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It’s a Cat’s World with Molly DeVoss and ‘Cat Talk Radio’
We’re cat lovers and several months ago, after adopting a cat with some behavior issues, I was connected to Molly DeVoss, of Cat Behavior Solutions. Her advice was essential in resolving the problems, and today we have two great girls, Wilma and Peanut, who brighten our lives and each other’s. Molly knows her stuff!
Molly and co-host Dewey now offer a regular podcast/radio show on all things cat. If you’re a cat person, and even if you’re not, the education you’ll get from Molly and her guests is unbeatable. Tune in sometime, and fasten your headphones!
Cat Talk Radio is all about cats, what makes them do what they do, why they occasionally misbehave and what cat guardians can do to fix it. We educate you on how to modify unwanted cat behavior by providing the proper environment and stimulation, enabling cats to express their natural behaviors in ways that are preferable for both the humans and cats. You will learn how to have fun with your cat, fascinating cat facts and be inspired to try new things, which will lead to a happier relationship and closer bond with your cat. We’ll also call attention to the plight of cats in our country, feel compassion for their challenges and share the message. Cat Talk Radio is broadcast live every Friday at 2 PM Pacific Time/4 PM Central Time/5 PM Eastern Time on the VoiceAmerica Variety Channel.
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Featured Book: Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future, by Pete Buttigieg
Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future
Pete Buttigieg
347 pages (hardcover edition)
$16.77 harcover, $14.87 Kindle
Publisher: LiverightI first noticed “Mayor Pete” a few years ago because he was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. I grew up two cities over, in Elkhart, and my father had a music store for many years in South Bend. I knew the town well, and seeing them elect an out gay mayor was something I took great pleasure in (and no small surprise).
Now Pete Buttigieg is running for the Democratic presidential nomination and he’s turning a lot of heads: the man is smart, extremely well-informed, erudite (does anyone say that anymore?), a policy wonk who doesn’t sound like one, and a man with exceptionally wide appeal on the issues: just ask nervous Republicans.
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Book Review: When Brooklyn Was Queer, by Hugh Ryan
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“When Brooklyn Was Queer” by Hugh Ryan
c.2019, St. Martin’s Press
$29.99 / $38.99 Canada 308 pagesYour city sure has changed.
Landmarks were destroyed, the skyline is different, and streets are shifted in a way that feels same-not-same. It’s like having dinner with a relative you met once, when you were nine: as in “When Brooklyn Was Queer” by Hugh Ryan, everything and nothing is familiar.
Once upon a time, Brooklyn was little more than farms and fields.
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Restaurant Review: Martine’s Riverhouse Restaurant, 3 ½ Yums (New Hope, PA)
Reviews are based on a 5 Yum scale, 5 being must-go, 2 being save your money, 1 being call an ambulance.
Where: Martine’s Riverhouse Restaurant, New Hope, PA
Price: $$$
Fun new word: RiverhouseSo it is two words or one? Is the ‘H’ capitalized or not? I found it both ways on their website and their Facebook page. That can happen when you make up words – it’s tough to know which is catchier.
My husband Frank and I made it across the Delaware River to New Hope, Pennsylvania. We parked in Lambertville, New Jersey, and walked over the bridge, since New Hope decided several years ago there would be no free parking anywhere in town. It’s Delaware River Towns Restaurant Week and both communities are nestled on the river. It’s a spectacular place to live. Art and progressive politics are in the air, but there’s something for everyone. Last night that something was dinner at Martine’s.
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: What Is Lesbian Literature?
Photo by Sue Hardesty The Amazon Trail: What Is Lesbian Literature?
By Lee Lynch“… when teachers, editors, agents and awards administrators, among others, hold mainstream writing as the standard, and all but ignore books with an exclusively lesbian focus, they lead us away from serious, in depth examination of our lesbian selves.”
It’s nice that some non-gay writers include us in their stories. I’m thinking of Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder detective novels in which he has an amusing lesbian friend who is a dog groomer. Very respectful and matter-of-fact that she’s a dyke. But that doesn’t make the novels lesbian any more than the presence of Robert B. Parker’s gay male bartender and strongman in his Spenser series makes the books gay male.
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‘Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery’ Now Available on Nook and Kobo
It’s official! Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery, already available an Amazon and Audible, can now be found on Nook and Kobo, too. Look for my entire catalog at these additional outlets soon.
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Coming this Spring: ‘A House in the Woods’ Brings Terror to the Countryside
Country living is hell.
Laurel and Jeremy Calloway have found the perfect little house in the woods. Ready for a new start outside New York City, the young couple happen upon a house as they drive, lost, along a New Jersey road. They soon meet a neighbor who thinks this is the right home for them and she’s the right neighbor to welcome them to town—a town with secrets beneath the surface and terror beneath the smiles.
A new job, a book deal, and a baby on the way. Everything seems right as the couple pursues a life of their dreams … or is it their nightmares? Find out in A House in the Woods, coming spring 2019.
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‘Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery’ Now Free for Email Subscribers
It’s a new year, with big things in store. To welcome it in, all current and future email subscribers will receive a complimentary copy of Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery.
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The Twist Podcast #84: Another Christmas Gone, the Year in Review, and the Twist Predictions for 2019
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we talk about another Christmas come and gone, the year in review, and what to dread in 2019.Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2018 MadeMark Publishing
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The Twist Podcast #83: The Grinch Who Stole Healthcare, Childhood Smell Tests, and the Week in Headlines
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we talk about the judge who struck down healthcare, candles that smell like kids’ memories, and the week in Twisted headlines.Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Castbox and TheTwistPodcast.com. Comments, questions or suggestions to: TheTwistPodcast @ Outlook.com
Copyright 2018 MadeMark Publishing
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Guest Column: Healthy Digestion in Times of Stress, by Cathy McNease, Herbalist
By Cathy McNease, HerbalistIt is a familiar problem: stressful events occur and our digestion goes to hell. For some it means loss of appetite, other will resort to binges on comfort foods. Diarrhea, constipation, bloating and indigestion are other common reactions to stress. I fall prey to all of these as well and over the decades have figured a few things out to help. First, minimize stress as much as you can. Second, don’t allow the stress to send you off the rails in your food choices.
If we can minimize the increase in stress hormones being produced, that is a step in the right direction.
Maintaining an anti-inflammatory diet, as much as possible, is a good start. The following tips will reduce cortisol and adrenaline, which increase in stress. Limit as much as you can these foods:
added sugars, processed foods, dairy products, gluten, too much meat, and refined oils. Rely more on non-starchy vegetables. Also watch your intake of coffee and alcohol.
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A Stocking Full of Shocking with 7 Mysteries On Sale Through December
A holiday update: I’m working on two new releases for 2019. A House in the Woods serves up a spine-chilling horror story of a young couple expecting their first child and finding the house of their dreams in the New Jersey woods … or is it the house of their nightmares?
In Reservation for Murder, Kyle Callahan returns as he and husband Danny Durban leave New York City to open a bed and breakfast in Lambertville, New Jersey. A writers’ conference brings talent and egos to town, the B & B is booked up, and murder checks in. Coming next year … in the meantime, enjoy a stocking full of shocking with 7 mysteries on sale for the rest of December.
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: Not a Creature Was Stirring, Not Even a Mouse
Photo by Sue Hardesty By Lee Lynch
The Amazon Trail“Not a Creature Was Stirring, Not Even a Mouse.”
That was true when we brought home our Christmas tree back in 2009 and a poor dead mouse fell onto our living room floor. We’ve made do with a little artificial tree ever since. But this year we’re going all Santa Claus and supporting the local 4H Club which is selling trees at the fairgrounds.
Christmas is such a multi-featured concept. As an atheist, I celebrate for the sake of lighting the darkness. As a feminist, I’m aware of the pre-Christian pagan winter rituals that make sense to me: Yule logs. The tree itself. Gifting one another. Celebrations to liven up the doldrums of winter.
Here in our community, the clubhouse is already decorated, thanks to volunteers who might be teens—not seniors—with their mirthful high energy. Some years a local choral group in red bow ties comes to serenade our holiday potluck. Not everyone is up to decorating, but if they have an extra fifteen dollars they’ll hire a handyperson to string outdoor lights. Every year there’s a light show as we walk our mile of roads, calling out good wishes, and swaddled, like our neighbors, in layers that protect us from the ocean winds.