Feasts for the Eyes and Ears

It's Walkin' and Readin' Wednesday, and here are some lovelies seen recently:

Ruby, who is a sweet wee pupper.

Niko owns the street.

Nightfury

Thomas

Feral Colony, of which Eightball is one of the four.

We loaned a humane trap to these folks, when Eightball was wounded; he's all better now.

These neighbors have got to hear me making smoochie noises at their cat; the window is open!

Just haven't caught anyone outside yet, in order for me to ask.

Recent audiobooks:

Swordheart, by T. Kingfisher, narrated by Jesse Vilinsky

"A sensible widow, Halla, inherits an estate and is threatened by her in-laws, leading her to accidentally release an immortal warrior, Sarkis, trapped in a sword; he becomes her reluctant bodyguard as they fight to secure her inheritance." - Goodreads

Entertaining romp, with magic, talking badger-like oxen drivers, and a woman who finds her groove.

The Lost Masterpiece, by B. A. Shapiro, narrated by Lucy Rayner, Christine Lakin, and Hannah Curtis

"A story of love, adultery, betrayal, longing, family secrets, and the birth of Impressionism." - Goodreads

Have enjoyed a few books by this author, and this one is good too!

Wylding Hall, by Elizabeth Hand, narrated by about a dozen narrators

What really happened to Julian Blake, who disappeared at Wylding Hall when his British acid-folk band gathered to make an album?

A short audiobook, with a gobstopper of an ending; entertaining! 

~~~

Henry Update:

His first chemo pill was administered on Tuesday evening.

The very kind vet technician saw my worried face when I'd stopped in the vet's office to pick up meds, and assured me all would be well.

We hope so; Henry The Ninth is one heckuva kitty, and we want him to have a good, comfortable life.

❤️❤️❤️

Let's Hop!

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Listen To A Story

 June is Audiobook Month!

I list my most recent audiobook listens on Walkin' and Readin' Wednesdays, so on this first day of Audiobook Month, here's a list of the titles that aren't mainstream, yet are entertaining as heck.

Slaycation Series, by Lauren Biel

1. Sinners Retreat (2024)

2. Slay Ride (2025)

3. Ship Happens (2025)

4. Slaughter Park (2026)

5. Sinners Reunion (August, 2026)

"Serial killers need vacations too! This is a dark rom-com series" - Goodreads 

Lots of humor, very adult, and yeah, bad people are unalived...a lot.

Clovenhoof Series, by Heide Goody and Iain Grant

1. Clovenhoof (2012)

2. Pigeonwings (2013)

3. Godsquad (2015)

4. Hellzapoppin' (2015)

5. Beelzebelle (2016)

6. Hooflandia (2018)

7. Holymoly (2018)

8. Alpacalypse (2023)

9. Hankypanky (2024)

10. Babelicious (2025)

"Charged with gross incompetence, Satan is fired from his job as Prince of Hell and exiled to that most terrible of places: English suburbia, and forced to live as a human." - Goodreads

To me, these authors hold up a mirror to modern society, and take massive potshots at everything: governments, soccer mom's, every organized religion, pubs, heavy metal bands, writers, saints, and more.

Snark, humor, silliness beyond what meer mortals can do, but do NOT mess with Joan of Arc, unless it's with a hot-air balloon.

Stranger Times Series, by C. K. McDonnell

1. The Stranger Times (2021)

2. This Charming Man (2022)

3. Love Will Tear Us Apart (2023)

4. Relight My Fire (2024)

5. Ring the Bells (2025)

"A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable." - Goodreads

Manchester UK has got ghosts, monsters, magic, vampires, and more, and The Stranger Times staff wants to report it all, except there are dark forces that don't want anyone to know.

Humor, goofiness, and then there is DI Sturgess who has an alien living in his head.

Kat and Lock Series, by Jo Callaghan

1. In the Blink of an Eye (2023)

2. Leave No Trace (2024)

3. Human Remains (2025)

4. Body of Lies (2026) Audiobook not yet available in US

"Featuring DCS Kat Frank and Lock – the world’s first AI Detective - AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity)." - Goodreads

Lock can scan computer files by the thousands in seconds, saving the police time and money, yet probabilities don't catch criminals.

🙀🙀🙀

Henry Update:

Henry is a feline sleeping tablet!

If a human lays down on the bed with him, they will be asleep before they know it.

Must be the way he parks his body up against the human.

😹

Let's Hop!

Mugging

 It's PO'Monday!

Enjoy the two-minute slideshow below; all images snapped of Celestial Paddy O'Malley on June 18, 2016.

What a goof, and you'll smile...I guarantee it.

He loved to mug for the camera.

AT LAST!

The end of June is Audiobook Month.

Am an audiobook aficionado; every one listed this month is an audiobook that I've listened to.

I recommend these stand-alone novels, written by women:

Objects of My Affection by Jill Smolinski, narrated by Xe Sands (2012)

The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James, narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown (2012)

The Woman In Black by Susan Hill, narrated by Paul Ansdell (2001)

And When She Was Good by Laura Lippman, narrated by Linda Emond (2012)

In The Frame

6/29 is National Camera Day!

For my readers amusement, I present a selection of pics in which I've attempted to get artsy, like I know what I'm doing.

May, 2025 MacMillan Park, in British Columbia, Canada

November, 2024 Cobblestones in Lebanon, Ohio

November 2023, Mosaic Tile Floor, American Museum of Natural History, New York

November 2023, Detail of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

May, 2018, close up of Lion at Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London UK

August, 2006 Close-up of Zebra Plant at The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, Pennsylvania

May, 2018 Celestial George The Stray Cat found at my office building in Farmington, Michigan

May, 2019, Johnson Square Fountain and Live Oak Trees, Savannah, Georgia

October, 2017, Space Alien Streetlamp in Roswell, New Mexico

📸

In honor of June is Audiobook Month, I recommend the following male authors:

Author Jonas Jonasson

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2009), narrated by Steven Crossley

The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man (2018), narrated by Peter Kenny

Author Amor Towles

A Gentleman in Moscow (2016), narrated by Nicholas Guy Smith

Rules of Civility (2011), narrated by Rebecca Lowman

Author Carl Hiaasen

Chomp (2012), narrated by James Van Der Beek

Hoot (2002), narrated by Chad Lowe

📚

Benchy

It's Caturday!

My boyfriend Sly isn't moving very fast anymore, yet he always manages to find me when I'm on my 'hood walks.

His humans have thoughtfully provided a bench for us to canoodle on, and this is where I snapped his photo the other day, then Prisma'd it to make his eyes glow.

Click on the image to enjoy a jigsaw puzzle.

❤️

In honor of June is Audiobook Month, I recommend:

Author Jodi Picoult's novels:

Small Great Things (2016)

Leaving Time (2014)

Nineteen Minutes (2007)

A Spark of Light (2018)

The Book of Two Ways (2020)

Picture Perfect (1995)

Harvesting the Heart (1993)

Between the Lines (2012)

The author has many more books to listen to; the above just scratch the surface.

📚

Let's Hop!

Lazy

It's Hopefully-Soon-To-Be-Formerly-Feral Friday!

Nothing but nothing going on in Henryville.

Henry figures that since he doesn't have to hunt for his dinner anymore, he may as well lounge around!

😹

In honor of June is Audiobook Month, I recommend the following non-fiction books:

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Author: Sam Kean, Narrator: Sean Runnette

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

Author and Narrator: Sy Montgomery

The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures

Author: Philip Mould, Narrator: James Langton 

📚

Disorderly Giggles

We need some humor up in here!

The meme above was so impactful to me, that I asked my tattoo artist, Brandon Scott at Studio Seven Tattoos, to incorporate it to a work he'd recently inked on me:

The hat and the monocle!

The is Mr. Owl, and notice that he's holding books.

Am very thankful to have found this ink artist, who is vegan (like me), is a cat servant (same), is planting native Michigan plants (ditto!), AND we gab endlessly about our favorite artists and art museums.

In honor of June is Audiobook Month, I recommend:

Ashley Weaver's Electra McDonnell series and her Amory Ames Mysteries.

Electra McDonnell: London, during WWII when the British Army asks for the assistance of the safe-cracking McDonnell family:

1 A Peculiar Combination (2021)

2 The Key to Deceit (2022)

3 Playing It Safe (2023)

4 Locked in Pursuit (2024)

5 One Final Turn (2025)

 

Amory Ames: Set in 1930's England, where Amory and Milo use their sleuthing skills in the jet-set world of upscale London.

1. Murder At the Brightwell (2014)

   2. Death Wears a Mask (2015)

   3. A Most Novel Revenge (2016)

   3.5. Intrigue in Capri (2017)

   4. The Essence of Malice (2017)

   5. An Act of Villainy (2018)

   6. A Dangerous Engagement (2019)

   7. A Deception at Thornecrest (2020)

Most above are narrated by Alison Larkin

Let's Hop!

Hot June

The Heat Dome over a huge part of North America has been rough.

The Eastside Cats each have their own ways to deal with the heat, the breeze from the multiple fans, and the resulting noise from the window air conditioner units:

Chili Bruce at the front door.

Manny on top of the refrigerator.

Henry hiding in the warmest corner of Henryville!
He's not a happy camper.

We feel fortunate to have fans, window units, and a fridge that makes ice-cubes and keeps watermelon cold.

After a storm front comes through, the temps will dip for a bit, but the high heat and humidity will continue for many days yet.

Stay cool out there, folks, wherever you are!

🥵

In honor of June is Audiobook Month, I recommend:

Some golden oldies:

R.A. Dick's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, published 1945

Audiobook published 2018, Elizabeth Jasicki narrating

Rosamunde Pilcher's The Shell Seekers, published 1987

Audiobook published 2017, Hayley Atwell narrating

Helene Hanff's 84, Charing Cross Road, published 1970

Audiobook published 2017, Barbara Rosenblat and John Franklyn-Robbins narrating

Nicholas Meyer's The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, published 1974

Audiobook published 1994, David Case narrating

Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, published 1988

Audiobook published 2005, Jeremy Irons narrating

📚

Pisces?

It's Twozday!

Here in Michigan, we've had the HOTS, and some humans have not left the house since Saturday.

Manny and Chili Bruce still manage to nap together; pictorial evidence below:

In the bay window, again.

Don't they sorta look like the Pisces sign?

Manny, in situ and up close.

CB, drooling just a bit.

😹

 In honor of June is Audiobook Month, I recommend:

Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler Series.

1 The Various Haunts of Men (2004)

2 The Pure in Heart (2005)

3 The Risk of Darkness (2006)

4 The Vows of Silence (2008)

5 The Shadows in the Street (2010)

6 The Betrayal of Trust (2011)

7 A Question of Identity (2012)

8 The Soul of Discretion (2014)

8.5 A Breach of Security (2014)

8.6 Hero (2016)

Old Haunts (2018)

9 The Comforts of Home (2018)

Revenge (2019)

10 The Benefit of Hindsight (2019)

11 A Change of Circumstance (2021)

12 The Sound of Footsteps (tbd)

All narrated by Steven Pacey

DCS Simon Serrailler is the central character, set in the fictional English cathedral town of Lafferton.

Simon's family members and staff are a large part of the stories, as is his second life as a artist of some renown.

Have been waiting for book #12 to be published for YEARS; rumors are that the author is ill.

Book 11 ended with Simon deciding to take a big step in his personal life, so we beg the publishers to please please please find a way to get this book to market.

📚

Blep-itude

It's PO'Monday!

Celestial Paddy O'Malley blep pics taken in June:

June, 2012

June, 2013

June, 2014

😻

In honor of June is Audiobook Month, 

I recommend Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series:

1 Angels & Demons (1999)

Narrated by Richard Poe

2 The Da Vinci Code (2003)

Narrated by Paul Michael

 

3 The Lost Symbol (2009)

Narrated by Paul Michael

4 Inferno (2013)

Narrated by Paul Michael

5 Origin (2017)

Narrated by Paul Michael

6 The Secret of Secrets (September 2025)

Narrated by Dan Brown

Am really excited for a new Robert Langdon book!

"Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, pits his wits against a conspiracy/bad guy testing even his considerable brainpower and takes him to the edge of losing all that he holds dear."

Yes, this is an overview of just about each book, yet they are masterfully written and are real page-turners...even if listening to the audiobook!

Let's not discuss the films, even as much as I adore Tom Hanks. 

📚

Spied

A few cuties seen while walking in my neighborhood:

Very friendly, but I've not met this cat before.

This cow-colored kitty is not afraid of me.

Am almost sure that this is Eightball, who needed medical attention in April.

Not seen regularly, this cat had a growing-out shaved area under his chin, just like Eightball had, even if it was several blocks from his feeding station.

😻

In honor of June is Audiobook Month, I recommend the following books by Fredrik Backman:

A Man Called Ove (2012)

Narrated by George Newbern

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry (2013)

Narrated by Joan Walker

My Friends (2025) 

Narrated by Marin Ireland

This author brings charm, humor, and attention to the poignant details of everyday life.

I finished "My Friends" yesterday, while acquiring a couple of new tattoos; it's a masterpiece worth the five star rating that I gave it.

📚