Sunday Selfie: Webster Cleans Up

For this week's Sunday Selfie, Real Cat Webster wanted to share this evidence of his Saturday bath:

We enter this selfie in the Sunday Selfies blog hop hosted by our friends at The Cat on My Head.

Caturday Art: Tortie Troublemaker vs. Websterclaws

Today we join Athena's Caturday Art blog hop with an episode from the Adventures of Tortie Troublemaker. TT has just been given some very nice presents by a mysterious cat wearing a beard, mask and hat. Who is this fluffy stranger? Let's check in on the action!

Well, I guess she's not called Tortie Troublemaker for nothing.

Later that same day...

TT and Websterclaws encounter each other under the Christmas tree...

TT runs hot and cold, as they say. Websterclaws is confused ... a lot...

Our art this week was created in PicMonkey using the Graphic Novel effect and several items from the SantaLand theme.

Pet Blogger Bloopers Roundup and Friendly Fill-Ins for December 9

Pet Blogger Blooper

We have been having a lot of fun this year sharing She of Little Talent's awful photos on the Pet Blogger Bloopers Roundup, a blog hop hosted the second Friday of every month by The Lazy Pit Bull. (Finally, a pet blogging event celebrating pure ineptitude—old SoLT has been waiting her whole life for this!)

We have been holding the following picture of Real Cat Webster specifically for the Bloopers Roundup. What happened was, old SoLT was on the floor trying to get sophisticated shots of Webs in the little bed, and Webs yawned (as you do when you're in your bed). This is the beginning of the yawn:

And this is the shot old SoLT was going for:

Friendly Fill-Ins

And now to 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, are from Ellen of 15andmeowing, and the next two, answered this week by Real Cat Webster, are from Annie of McGuffy’s Reader.

Old SoLT’s answers:

1. I love the following Christmas film(s): The Nightmare Before Christmas (doubles as a Halloween film!), Miracle on 34th Street, A Charlie Brown Christmas (counts as a film, right?)


2. I don't care for the following Christmas film(s): It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story—they’re all right, but I’ve never understood what all the hoopla is about with these movies.

Real Cat Webster’s answers:

3. At the holidays, I cannot resist napping under the Christmas tree for hours and hours.

4. A favourite holiday memory of mine is when I napped under the Christmas tree last year. Good times!

Cat News: Have Archaeologists Discovered Pet Cats in a First-Century Cemetery?

And here's another type of
cat mummy, this one pictured
in Egypt: Descriptive,
Historical, and Picturesque,
by Georg Ebers, 1878.
By Strassberger, B. [CC BY-SA 2.5],
via Wikimedia Commons.

A cat mummy, Egypt. This is the sort of thing we usually think
 of when we think, "Egyptian cat burial."
Stock photo by Andrea Izzotti via Adobe Stock.

Usually, when we think of cat burials from ancient Egpyt, we think of mummies. You know the ones—they’ve been found by the thousands, and they generally are mummies of cats that were raised specifically to be sold as religious offerings. To modern cat people, that sounds pretty grim. What about pet cats, we want to know? Now, thanks to excavations of a Roman-era port town, we may have good evidence for cats kept as pets in the first and second centuries AD. 

An animal cemetery in a trash dump

We are talking about a place called Berenike, which was a Red Sea port that was an important link between Upper Egpyt and points on the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian Ocean. What is most interesting to us is an area called the “Early Roman trash dump,” because that is where archaeologists have discovered nearly 100 complete animal skeletons, and most of them are cats. There are also dogs and monkeys buried there. The oldest burials date to the late first century AD, and the latest date to the second century. So, they're roughly 2,000 years old.

The Berenike cats

Were there cat-human scenes like this in
ancient Egypt? We like to think so.
Stock illustration by Lorelyn Medina via Adobe Stock.

Eighty-six complete cat skeletons have been found at Berenike. Two of these cats were buried with a bead made of ostrich egg shell, and three were buried with collars. Unlike the mummified cats mentioned above, these cats don’t seem to have been killed deliberately. The evidence suggests to one researcher that what we have here is a cemetery for house pets.

Why it matters

A first-century cat cemetery is pretty exciting because it provides new evidence of humans and cats having early relationships that go beyond the practical. Imagine you're living in an Egyptian port town during the Roman era. Sure, you might like to have a cat around to keep mice and such out of your home, but if that’s as far as your interaction goes, if you see the cat only as a utilitarian vermin-catcher, would you go to the trouble of carefully burying the cat when she dies? Would you place a little bead in the grave with her? Maybe. It's hard to guess exactly what people thought or felt or intended 2,000 years ago. But it seems likely that the cats in this cemetery were valued for more than their rodent-catching skills. We like to think they were treasured pets, beloved in life and respected in death.

Source

Marta Osypinska, “PetCats at the Early Roman Red Sea Port of Berenike, Egypt,” Anitiquity 90 (354): 1-5.

Cat of the Week: Randy in Westhampton, NY

Randy is ready for a new home for the holidays.
He is a very sweet boy who enjoys chatting or just cuddling.
Photos courtesy of Bideawee. Frame stock image via Graphic Stock.
Ornaments and hat stock images via Adobe Stock.

Each week in this space, we feature a senior cat in need of adoption or sponsorship. Please remember all the great older cats in shelters. They make great companions, and they (probably) won’t climb the curtains! Adopt a senior cat, and give him or her the best years of their lives.

Check how Randy rocks this hat! Not everycat
could pull this off, you know.

Today we’re introducing a handsome black-and-white fellow named Randy. Randy is a big, 16-year-old boy currently at Bideawee’s Weshampton location. We understand he is quite a charmer and a very sweet boy who is content to chat with you or just get a little cuddle time.

Learn more about Randy here.

Can’t adopt but still want to help Randy and other cats at Bideawee? Learn how you can sponsor a pet, become a Bideawee member, or make a donation. Every little bit helps!

Miss Cuddlywumps Converses: With Cat Cozy Author Mollie Hunt

Mollie Hunt is an author of cat cozy mysteries,
a volunteer with the Oregon Humane Society,
and more.
All photos courtesy of Mollie Hunt.

Welcome to this latest edition of Miss Cuddlywumps Converses. Please join me in welcoming author Mollie Hunt to the blog. Mollie is here to tell us all about her cozy mystery series, which of course features cats (because they all should, right?). Let’s get right into our conversation.

Mollie, we’re so glad you could join us today. Could you start out by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got into writing cozy mysteries?

Mollie: Hello, Miss C. I’m excited to be here. As you know, I’m the author of the Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series. I am a native Oregonian and live in Portland with my husband and a varying number of cats.

Though I read many types of fiction and nonfiction, I’ve always enjoyed cozy mysteries, beginning with Mary Stewart, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers. When I discovered there was such a thing as the sub-genre cat mysteries (Lilian Jackson Braun, Shirley Rousseau Murphy, Miranda James), I was happier than a cat in catnip. I’ve written in several genres, but cozies are my favorite (along with cat science-fantasy, but that’s another story). Everybody needs a happy ending once in a while.

Yes, happy endings are so refreshing, aren’t they? Please introduce us to the Crazy Cat Lady mystery series. Is the cat lady in the series really crazy?

As my hero Lynley Cannon will be the first to tell you, she isn’t crazy, yet. Sixty-something Lynley enjoys a quiet life of retirement. She is a dedicated cat shelter volunteer, a doting grandmother, and an active senior. She never looks for trouble, but it seems to find her anyway. Whether it’s a diamond heist that lands in her lap thanks to a curious cat (Cats’ Eyes), a cat counterfeiting ring that infiltrates her shelter, Friends of Felines (Copy Cats), or a crazy string of murders beginning in the tranquil setting of a famous animal shelter and ending up on her own doorstep (Cat’s Paw), Lynley’s cat-like curiosity gets the best of her every time.

Lynley isn’t in it alone though; family and friends (including a mystery-solving, 80-something mother, a sweet but way-smart granddaughter, a hunky animal cop who knows the ropes, a cat-savvy shelter buddy, and a lesbian lawyer to get her out of fixes) have Lynley’s back.

The first two books in the Crazy Cat Lady series,
Cats' Eyes and Copy Cats.

Wow, that sounds like quite a cast! The latest title is Cat’s Paw. How does this book continue the series?

Cat’s Paw (launched November 10) carries on where Copy Cats leaves off: After a brush with death at the hands of a serial killer who murders with a lethal cat-like claw (Copy Cats), Lynley is ready to relax. She attends an elite art retreat at the world-famous Cloverleaf Animal Sanctuary in the San Juan Islands, but the tranquility is sundered by a shocking double homicide. Lynley is briefly accused, and once released, she can’t get home to Portland  fast enough, but the murders aren’t over yet. Suspicion falls on a dear friend, and Lynley must fight through fear, assault, and her own anxiety disorder to keep from becoming the next victim.

Can you tell us about the cat or cats in these stories? Are they talking cats or “normal” cats, and what role do they play in the plots?

Though no one loves a talking cat more than I do, the cats in this series are normal cats. That said, I believe cats are truly gifted with a full array of superior senses, and if sometimes those senses help solve a crime, why not?

Cat's Paw is the newest book in the Crazy Cat Lady series.
In the center right, author Mollie Hunt poses with Tinkerbelle the cat.

Cats are superior in many ways, aren't we? Are any cats in your stories based on real-life felines, or are they all totally fictional?

Several of her cats—and Lynley has many: 8 at the moment!—are or have been my own wonderful kitties; others are cats I’ve fostered for the Oregon Humane Society where I volunteer; and still others are made up though based on someone I’ve known personally.

Are you working on any new writing projects you’d like to tell us about?

Yes! I’ve just finished the initial draft of the next book in the CCL series, Cat Call, where Lynley takes over as cat wrangler for a television show after a friend is injured by a mysterious “hex” that is sabotaging the set. (I’m applying my own experience as an assistant cat handler for the cult classic Zombie Cats from Mars.) The fifth in the series, Cat Café, which revolves around a mystifying murder in a cat lounge, is in the planning stages right now. I previously mentioned cat science-fantasy: I have been working on a tetralogy involving sentient cats saving the world from various unthinkable fates. Divergent from the cozies, these are works of pure imagination and very close to my heart. I hope to publish them someday.

Mollie Hunt relaxes with four cats, all of whom show up in
her stories. The cats are (from left to right)
Tinkerbelle, Dirty Harry,  Little, and Big Red.

We hope you do publish them, because we’d love to read them—they sound like such fun, and we think more cats should get involved in science and fantasy. Do you have any other thoughts you’d like to share with us?

Thank you. I would like to note that though my books are full of kitty-fun for the reader, I try to inject a bit of realism as well. Since Lynley is a shelter volunteer, she is in the perfect position to explore such subjects as the plight of homeless pets; the crisis and control of animal abuse and neglect; and other issues relating to animal advocacy. At the beginning of each chapter, I include an interesting cat fact or tip, such as “If you think you smell cat pee, you probably do.”

I’d also like to spotlight my fabulous cover art, done by cat artist Leslie Cobb. Check out her website at Cat Art by Leslie Cobb.

Yes, we will be sure to check out Leslie’s site, and we hope our readers will too. Thank you for being here today, Mollie. We’ve had such fun conversing with you and learning about your books!

Thank you so much, Miss. C, for having me. I’ve enjoyed our conversation immensely.

Adopt – Volunteer – Love!

Mollie Hunt

Connect with Mollie Hunt

You can find Mollie Hunt’s books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and if you’re in Portland, at Another Read Through Bookstore.

Visit Mollie online:

 Facebook

Mollie’s website

Sunday Selfie: Layla

For this week's Sunday Selfie, Layla the Resident Dog wanted to get in the picture, so she snapped this selfie while she was sitting on old SoLT's lap. In case you can't tell, Layla is not a lap dog--at least not in size. We told her that just this once she can be in the cat blog, because you would not believe how this dog can whine when she thinks she's being left out.

We enter this selfie in the Sunday Selfies blog hop hosted by our friends at The Cat on My Head, and we send them lots of purrs and prayers and barks of love. Our hearts are with you.