Thursday, February 23, 2017

#CatThursday - Internet, we thank you for all the #cats


Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

There is no limit to the cat funnies on the internet. Makes my life complete. 

Next week, I'll be sharing pics from the girls' birthdays. Alice's is the 24th and Arya's is the 28th. We're not sure of Arya's exact birthday and I was previously celebrating both of theirs jointly, but Gabe decided they should have their own separate, special birthdays. I guess that makes sense. 😺






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Thursday, February 16, 2017

#CatThursday - A little cat-levity #cats


Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

We need a little cat-levity in these trying times. Go forth, kitties, and make those frowns turn upside down. 😻








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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Q & A with author Barbara Crane #Giveaway Signed paperback of When Water Was Everywhere


Q&A WITH BARBARA CRANE

Where did the idea for your novel come from?

My novel emerged from days of crisscrossing the Los Angeles Basin by automobile—sometimes putting 15,000 to 20,000 miles a year on my car during my work as an independent writer and corporate trainer. As I crossed overpasses high above the land, I often turned north toward the soaring transverse range. Known in our time as the San Gabriel Mountains, they ring the Los Angeles Basin. I wondered, “What did the first people on this land think about living in the shadow of these magnificent mountains?”

I crossed over the Los Angeles River, saw it encased in its concrete channel, and wondered what the rivers looked like when they ran freely. I drove along the coast and imagined ships full of adventurers, explorers and holy men who came to California as early as the 16th century, changing the landscape, people and culture forever. I began to infuse my imaginings with the people who lived here when Los Angeles was a pueblo. Those people—a few Mexican and American settlers, the indigenous Tongva Indians, and the Spanish missionaries people my novel.

Is this a true story?

When Water Was Everywhere is historical fiction. Although the story is fiction, most of it is historically accurate because it is based on more than a decade of research on the pueblo of Los Angeles and the lives of the Tongva/Gabrieleno Indians in the early 1840s. I researched the padres and Indians at the California missions, specifically the Mission San Gabriel. I especially enjoyed delving into the history of our two historic ranchos in Long Beach, particularly Rancho Los Cerritos, where a good deal of the action in the novel takes place.


Are the characters based on real lives?

One of the four major characters is inspired by John Temple, a wealthy businessman and owner of the first store in the pueblo of Los Angeles. Don Juan Temple, as he was called, bought a part of the original Nieto land grant that borders the Los Angeles River on the west and, today, the San Gabriel River on the east. Today, those 325,000 acres that constituted the Nieto land grant have become seven cities. John Temple purchased Rancho Los Cerritos, which comprised 27,000 acres of the Nieto grant in 1843. Much of the action in When Water Was Everywhere takes place as Temple’s (Rodrigo Tilman’s) ranch house was being constructed.

Who are your favorite writers?

My favorite novel is Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. I’ve read it nine times. I love Toni Morrison, Gabriel García Márquez, Nadine Gordimer, Jonathan Franzen, Jumpha Lumphiri. Holly Prado Northup, Louise Glück and W.S. Merwin are some of my favorite poets. I read writers from all over the world--Japan, Africa, Nepal, Costa Rica, Mexico. I want to know about other places and other people, and I think books are a good way to know them.


Barbara Crane is an award-winning novelist and short story writer. Her 2016 release, When Water Was Everywhere, won a Beverly Hills Book Award. Her 2001 novel, The Oldest Things in the World, was a ForeWord magazine Book of the Year. Crane’s short stories and nonfiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Sun, Birmingham Arts Journal, and the Outrider Press Black and White Anthology series. Barbara has enjoyed careers as a business journalist, teacher, and corporate communications consultant. A native Los Angelino, Barbara took her degree from UC Berkeley. She lives in Long Beach with her husband.

Visit Barbara's website: www.barbaraecrane.com

Find out more about When Water Was Everywhere: www.whenwaterwaseverywhere.com

Purchase a copy at Amazon

GIVEAWAY
Up for grabs...a signed paperback edition of When Water Was Everywhere. Open to U.S. entries only. Please leave a comment with an email address for winner contact. Giveaway is open through Wednesday, March 1, 2017. Good luck!




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Thursday, February 9, 2017

#CatThursday - #Authors and #Cats (59) Anais Nin


Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

The second Cat Thursday of each month is Authors and Cats Thursday. Each time I will feature an author with their cat(s), or pictured with a cat(s).


This month I'm featuring Anais Nin, born February 21, 1903 (d. January 14, 1977). Nin was a French-born novelist, passionate eroticist and short story writer, who gained international fame with her journals. Spanning the years from 1931 to 1974, they give an account of one woman's voyage of self-discovery. "It's all right for a woman to be, above all, human. I am a woman first of all." (from The Diary of Anaïs Nin, vol. I, 1966) 

Anaïs Nin was largely ignored until the 1960s. Today she is regarded as one of the leading female writers of the 20th century and a source of inspiration for women challenging conventionally defined gender roles. (from Goodreads)


"And in his eyes he had the look of the cat who inspires a desire to caress but loves no one, who never feels he must respond to the impulses he arouses."
--Anais Nin, Delta of Venus

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Thursday, February 2, 2017

#CatThursday Rosa Silva's Stop Meowing and Go the F*ck to Sleep - #Review #cats


I have an extra special Cat Thursday for you this week! Our good Cat Thursday friend, Rosa from Cat Lady Confidential has written a very funny cat book, Stop Meowing and Go the F*ck to Sleep, and I'm reviewing it here today. 


My thoughts
I enjoyed this book immensely. I'm a huge fan of Cortes and Mansbach’s adults-only bedtime story, Go the F*ck to Sleep, made famous by being read aloud by the illustrious Samuel L. Jackson. Anyone who has children can totally relate to that book. The same can be said for anyone who is the parent of a cat, or cats. They seriously do not want us to get any sleep. To say that cats are high maintenance is an understatement. We all know that they run our lives. Rosa perfectly captures this reality in this hilarious little book. I also must mention the brilliant illustrations. Rosa's illustrator, Diana Necsulescu perfectly captures the distress of the woman (Rosa) and the utter rapture and bliss of the kitty (Mr. Cat) who is clearly enjoying himself. Wonderfully expressive illustrations complete a book and that is clearly evident here.

The perfect addition to any cat lover's cat book library, Stop Meowing and Go the F*ck to Sleep would also make an excellent gift. Just make sure they have a sense of humor first. I'm a big fan of swearing (studies show...swearing means you're smarter. 😄 ) so this book scored extra points with me. Highly recommended!

About the book
Inspired by, and in the tradition of Cortes and Mansbach’s adults-only bedtime story, Go the F*ck to Sleep, Stop Meowing and Go the F*ck to Sleep is a funny take on the frustrations of losing sleep because of a feline friend. The struggle is real.

Anyone who is a cat lover knows that the cat rules the roost, and that certainly doesn’t change at bedtime. You might be ready to sleep, but you can bet that kitty is ready for just about anything but some shut-eye. Release your frustrations with a good laugh as you read along with Rosa and her struggle to get Mr. Cat to Stop Meowing and Go the F*ck to Sleep!

Stop Meowing and Go the F*ck to Sleep is a funny bedtime book for all the desperate cat parents out there. If you have experienced the nightmare of having a kitty who won’t let you have a good night’s sleep, this is the book for you. It’s the perfect gift for crazy cat lovers who appreciate hilarious insights into the feline nature.

Buy the book

About the author
Rosa Silva is an author and blogger. When she’s not working on her next book, you can find her reading, chilling on the beach, hanging out with her cat, or writing the next post for her blog Cat Lady Confidential. Stop Meowing and Go the F*ck to Sleep is her first book.

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- See more at: http://www.techtrickhome.com/2013/02/show-comment-box-above-comments-on.html#sthash.TjHz2Px9.dpuf