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!

Cats of the Week: Milly May and Spencer

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.

The need is even more urgent in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The Baltimore Humane Society will be accepting homeless animals from areas affected by the flooding. So many of us feel pulled to help in any way we can.… Well, if you adopt today, you’ll be opening a space in the shelter for one of those Harvey animals. If our Cat of the Week doesn’t hit the mark for you, check out the other awesome adoptable animals at the Baltimore Humane Society!

This week we’re featuring a bonded pair we've shared before, but they're still waiting for that special someone who'll take them both home. Milly May is an 8-year-old female, and her brother Spencer is an 8-year-old male. They’re both pretty laid back, and they are really into comfy beds and head rubs. Sometimes the simple things are the best, right? They have lived with a child and a dog before, so they could make great cats for a family. 

These two must be adopted together, which means if you bring them into your home, you'll be opening up two spaces in the shelter. Plus, two cats are way more fun than one cat. Watching the cats' interactions can often be better than television!

Milly May and Spencer are currently at the Baltimore Humane Society. Learn more about them here and 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: Body on Baker Street

On this Mysterious Monday, we are pleased to bring you our review of the second book in one of our new favorite cozy mystery series. The book is Body on Baker Street, and the series is the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries, by Vicki Delany.

The plot

Gemma Doyle is part owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, a little shop on Cape Cod where one can find just about any book or trinket that has anything to do with Sherlock Holmes. Right next door is Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, run by Gemma’s best friend, Jayne. Wouldn’t it be delightful to stock up on books at the bookshop and then pop over to the Tea Room for tea and nibbles, perhaps followed by a walk along the beach? This is why we think these should be real places.

The bookshop is hosting a talk by renowned best-selling author Renalta Van Markoff, who writes a series in which Holmes and his supposed landlady are having an affair. Her books are loved by many and hated by a few who take their devotion to the canon of Sherlock Holmes a bit too far. On the day of the big event, things are going wonderfully—well, except for the assortment of semi-crazy people who follow in Renalta’s wake. Anyway, things are going okay until Renalta suddenly drops dead in the middle of her talk. Gemma immediately suspects poisoning, and of course she is right, because she is brilliant. Unfortunately, her friend Donald, a devoted Sherlockian, becomes a prime suspect, and he asks, begs, Gemma to investigate and prove his innocence. The question now is, which of those semi-crazy people might have murdered Renalta? Could it have been the one who dresses like her, the one who claims she plagiarized her work, or perhaps the rather beige personal assistant who is constantly verbally abused by her? Or is it someone else entirely?

The cat

Of course there is a cat, and we think he is rather marvelous. He’s a black cat named Moriarty, loved by everyone except Gemma. This is because Moriarty cozies up to just about anyone—except Gemma. It is only fitting that Gemma should have a nemesis named Moriarty. We only wish that he played a more central role in resolving the mysteries, but then we suppose that might be out of character, given his, um, scratchy relationship with Gemma.

Our verdict

We loved the first book in this series (Elementary, She Read), and if anything, we enjoyed this one even more. We were just so pleased to meet Gemma and Moriarty again and catch up on the goings-on at the bookshop. Gemma is a character much like Sherlock himself: She’s usually the most brilliant person in the room, she knows it, and she’s not shy about letting others know it, often in a way that insults people or otherwise ticks them off. Let’s just say her people skills are…a work in progress. And she is working on them in Body on Baker Street (but she still ticks plenty of people off, much to our delight). We particularly enjoyed the “famous author visits and is murdered” plot, and the characters surrounding the famous author are just perfect. Plus, Gemma solves the case in a very Sherlockian fashion, which will never fail to make us happy. Moriarty has his share of fun too, and the antagonistic relationship between him and Gemma is growing on us. We very much look forward to the next book in this series to see how things develop.

Highly 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: Dinnertime!

This is dinnertime with old SoLT. When you eat chicken in this house (and you can see what a classy place it is--no dinner jacket required!), you attract an audience. Here, Real Cat Webster and Resident Dog Layla pay rapt attention to every bite.

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

Caturday Art

For this week's Caturday Art, old SoLT was hoping to get something kind of fantastical out of a picture of Real Cat Webster. We have two versions. This first one used the Infty filter in Dreamscope:

And then, because old SoLT couldn't leave well enough alone, she took the above picture into Photoshop, where she lowered the brightness, bumped up the contrast, and messed about with the hue and saturation until she got something she sort of liked. We think this is the nighttime version of the first picture:

And here's the original:

Of course we're joining in on Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!