Did you remember to reset your clocks last night? Or, does everything reset itself in your house?

If you are a U.S. citizen, have you voted yet? If not, do you have plans to vote on Tuesday? The right to vote is precious, and like so many other precious things, either you use it or you lose it – one way or another.

Tomorrow’s review will be The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon. I wanted something just a bit more relevant for just before Election Day than I generally worry about and that book turned out to be a gem as well as fitting for the week, as the thing that many of those unsung heroes fought and in some cases even died for was the right to vote.

The rest of the week is mostly comfort reads, because whatever happens on Tuesday – and after – the world will be different. The question is how much and in what ways.

Which leads me to today’s cat picture and a bit of a story to go with it. This is a portrait of something we refer to in this household as the ‘Butts of Bast’. Our current clowder of cats does not snuggle with each other. We’re still shaking our heads about that, as the previous clowder did, very much and all the time. But that group consisted of a family that had been raised together. LaZorra and Erasmus – the momcat and dadcat – were also siblings from the same litter. They had two daughtercats, Sophie and Mellie, who were also their niececats. (Sort of like an Egyptian pharaoh family, just with cats.) The little girls each had their own respective parentcat. Sophie was daddy’s girl and Mellie was mommy’s girl. I’m referring to their actual feline parents – not the humans. The little girls had very little to do with us by their own choice.

It was only when Mellie was the last survivor, 17 years later, that she started to turn to us AT ALL. At first, she’d sleep on the bed but not touch us. Then she’d let us touch her and pet her – A LITTLE – but only if we approached from her rear so that she could pretend it was the ‘hand of Bast’ – the Egyptian cat goddess – petting her and not those dreadful humans.

This picture is of George and Tuna. They play together now, they chase each other, they shake the house a bit as they’re both rather large. But they don’t cuddle with each other and they don’t cuddle with Luna or Hecate. Tuna doesn’t even cuddle with Luna now, and they are also littermates. They all do cuddle with us, just not each other. In this picture, Tuna and George are clearly touching each other – they were napping butt to butt. BUT, when Galen woke them they both focused on him and refused to acknowledge the other cat touching their butt. Hence, the ‘Butts of Bast’.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the Late Fall Giveaway Event!
$5 Amazon Gift Card + eBook Copy of A Tainted Heart Bleeds by Sophie Barnes
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop is Stacey

Blog Recap:

A- #AudioBookReview: Constituent Service by John Scalzi
A- #BookReview: A Tainted Heart Bleeds by Sophie Barnes + Giveaway
Grade A #BookReview: The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
B #BookReview: Buried Memories by Simon R. Green
Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (625)

Coming This Week:

The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon (#AudioBookReview)
Election Day 2024 (Guest Post by Galen)
Old Scores by Will Thomas (#BookReview)
The City in Glass by Nghi Vo (#BookReview)
Art in the Blood by Bonnie MacBird (#BookReview)