El Gato Cat Cottage

My friend Lynn and I, both cat lovers, visited Houston's first cat cafe last week.  Actually it isn't a cafe because they don't serve food or drinks, but it's a great place for cat fans to visit.  Located in a small yellow cottage at 506 Pecore Street in Houston's Heights area, it houses about 18 cats from the Humane Society, all of them up for adoption for only $25 at least until the end of this month; then it will be $50.  We found  two rooms where cats were snoozing in the sunshine or wandering around among the visitors.  One cat had climbed up to the ceiling high "bridge" and didn't seem interested in coming down.  Visitors can play with the cats--plenty of cat toys are available.  Cats that don't like to be picked up wear orange collars.  

After visiting with the cats, we stopped in the entryway to look at the cat-themed items for sale--t-shirts, bags, stuffed cats, color-coded litter that indicates if a cat is sick (really!) and even some cat-decorated shoes.  I bought a blue stuffed cat to go in my blue bedroom.  When I showed it to my cat Cassie, she was terrified and immediately backed away.  She's gotten braver now and will sniff at it but clearly doesn't approve of its presence in her territory.

Besides just visiting the cats, you can check the schedules for times to view cartoons with the kitties, do yoga with them or bring your knitting--I'm sure they love the yarn.

I'm not in the market for another cat right now.  Being a loving grandmother and a sucker for cats, I'm keeping my granddaughter's cat while she spends her freshman year living on campus at Texas State.  When the new cat has come for a visit, Cassie hides under the bed, but I'm sure they'll learn to get along eventually.

If you happen to be looking for a cat to adopt or if you just enjoy interacting with cats, you can reserve a spot to visit El Gato.  Call 832 966 3006 or google their website to reserve online.

Books of June

In June I had two attacks of bronchitis so I didn't have much to do except read in bed.  Here are my June books:

I suggested this for my book club after reading positive reviews about its story of the immigrant experience.  What a disappointment.  Amazon listed it as one of the best books of the year so far, but I found it boring.  A young couple from an unnamed Middle Eastern country escape their war-torn city through a magic door.  I didn't care for the characters because I never really got to know them other than superficially, and the door (and additional doors) made the story boring for me.

About Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe and their famous rivalry as well as anecdotes about other tennis stars of the Borg-McEnroe era.  Intreresting read if you like tennis, and I do.

Until Roger Federer came along, John McEnroe was my favorite tennis player, and I enjoyed his previous book, You Cannot Be Serious, but this one was a disappointment.  Not well written and not much substance.

On her sixteenth birthday, Teva "hatches" from the body of her fifteen-year-old self and assumes Fifteen's life.  Her house, locked away from the rest of the world, is filled with former versions of herself, younger and younger.  In a year, a new clone of herself will break out, but Teva vows not to let that happen.  Why all these clones?  Why won't her mother explain?  What happened to Teva's father?  Interesting premise.

This is a true storey aboiut Lonnie Sue Johnson whose memory was completely wiped away due to a severe attack of encephalitis.  We learn about her previous life as an artist, pilot, musecian and about how she copes with a life without a past and her case has contributed to medical science.

Very different from Emma Donahue's book Room, this is the light-hearted story of a non-traditional family coping with the addition to the family circle of their grandfather.

Yes, we've had actors as governors and as president but a comedian as a senator?  From Saturday Night Live?  Surprisingly, I learned a lot about how the Senate works and gained some respect for Senator Franken.  Interesting read, currently on the NY Times best seller list.