I was very happy to be presented with two wonderful opportunities recently to talk about my favorite things – cats and writing. In her “Spotlight on Amazing Women” series I was interviewed by freelance writer and fellow CWA member, Stacey Ritz, for Examiner.com. This series focuses on women who volunteer in communities, who operate their own businesses, or who are authors, so it was a perfect showcase to talk about how my writing career began and where it has led me to. To read the full interview, please click here.

The next opportunity was also presented to me by a fellow CWA member, Lorie Huston, DVM, for her animalCAFE podcast where I was able to discuss the pending situation with the feral cats being trapped and removed from the Loews Orlando resort properties as well as the misconceptions of feral cats. To read the full post and listen to the podcast, please click here.

I thank both of these ladies so much for reaching out to me and it gives me great pleasure to continue to help inspire others to follow their dreams, whether it be to write, volunteer, or crusade for the well-being of cats.

No doubt about it – I love my sweet Zoey with all of my heart and soul. Happy Birthday my precious one…From the moment you came into my life, that tiny little ball of fur you were…Until now, still a tiny ball of fur, but with a larger than life personality…You bring me joy each and every day and I am so grateful to have you.

Love from me, but also from the human male who loves you as much as I do. Love also from your cat soulmate, Zee, your children, Mia, Peanut, Rolz, and Zeuss, as well as your other feline roommates, Harley and Jazz.

The best part about being a cat blogger, is that when I say that not only did I go to Boston last weekend to visit my step-kids, but to visit one of my dearest cat friends, you all merely nod you heads as if that is the most natural thing ever. Doesn’t everyone get on a plane to visit a cat friend? Of course, by a cat friend, I mean an actual four-legged friend of the feline species… the infamous Zeuss Catt, the other son of Zee and Zoey and brother to Mia, Peanut, and Rolz.  It has been almost 3 years to the day that Zeuss packed his furry bags and boarded a plane with my step-daughter Crystal and her then boyfriend Sean to his  permanent residence in a charming Boston suburb.

L to R - Peanut, Mia, Zeuss, and Rolz - one of the last pictures of all four of the kittens together.

When he first left us, it was both joyful and painful. Joyful in that I knew Crystal and Sean would be wonderful guardians to Zeuss, but painful in that it would be the last time I would see this sweet kitten that was such an ingrained part of my life. Dan and I had already agreed we were going to keep the remaining kittens, as we were so in love with them and could not bear the thought of parting with them, but these kittens had literally been together with us 24/7 and it was hard to imagine not having Zeuss with us anymore. Read more

Sometimes, no matter how perfectly crafted the sentence or how compelling the verbiage, there is just no way to do justice to certain events and tie them up with a pretty bow to make sense of them and move on with clarity, acceptance, and understanding.

Several months ago Dan’s youngest daughter, Jackie, shared the amazing news that she was going to be one of the ice skaters performing in the Ice Chips 2012 Show in Boston where she lives. 2010 Olympic Champion Evan Lysacek would also be performing and we decided then and there that a visit from Florida to Boston was in order and began to make plans for our trip at the end of March. Dan’s oldest daughter, Crystal, who teaches a 3rd grade class thought it would be a wonderful idea for me to come in for a few hours the day we were scheduled to arrive as a guest author and share with the students the many steps involved in writing a book. I was looking forward to it and began to formulate a lesson plan in my mind. 

Three weekends ago on a Sunday night, Dan and I were getting ready for bed and caught wind of a freak accident whereby a car had driven off the road and hit a hotel restroom cabana here locally and killed the woman inside who was 7 months pregnant with her unborn son. Not to be disrespectful, but tragic stories seem to become part of the daily news background and don’t really connect to your own personal reality. You mutter to yourself how terrible that is, then you turn off the TV and go to bed. The next morning Dan woke up to a string of texts from Crystal – the woman and unborn child who was killed was her classroom assistant teacher who was on vacation in Florida with her husband and they were just freshening up before they headed off to the airport for home. This was real and it was unspeakably horrible with no rational explanation as to why it had to happen. No single platitude or cliché in the world could possibly justify that it was her time and that it happened for a greater cause. Read more

To see full beauty of image, please click to enlarge

Who among us has not seen that intense, faraway look a cat has. Where do they go? It would seem they are miles away in thought, perhaps in some distant world filled with fluttering butterflies, hovering birds, scampering bunnies, chattering squirrels and heaven knows what else. Or perhaps it is nothing at all, but a speck of dirt on the window… With a cat, one will really never know…