Love Saves The Day + Feral Cat Homes +
We have an exciting, jam packed Caturday and so let’s click and go…
Gwen Cooper, author of Homer The Blind Cat has a new novel coming out titled Love Saves The Day. It’s narrated by a sweet brown tabby named Prudence.
We’ll be reviewing it soon but couldn’t wait to share Gwen’s fab contest. If your a fan of Homer (and who isn’t?) you’ll know he’s been under the weather. Gwen assured me yesterday that he’s well. More at GwenCooper.com
Contest closes at midnight Jan.21, 2013 PST so act fast!
Grand Prize: Gwen Cooper will come to your hometown to lead a book club discussion and/or read from the book (and answer all your questions!) at the venue of your choosing–your local library, your favorite bookstore or coffee shop, your favorite animal shelter, or even your living room. Plus, a $500 donation to the animal-related charity of your choice!
Second Prize: A portrait of your own pet by Sue Hains, the incredibly talented animal portrait artist who did a gorgeous portrait of Homer.
Third Prize: Autographed copies of LOVE SAVES THE DAY and Homer’s Odyssey, plus one of the original photos of Homer (also autographed!) used to create the artwork for Homer’s Odyssey.
How to Enter: Purchase a copy of LOVE SAVES THE DAY–in any format: hardcover, ebook, audiobook–between now and Sunday, January 20th. You can wait to buy it in-store on January 15th, or pre-order it now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or any other site where the book is available. If you’ve already pre-ordered your copy, you can enter, too! 😀 Forward proof of purchase–this can be a scanned receipt, a confirmation email, etc.–to Gwen at [email protected]. Every copy sold counts as an entry.
What do you get when 200 cat lovers mingle, eat, drink and view architect- designed feral cat shelters? A purrfect good time. The annual Architects For Animals event to benefit NYCferalCat.org a program sponsored by the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, held on Jan.10 was the best party in town. I arrived early for the press event to get a sneak peak at the shelter designs (to be donated for feral cats).
One of my favorite designs favoring function over form was the simplicity of a regular insulated cooler covered with wire mesh and insulating moss hiding the entrance (a cut out hole is not visible). Designed by husband and wife team Sofia and Adam Zimmerman, the shelter would blend into any urban greenspace.
The Swiss Cheese house of fully recycled materials designed by Muraajya Puranprashad and Paige Rittenhouse, architecture students at City College of New York, worked with Christopher Yanaranop of Stonehill & Taylor Architects.
My former life as a designer reared its head and I explained how the design could be improved for practical use with ferals.
Kathryn Walton, founder of the American Street Cat designed and built a shelter out of 300 recycled Friskies cans donated by Purina. It’s already been placed in a feral cat colony in Brooklyn.
Sara Silvestri, an architect at H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, created a snug shelter to fit one cat or a handful of kittens.
Cat High-Rise, designed by the architecture firm Francis Cauffman, is a kitty condo on five levels with exterior ramps.
Shelter A, by Callison Barteluce Architects.
A modernist approach yielded this shelter designed by M Moser Associates.
My favorite of the eight designs? The natural Cat Fort. I love the idea of an entirely organic and natural DIY project that doesn’t require a shop full of power tools. After enjoying a lively discussion with architect Scott Francisco and design intern Ann Chen from Pilot Projects, I plan to built a teepee. The plans (beautifully hand-rendered by Ann) for a natural cat fort or teepee design are available here.
The woman of the hour was Architects for Animals founder Leslie Farrell.
I’ve been to many cat-related events but this event proved once and for all: cat lovers come in every age and gender. In fact, the gender ratio at the party was 50/50. The defining moment for me was during a conversation with a married couple the husband pulls out his phone and shows me a photo of his soulmate, a cat of course. I was having such a great time, I forgot to take photos, oops…
Closer to home News & Mews. Our house mouse Brunhilda has disappeared. Odin claims no responsibility. For once, all is calm and well.
22 Comments
canon driver
Hey there. I recently came across this website and I honestly like it. I also love to chat about canon drivers from time to time. Good to be around, many thanks!
Darrell
could not agree more, this is why you are ahead George all the way from Ireland http://www.leafletpost.ie
Laura Z
It was a terrific event, and so wonderful to meet the passionate and dedicated cat bloggers in the area! Looking forward to getting to know all of you, and your talented felines through the blogosphere!
meowmeowmans
We are adding Love Saves the Day to our reading list. It sounds like a great book!
That event was terrific, wasn’t it? It was SO awesome to meet you in person, too! Hope to see you soon, dear friend. 🙂
Bernadette
Oh, do I wish I could see these things! Thanks for the wrap-up, and I really do need to catch up on my reading.
Penelope
What a great event!
THose is some creative shelters! Me loves the one made out of the cooler! Me knows what is going to happen to our old cooler now!
Kisses
Nellie
The Island Cats
Those shelters are just so cool! How great that you got to go to such a wonderful event!!
Katnip Lounge
What a fun thing to see in person! Better check Odin’s breath…
Connie Marie
So glad all is calm for you now.
The first shelter is the best. Some seem designed more for ego of designer than what feral cats need. I need to look at TeePee design yet but idea sounds great.
At one time I had a huge barn with hat and blankets that I made
into separate cubby’s. Those are only practical on farms not in NYC. Great contest you have.
Have a Great weekend.
Eric and Flynn
Those are some great shelters for the ferals. Anything that helps keep them warm and dry is a blessing.
Julia Williams
Those are really great houses for the feral kitties. I love creative people!
Kathryn
Wonderful! The boys said Mao and babyRawr!
What a great post and I loved the cat houses.
The contest sounds fantastic.
Texas, a cat in New York
Great post and pictures! My human appreciated the event too, said it was indeed a bit crowded, which is a good sign! And she liked being able to talk with you again, too!
Purrs
boomermuse
It was great to see you again!
Skeeter and Izzy
How absolutely PAWSOME! The shelters are sooooo creative and the cooler,wow,what a simple,inexpensive,fantastic,low key shelter! Genius!!!
I will most assuredly pass this design concept on to our local “Keepers of the Colonies”. I do love the low key aspect and not drawing too much attention because sadly there are still so many out there whose soul intent and purpose in life is to cause pain,suffering and misery.
Thank you Layla and all who visit here that care about cats period.
All our Luvs Skeeter and Izzy >^..^<
PS I haven't seen my little black Shadow feral for two days now and I'm very worried.
boomermuse
Is the feral a kitten? They will often hide when ill. Keep me posted.
Skeeter and Izzy
He is about 6 months or so….around the time of “call of the wild” so to speak..which makes the TNR even more critical now. He has never not come at meal time for more than one day. I’m hoping he will show up tonite. I just pray that he is ok.It breaks my heart to think that he may be sick or injured and need help and I can’t find him when he may need me the most. Skeeter and Izzy
boomermuse
My sense is he’s gone roaming. They often will go for days. Paws crossed he comes back soon. I know how worrying it is.
Skeeter and Izzy
My little guy showed up this evening but he has an injured leg. He is limping badly on the left hind leg. I couldn’t get close enough to see anything because one of the others came to his dish and he moved away and then the neighbor came out and he went back into the brush. He is very shy around anyone but me and even with me he is skittish on a good day.I hope I’ll be able to get a better look tomorrow. I’m still praying that it will all be ok for him. Thank you for your concern it means alot. Luvs Skeeter and Izzy.
Zee and Zoey - Deb Barnes
Thanks for the wrap up!! Sounds like a great time and really wish I could have attended!! I love the first shelter the best as well – much as we want to help these cats, sometimes the less attention we draw to where they are hiding, the better!
Katie and Coccolino the mini pig
Oooh what a great post and lovely photos! Wish we could have been there.
Oink oink,
Katie and Coccolino the mini pig
Sparkle
You are so lucky you got to go! My human wishes she could have been there, except she was on the Wrong Coast.