cat Got Your Secrets, the third book in Julie Chase’s Kitty Couture series, set in the New Orleans Garden District. This time around, Lacy Marie Crocker is desperate to prove that her beloved father is not a murderer, while she also runs the day-to-day in her pet boutique called Furry Godmother and helps her mother with the welcoming committee for a major pet pageant. Oh, and did I mention the men, two of them, both extremely eligible and both interested in Lacy?

She’s a very busy lady.

The plot

The mystery gets rolling when Lacy arrives at an event hall with a delivery of dog biscuits for a Saint Berdoodle’s Bark Mitzvah. Sounds like fun, only the party’s been canceled, because one Wallace Becker, owner of an upscale petsitting company called the Cuddle Brigade, has been found dead in a freezer inside the hall. And as far as anyone knows, Lacy’s dad was the last person to see Becker alive—and they had an argument. Soon the New Orleans police are taking a hard look at her father, and that means Lacy has to take a hard look at anyone else who could possibly be a suspect. It also means she gets thrown again and again into the company of the very hunky (and rich) Detective Jack Oliver. Meanwhile, she also spends a fair amount of time with old friend Chase, an attorney in a prestigious law firm who wants to be much more than friends.

Lacy cooks up one scheme after another to get a chance to question anyone who was close to Becker (as in, close enough to want him dead). It seems she has touched a nerve with someone, because she begins getting threats of blackmail. Plus, her mother insists she dress in nothing but pastels to match the other members of the National Pet Pageant Welcoming Committee. And she’s also dealing with the occasional panic attack, the result of previous run-ins with murderous nutjobs.

The cat(s)

The main cat in this series is Lacy’s cat, a black and gray tabby named Penelope, or Penny. She travels from home to work with Lacy, and she enjoys riding around on the Roomba, which is named Spot (because, of course). The Crocker family also has a black cat named Voodoo who makes an appearance once in a while. And in this book, we meet a Russian blue named Dimitri Midnight Gregori. He lives with the murder victim’s wife.

None of the cats play an active role in solving the mystery, but they (especially Penny) are a frequent presence in the book. (We really don’t see why Penny couldn’t run down a bad guy with Spot. That would be such an exciting conclusion, we think. Julie Chase may consider this a free plot idea for future volumes.)

Our verdict

We love this series for its lightness and humor, its setting, its characters … and of course its mysteries. Lacy has a talent for ending up in ridiculous situations—some of them hilarious, others dangerous. She is very real and relatable. Yes, she’s one of “the” Crockers (as in, a powerful, well-to-do New Orleans family), but she hasn’t always owned that identity. In Cat Got Your Secrets, we see Lacy and her mother come to understand each other a little bit better as Lacy further accepts her place as a member of that family. We also experience another exciting climax, which I can’t tell you about without giving away the mystery. Let’s just say this: very dark, very cluttered room with Lacy and one crazy person in it. It’s all wonderful fun!

And, we can’t think of another mystery series where you’ll read a line quite like “We’re out of turtle tiaras.”

What could I say to top that, except this:

Recommended!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

We received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. We wouldn’t tell you it was good unless we really liked it!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the book through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Sunday Selfie Fails

Old SoLT has recently discovered that it is much easier to share bad selfies than good selfies, simply because she has so many more of the former than the latter. However, it's not easy to get a good bad selfie. She struggled mightily to get these attempted selfies with Real Cat Paisley:

This first one didn't work very well. It's hard to operate a cell phone camera when there is a rather solid cat between you and it:

At least they are both facing the right direction in this one:

Leave it to a cat to turn her head at the wrong moment, am I right?

We are joining the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by The Cat on My Head.

Caturday Art: Night & Day

This week has been one of contrasts. Old SoLT is deeply conscious of the suffering so many people are experiencing at this time in the after-effects of natural disasters, and yet she herself has had a fabulous, non-stressful week. It made her think of night and day:

NIGHT

DAY

"Night" used the Night art effect in Lunapic, and "Day" used the Floating effect, also in Lunapic. Here is the original:

We're joining the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by Athena.

Words with Webster: Remember, Plus Friendly Fill-Ins

We have two fun Friday features for you today. First up is Real Cat Webster, who has a memorable cat word to share. After that, it’s on to Friendly Fill-Ins!

Words with Webster

 Hi, all! It’s me, Real Cat Webster. Welcome to Words with Me. Our word this week is “remember” (something Mommy doesn’t do so good anymore). To start learning about this word, first I went to my favorite dictionary (Merriam-Webster’s), which said that to remember is “to have (a notion or idea) come into the mind again as previously perceived, known, or felt : have a renewed apprehension of : bring to mind again : think of again.”

Boy, sometimes it takes a lot of words to say what one very common word means, doesn’t it?

Next I went to the Oxford English Dictionary, where I learned that “remember” has been around in English for a long time—since at least around 1350, when it made its first known appearance in print. I also learned that “remember” has a whole bunch of different meanings that are all sort of the same but just a little bit different. I won’t tell you all of them, but the first one in the OED is “to recollect; to think about, reflect on … (a) with reflexive pronoun and ‘of’ or ‘on.’” Like this:

Remembre yow vp on the pacient Iob. (ca. 1390-1405, Chaucer, Melibeus)

I guess that means something like “Think about the patient Job” (but then, with Chaucer it’s always kind of hard to tell). Anyway, I thought we should skip a whole bunch of stuff like this and get to the meaning we all remember (that’s a joke!). Here’s an example of that, from the 15th century:

Euer I shal remembre the grace whiche thou hast done to me. (1484, William Caxton tr. The subtyl historyes and fables of Esope, of Auyan, Alfonse, and Poge, i. xviii)

Next, I went to the Online Etymology Dictionary and found out that English got “remember” from Old French (remembrer), which got it from Latin (rememorari, “recall to mind"). So I guess people have been remembering things for a really long time!


You have probably been wondering all this time why I am even doing this word, because it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with cats, right? Well, I am doing it because next Thursday is Remember Me Thursday, a special day set aside to remember the rescue pets who’ve touched your life, and all those who are still waiting for their forever homes, and most importantly, those who, sadly, never got rescued.

We are telling you all about "remember" to help you remember cats like this one,
who are in shelters and desperately want to find a forever home.
Photo by Robert Hoetink, via Adobe Stock.

I’m a rescue! My family rescued me from being sent to a shelter when their neighbors didn’t want me anymore. Can you believe someone didn’t want me? Crazy, right? Just think of all the great cats who are just as friendly and handsome and smart as I am, only they’re stuck in shelters without a special person to love them, and a lot of them will die in the shelter. It’s sad and upsetting, right? That’s why we have to do something. So we encourage everyone to get ready to use today’s word and Remember the Rescue on Thursday, September 28, 2017!

Use #RememberTheRescue and #RememberMeThursday on social media. And don’t forget to enter the photo contest. Just share a pic of your rescue pet on Twitter or Instagram with #RememberTheRescue and #RememberMeThursday, and you could win a prize package for the pet rescue of your choice.

Friendly Fill-Ins

And now it’s time for Friendly Fill-Ins, from 15andmeowing and McGuffy’s Reader. They are a fun way to learn a little bit about the authors of the blogs you read. The first two questions, answered by Old SoLT this week, are from Ellen of 15andmeowing, and the next two, answered by Real Cat Paisley, are from Annie of McGuffy’s Reader.

Old SoLT's answers:

1. I would never be friends with someone who doesn’t like animals, specifically cats. Seriously, I’ve tried being friends with people who don’t like cats, and it just doesn’t work out, because those people almost always turn out to be jerks.

2. I will never refuse to help someone when I can.

Real Cat Paisley's answers:

3. I have never been to Timbuktu, but I don’t care because I’m happy in my home. I wish I could have a catio though.

4. When it comes to dogs, I just say NO.

Book Review: The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABCs

Old SoLT never thought that what she really needed in her life was an ABCs book, because you know, she’s known her ABCs for a while now. But it turns out that this picture book from Patrick McDonnell (of the Mutts comic strip) is the perfect thing to bring a smile on a rainy day. Yes, even for a grown-up (the recommended age range is 4-8 years).

This little tome is called The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABCs (the Hard Way). It has no text (unless you count the 2 letters on each page—an upper and lowercase A, B, C, or whatever). That means you get to have a lot of fun making up the story.

Our story starts like this:

Once upon a time, there was a little red cat who liked to go for a run every day, as she was in training for her first half marathon. One day, she was running happily along when suddenly, there was a giant alligator in her path (A is for alligator!). The alligator chased the little red cat, causing her to run faster than ever before, shaving whole seconds off her previous best split time. The alligator chased the cat right past a tree that had an angry brown bear in it (B is for bear!). The angry bear, who really did not care for alligators because of that time one had bitten his great-aunt Maud on the nose, chased them both past a chicken coop (C is for chicken!)…

And you probably get the idea. The next pages bring a dragon, an unexpected egg (E is our favorite page), and fire (from the dragon).

Old SoLT has loved Mutts for years, so seeing more of Patrick McDonnell's work is always a treat. And of course we love that this book gives young children and their parents a chance to make up the details of the story. What fun!

Highly recommended (no matter your age)!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the book through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Meow Like a Pirate!

When the Real Cats signed on for a cruise on a pirate ship with a skeleton crew, they weren't expecting the crew to be actual skeletons. Also, the skeletons weren't expecting, well, cats...

Happy Meow Like a Pirate Day!

(Skeleton pirate image via Adobe Stock.)

Cat Classics on Film: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Just so you know, there are no cats in this movie, unless you count the MGM lion at the beginning. I was very disappointed, because I expected to see a film about a cat overcoming his or her problems, but this movie is really just people screaming at each other in fake southern accents. Not entertaining. Definitely not a cat movie. Oh sure, Elizabeth Taylor’s character says she feels “just like cat on a hot tin roof,” and Paul Newman calls her "Maggie the Cat," but that doesn’t make her a cat.

Anyway, lots of people like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and consider it a classic. I did not like it at all, and even old SoLT didn’t much care for it, even with Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. She said the people were annoying, and she mostly just wanted them to shut up. The end was kind of good though, and we did enjoy seeing Burl Ives, who plays Big Daddy.

If you like watching people yell at each other, then you might like this film. Just don’t expect to see any cats, because you are not going to see any.

Zero paws up.

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Sunday Selfie: Webster's Struggle

Real Cat Webster was very excited to do Sunday Selfies this week. He was so excited, he had some trouble holding still long enough to take the picture:

Then he held still for a second, but he was confused and sat down facing the wrong way:

Then he faced the right way and sort of almost held still, but he still moved a little, so the selfie is kind of blurry. Old SoLT tried to make it look better by doing a couple Photoshoppy things because the color came out weird too, but now it looks okay:

We're joining the Sunday Selfies blog hop, hosted by The Cat on My Head.

Caturday Art: Totally Tangerine

For this week's Caturday Art, we went to Dreamscope once again, looking for something lighter, brighter, and a little less weird than what we've done lately. We tried the Tangerine Seascape filter, and all of us are in love with the results:

The frame is from PicMonkey. Here is the original (alert readers may recognize it from Sunday Selfies a few weeks back):

We're joining the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by Athena.

Friendly Fill-Ins

And now it’s time for Friendly Fill-Ins, from 15andmeowing and McGuffy’s Reader. They are a fun way to learn a little bit about the authors of the blogs you read. The first two questions, answered by old SoLT this week, are from Ellen of 15andmeowing, and the next two, answered by Real Cat Paisley, are from Annie of McGuffy’s Reader.

Old SoLT's answers:
1. I have broken zero bones, but I did nearly dislocate a finger the other day--while performing the extremely dangerous and death-defying activity of turning off a light switch.


2. When I go out to breakfast, I order whatever I happen to be in the mood for, usually an omelet or pancakes or, at IHop, an omelet and pancakes (as if I need both!).

Real Cat Paisley's answers:
3. As Summer officially comes to an end, I am sad about the loss of my really good middle-of-the-day sun puddle, because the sun is lower now, and it hides behind a tree instead of shining in my window.

4. Before this year is over, I really need to scare the dog a whole bunch more. I touched noses with her two days in a row this week, so now she is totally confused about my intentions. She is primed for a good scare!

Cover Reveal: The Mythmakers

After nearly a year of work, old SoLT is in the final stages of getting our latest mystery, The Mythmakers, ready for publication. Today we reveal the cover. The story takes place in the fall, so the cover has a fall theme:

Front

Back

From the back cover:

Lately, things have been quiet in the tiny, historic village of Brooksford, Maryland. The residents got through Halloween with no “shenanigans,” as the mayor would say, and now they’re headed into a peaceful Thanksgiving season. But Rory Roberts knows better. She knows something is off from the moment the first amateur filmmakers arrive at the edge of town, and her feelings prove true when their “documentary” leads to a violent death in Rory’s backyard, with Rory herself as an early suspect.

Now, Rory and her classically educated calico cat, Miss C, with help from their friends, must work through their limited list of suspects to determine who the real killer is. They may find clues in an online horror movie showing the moments leading up to the crime, but that video also causes more trouble for Brooksford when it quickly goes viral, drawing crowds of unwanted tourists into town, and straight to Rory’s normally quiet cottage. Will Miss C’s classical education be up to the challenge of deciphering the 21st-century clues in this crime, or will her and Rory’s meddling only push the killer to strike again?

Need to catch up on the Miss Cuddlywumps Investigates series before The Mythmakers comes out on November 15, 2017? Visit us at Cuddlywumps Publishing!

A Visit to the National Capital Cat Show

This past Saturday, old SoLT and her mom visited the National Capital Cat Show, held at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Old SoLT has been to this show a couple times before, but it's been several years since she was there. Not surprisingly, there were lots and lots of cats. She regrets that she did not get more and better photos (Ms. I-Forgot-to-Change-the-Camera-Settings ... forgot to change the camera settings; don't ask her to photograph your wedding).  But these will give you an idea:

There were lots of adoptable kitties, like this cute tabby:

And these little fellows (you have to look really closely to find the black & white kitten):

There were plenty of dress options for the well-dressed cat:

And you want to talk about cat toys? Just about any kind of cat toy you can imagine was available for sale. Which makes the Real Cats wonder, "Why didn't we get any new toys?"

Old SoLT always enjoys seeing how the show cats have their shelters decorated:

She also enjoys the displays about different cat breeds. The Bombay display was one of her favorites, because it had a Halloweeny theme:

The Turkish Angora display was another favorite:

The show also included a show, of course, and old SoLT took a few pictures of the judging, but they came out too blurry for public viewing. (When using "the good camera," you have to remember to check the settings!) There was also a feline agility course, and old SoLT got to see a little kitten learning how to run it.

And that was the National Capital Cat Show. If you've never been to a cat show, you really should find one near you and make plans to go to it. It's so much fun to see all the different cats--breeds that you don't see very often, and maybe some you've never heard of. Plus you can shop for toys and things for your cat and t-shirts, jewelry, and lots of other things for yourself. You can also learn about local rescue groups and how you can help them. You might even adopt a new cat!