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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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The Twist Podcast #78: Red Caboose Motel, Fort Collins Cool, and Trolling the White House Lawn
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we talk about Halloween, The Red Caboose Motel, Fort Collins cool, President Troll, and the week in headlines.#redcaboosemotel #travel #twistpodcast #fortcollinsCO #lgbtnews
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Castbox TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2018 MadeMark Publishing
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One Thing or Another Podcast: Marshall Thornton Interview
This week’s interview features author Marshall Thornton, mystery maestro, prolific writer and current Michigander (or, if you prefer, Michiganian). Marshall talks with me about his career trajectory, his life past and present, and the realities of making a living as a writer.About Marshall Thornton:
Marshall Thornton writes two popular mystery series, the Boystown Mysteries and the Pinx Video Mysteries. He has won the Lambda Award for Gay Mystery twice, once for each series. His romantic comedy, Femme was also a 2016 Lambda finalist for Best Gay Romance. Other books include My Favorite Uncle, The Ghost Slept Over and Masc, the sequel to Femme. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America.
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The Twist Podcast #77: Cat Whispering, Art Houses of the Gods, and Headlong to the Midterms
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we talk about cat behavior (and a behaviorist), fabulous art houses you must visit, Horseface Nation, and the final rush to the midterms.Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher,YouTube, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2018 MadeMark Publishing
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‘One Thing or Another’ Interview Podcast Launches with Guest Holly Palance
I’m excited to announce the launch of my new interview-only podcast, One Thing or Another (it gets its name from the column I’ve been writing for several years now). “Just me, a guest, a microphone, and you.” I’ll be doing these at least twice a month, possibly weekly as it gets up and rolling.My first guest is Holly Palance, audiobook narrator, actor, writer, and the superb voice for the audiobook edition of my latest, Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery. Holly does an amazing job, and happens to be a marvelous person, too. Join me for a conversation about her life and her career change into the world of audiobook narration.
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One Thing or Another: Cruise Control (All Aboard!)
It’s always One Thing or Another… a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.By Mark McNease
“There’s something very depressurizing about boarding a cruise ship. The daily, mundane, pressures of life that bear on you the rest of the time are suddenly lifted, falling away like a jacket let slip from your shoulders.”
Spending time on a floating hotel was never high on my wish list. I no more imagined going on a cruise than I imagined climbing the pyramids at Machu Picchu or hiking the Appalachian Trail. I didn’t have anything against them, they were just things other people did, feature stories in travel magazines I read when I was still flying by choice and not necessity. Then I met the man I’ve spent the last twelve years with, and cruising entered my life. That can happen when we enter relationships: if you enjoy the unexpected, meet the person of your dreams.
My first cruise was just three nights over a Labor Day weekend, out to some cay and back. I didn’t just like it. I loved it. Cruising quickly became a favorite way to vacation for me. I also like spending nights in hotels for some of the same reasons: no chores, no clean up, no appointments, unless it’s a massage or a shave/facial combination. Cruising is that times twenty, with the added bonus of feeling young at fifty-nine on a ship of retirees.
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6 (More) Questions for Dave Hughes of RetireFabulously.com
By Mark McNease
I’ve been a fan of Dave Hughes and his RetireFabulously.com website for the past five years. I’ve been raving about his columns and had the privilege of helping edit his two books . We both recently enjoyed cruises with our husbands, and I thought it was a good time to ask him some more questions about living in retirement, some of the realities of traveling as a retiree, and a general update. (Note: I’ll be turning 60 this month and hope to retire myself at 62.)
Dave, thanks for taking the time to answer more questions. You’ve been retired a while now and more active than ever. We both just finished cruises, and have fabulous, but different, experiences with this form of vacation. Let’s start there …
MM: I know people who love cruising and people who would rather walk on burning coals than be on a ship. What would you tell someone who’s never cruised to sell them on doing it?
DH: Cruises aren’t for everybody. I won’t pretend that they are. But some people harbor misconceptions about what cruises are really like. There are plenty of lesbian and gay people who harbor misconceptions about what lesbian or gay cruises are like.
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: Witch Spittle
Photo by Sue Hardesty By Lee Lynch
Oh, yes, we had fun this year decorating for Halloween. For a couple of hours, I didn’t once think about the ghouls in D.C.
We don’t get trick or treaters here, but we have a lively neighborhood of adults from 55 to 95, ourselves included, who get a kick out of holiday trappings. Our plastic Frankenstein mat screeches bloody murder when we open or close the garage door. Half the time we scare—and laugh—ourselves silly.
It had been many full moons since we last dragged out our spooky paraphernalia. My sweetheart exhumed it from the treasure chest that is our garage and instructed me to decide what should go where. Me? Organize? The prospect was scarier than an army of menacing phantoms.
I somehow coped.