A Library Cat

Cats and Libraries ...

Did you know that library cats date back to the days when Monks kept cats in their libraries to save the books from being eaten by rats?

A savvy librarian has the scoop here:
http://www.lisnews.org/cats_stacks_make_libraries_feel_home

Luxury for Cats

Everyone knows cats like their luxury, so now there's a book that celebrates it -- Luxury for Cats. This beautifully illustrated book gives a wonderful look at the top designers of feline products, from ultra posh litter boxes to exquisite collars to furniture fit for a king.

Why is it, though, that cats love luxury? Please feel free to send me your comments below!

New books about Library Cats!

Hi, Madame Apricat here, and I am SO EXCITED to tell you news of a book that hit it big with librarians at Book Expo in L.A.! The book is called: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (Sept. 24, Grand Central) by librarian (Spencer, Iowa) Vicky Myron. According to the web site Early Word, "he book’s completely charming and puts both cats and libraries in a good light."

I am going to try and get a copy to review for you!

New Brunswick Libraries Love Cats!

According to the New Brunswick Libraries, "We've been researching cats for book lists and displays and nearly fell off our chairs when we saw that there are over 2,150 basic cat entries in the New Brunswick Public Libraries catalogue.

That means we've been buying a great many books about cats because it's a subject in which readers are extremely interested. The selection ranges from cat care books, to breed manuals, to cat detective novels, to cat cartoons, to classic cat tales.

The popularity of cats isn't new. They've been beloved pets since time immemorial. Petrarch had a cat in the 14th century. Louis XV had a cat. Lenin had a cat. Matisse had a cat. And Robert W. Lee had several of which he was very fond.

Cats have made a name for themselves in lore, literature, movies, marketing, and health care. There are the stereotypical black Hallowe'en cats, purported to be the familiars of all self-respecting witches. There are the black cats, the harbingers of bad luck in superstitious sayings such as "beware if a black cat crosses your path." There is Pyewacket, the movie cat who starred with Kim Novak in Bell, Book and Candle.

There's Morris, the advertising mascot of 9Lives cat food, who recently launched the Million Cat Rescue, to "give back" to the community. Morris, the most recognizable cat in the world, was himself a shelter cat, adopted out in just the nick of time.

There's Oscar the nursing home cat who was recently written up in the New England Journal of Medicine. He can somehow sense when patients are about to die and climbs on the bed to comfort them during their final hours.

You'll find cats in the writings of Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Rudyard Kipling, Shelley, Keats, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy, Theodore Roosevelt, Edgar Allan Poe, even in the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci.

In current literature, there's Mycroft (Mike for short), a 25 pound Abyssinian, who with his owner Penelope Warren investigates murders in an Arizona town full of eccentric characters. Check out Desert Cat or Movie Cat by Garrison Allen.

Or try Catnap or Cat in a Quicksilver Caper by Carole Nelson Douglas. They star hard-boiled private eye feline, Midnight Louie, and his side-kick public relations agent Temple Barr; they solve murders in Sin City.

And then there's James, The Connoissseur Cat by Harriet Hahn, a first book starring James, a cultured, caviar-eating, London high society cat with a talent for matchmaking."

Also of interest:

- The Tribe of Tiger: Cats and their Culture. An anthropologist's insights into the history, community and behaviour of cats, wild and domestic. By Elizabeth Marshall Thomas.

- Diary of a Cat. A year's worth of humorous entries from the diary of a housecat. By Leigh W. Rutledge.

Cats and red wine

Okay, so maybe this isn't the best cat video ever. Your pictures and videos of your cats are much cuter! But this video on YouTube of a cat drinking red wine to Bob Marley's famous song of the same name gives us all inspiration that we can do much better. And of course, our own cats have more personality!

As soon as the weather warms up, I hope to film Apricat hanging out at the New York Library in Manhattan, near the famous lions. If you haven't been to New York, it's on 5th avenue and every day of the week, even in winter, you can find people sitting on the steps, eating lunch or just hanging out. Bryant Park is here too, where they have the fashion shows. You can also see films in summer and eat at a restaurant adjacent to the library.

Italian Cats ...

Message from Apricat ...

My Adoring Humans have just returned from Italy and informed me of all the felines they saw on their trip. "One was just outside what our hotel dared called a 'fitness room'" one of my humans smirked, remarking that it contained only one exercise bike and one step climber, along with some random weights. "So I looked out the window and saw a very fat grey cat slowly climb the steps of the building next door. Then the cat looked at me, and I thought perhaps it was receiving a message from you!"

Now as much as I care for my Adoring humans, I'm a bit too busy to message them when I'm on vacation (from them). I have this very nice apartment all to myself, a televsion with about a million cable channels I can easily tap with my paw, and staffers at my beck and call.

"I received a message too!" my other human chimed in. "I was jogging in the park, and I saw a very cute playground for cats."

They started talking among themselves if they should have taken me to Italy or not, but I tuned them out.

Oh, and the truth is, I didn't message them as much as I asked the local felines to see what they were up to and if they were okay.

Cats and Wine

So some of you who might know me beyond my Cat Story life know I am a wine expert persuing my Masters of Wine.

The other night, some colleagues got together and as I was walking home with a friend, I started thinking about all the different wines we brought that evening and which wine my cat, Apricat, might prefer.

"The Meursault!" my friend said without hesitation. At $120, it was the most expensive. It was also rare and hard to find. Which definately fit Apricat's profile (and probably your cat's, as well). But then he said an intriguing thing. "Also, it was a white wine."

Now Apricat happens to be a white cat. She's a white Persian, actually. But what's up with this? White wine for white cats?

"No no no," he said. "I was thinking of wine in a food pairing way. Cats like cream, right? White white with cream."

As you can imagine, the conversation went a bit wild after that ... Tuna TarTar with an expensive red burgundy from Chambolle-Musigny, and so forth.

If you have a cat with a quirky appetite, please write in using the comment feature.

A shout out for Marisa's other blog ...

You love books and cats, but what about the fruit of the vine?

Beyond the books and cats, Marisa's occupation is the wine business, and she is pleased that her blog, http://www.AVineStory.com, is the blog of the month from Typepad!

Here is what they say ...

Marisa D’Vari knows her wine – an expertise due in part to her having hosted the cable TV show, A Taste of Luxury, which featured celebrity chefs and wine makers from around the world. Today, Marisa’s views, opinions, and talents can be observed in her blog, A Wine Story. In these pages, you’ll experience culinary delights and sample some of the world’s best wines, as her journeys through Bordeaux and Languedoc will attest (don't despair Americans, there's a positive review of an American wine from an unexpected source too). In a unique post, Marisa has the chance to sample the “same” wines and views that were likely enjoyed by Thomas Jefferson over 200 years ago. Naturally, the grape is the featured subject here and in addition to reviews on the complexities and nuances of both popular and little known wines, Marisa’s knowledge and experience powers her observations on such diverse topics as Wine Etiquette and Psychology. Related blogs, restaurant reviews, video, and a fun “wine Tarot reading” round out what is one of the more robust, full-bodied sites we’ve sampled in a while.

also see http://www.AWineStory.com

Cat Book Review: Tatianna, by Linda Mohr

“I am four cats old, measuring out my life in friends that have succeeded but not replaced one another!” Irving Townsend

 Linda Mohr, author of the touching and emotional book Tatianna: Tales and Teaching of My Female Friend, offers many poignant quotes such the one singled out above to show how humans and cats have bonded so intimately over the centuries.

You have probably seen pictures of Egyptian tombs and have expressed surprise to see how many statues of cats are found in them. Cats were given special status in Egyptian society and even worshipped. Americans today spend over sixty million dollars a year on their cats according to the latest statistics, but unlike the Egyptians, keep their “worship” of their feline friends to themselves.

Americans have also divided themselves into cat people and dog people – with some families having a few of each – but there are significant differences between the two. Cat people have an intense emotional relationship with their cats. Because cats (at least, most cats) do not take instruction, much of the communication between cats and humans is intuitive. Humans seem to instinctively know what their cats want. Cats are also keenly aware of their human’s emotions, and depending on the nature and personality of the cat, will either try to “be good and provide comfort when needed,” or will ignore the human and make the human grow needier and more dependent.

Dogs, from what I can glimmer, listen. They do as they are told. Few dogs that I am aware of take pleasure in teasing and testing their human as does the occasional (or typical?) cat. Though many dog people have intense relationships with their pet, the master/servant role is clear cut. Between cats and humans, one is never sure who is the boss (from my experience, it’s usually the cat though some smart cats know it is in their best interest to act otherwise).

Which brings me to the review of Linda Mohr’s book. If you are reading this review you likely have a cat and already know the joys and pleasures of being able to enjoy unconditional love with your chosen creature – or the creature who has chosen you! Tatianna came into Mohr’s life when she was thirty-five and sparked what would be even more happy events. Soon a man named Ken came into Mohr’s life, a delightful-sounding man who left cute notes under the windshield of her car in the mornings. When Ken was briefly injured in a motorcycle accident, it was Tatianna who helped Mohr keep everything together.

Of course, everything in life comes to an end, and the last chapters of bhe book echoes Mohr’s heroic efforts to keep her friend comfortable during her last days. Yet what I found most poignant is Mohr’s attitude once she found her way to work through her grief. In life, Tatianna was never allowed to go on the three week plus trips Mohr took each year. Now that Tatianna was in spirit form, she could go wherever Mohr went, see the things she saw, and share the experience. This is a very positive outlook and a very satisfying way to end the journey between a woman and a very special cat.

A Cat named Pinot Reports from Healdsburg Library

Hi there, Pinot here (can you imagine the nerve of the winemakers who named me!)

I live in Healdsburg, California, and there is always a lot going on at my local library.

This Friday, March 28, at 7:00 Steve Heimoff, author of New Classic Winemakers of California, will be talking about his new book. Winemakers in attendance will be:

- Randy Ullom, Kendall-Jackson
- Eric Cinnamon, Rancho Zabaco
- Merry Edwards, Merry Edwards Wines
- Greg L Follette, DeLoach, Tandem
- Michael Terrien, Hanzell

I like Steve a lot - he is one of the few winemakers who feeds me treats instead of grapes. I will be there and hope you can make it too!