Somebody Move the Cat!

"I want to call it I'll Light the Candles in the Window for You" I told friends. "It's too long!" they exclaimed. "It won't even fit on the cover." So I put aside the name I had wanted to call this collection of family stories. Having it on this page will be enough. To the family who are my friends, the friends who are my family, and especially to Carl, who is my safeplace in an uncertain world.

So begins the book Somebody Move the Cat! published by the Brucedale Press in 2003 ISBN 1-896922-27-9.

Is it about cats? No! Well, there are cat stories included. Mostly though it's about life... my life in particular, life in general... and as we all know, life is often funny, and sometimes a little sad. So is the book! Hope you like it!

Excerpt:
Carl once rescued a little downy woodpecker with its leg tangled in some mesh. He was using tiny embroidery scissors to pick at the mesh when he was summoned to an important telephone call. With the phone in one hand and the indignant bird pecking furiously at his other hand, Carl tried hard to carry on a normal conversation with the unfamiliar voice on the other end of the line. It is hard to say to a stranger: "Pardon me, I'll have to call you back. There's a woodpecker attacking my hand."

Excerpt from Interview:

Q: The title is Somebody Move the Cat. Is this a book about cats?

A: Not really. It's a book of family stories, most of them humorous.

Q: But you do write cat stories?

A: Yes, and there are cat stories included and lots of encounters with other animals described in the book. We live in the forest, so wild animals are mentioned here and there: chipmunks, raccoons, a beautiful encounterwith a sawhet owl. And there is a whole story about the cows next door.

Q: There are cows living in the forest?

A: There are where we live! A large meadow surrounded by woodlands is right behind our house, and this is where the cows are. One of them leaned on the gatepost a while back so that it is not closeable, and once in a while they get into our yard checking to see if we have any greener pastures!

Q: What other subjects do you write about?

A: My husband Carl who grew up north of Wiarton features in many stories. In one he is trapped on the roof during a lightning storm, in another he plays tricks on radio announcer Dave Carr.

Q: Are all the stories funny?

A: Most of them are. But no life is consistently happy. There are recollections from a time of health crisis, and your readers will likely know the sweet-sad memories involved in having a pet die. My story Nick's Last Day is that kind of story.