Today was my semi-annual Crazy Cat Lady Lunch. I used to volunteer with cat rescue groups back in the day and a group of us volunteers started getting together twice a year (spring and fall) for lunch, even after we left the group and went on to other things. We tried to figure out once how long we've been doing this and all we could figure out is that it's been at least 20 years, might even be closer to 25. It's always fun catching up with everyone. Some of us have moved on to other animal rescue gigs and we all usually have pictures of kitties to share.

Every year I buy a wall calendar. I like looking at the pictures plus I actually write down appointments and other important things on it. The past few years my calendar has been one of Willow from Van Cat Meow. She and her humans were living the van life down in Australia. Her humans, though, put down roots and her adventure stories came to an end so I thought that would be the end of the calendars. So, I ordered this really cool Love Notes From Nature, which is a collaborative effort between artist Meg Lemieur and Sarah McAnulty, the Squid Facts lady who runs Skype a Scientist. It's so gorgeous - each month has a beautiful drawing and nature facts. And you know right after I did that I got an email saying that 2026 Willow calendars were available! So I got one of those, too! I think Love Notes From Nature will go in the kitchen, where I usually put up the yearly calendar, and Willow will go in the computer room.

Listening

Some podcasts I listened to this week:

I've listened to a few more full albums this week! None of these are on Bandcamp this time. I listened to the first 2 by searching for the full album on YouTube and the last one I bought on CD when it first came out in 2013.

  • The Record Company - 4th Album I first heard one of their songs, Rita Mae Young, in an episode of Orphan Black (excellent SF, highly recommended). I tracked down the song and then started following the band. They are one of the very few bands that I've gone to see live more than once, even travelling to a venue in a city a couple hours south of me. They put on such a great show and their music is just full of energy. I didn't actually own this album when I set out to listen to it but I have since ordered my own CD. The Record Company's genre is blues/rock.
  • Airbourne - Boneshaker Best Son introduced me to Airbourne years ago, calling them "budget AC/DC". That wasn't a slam - the band is good! They just also really have AC/DC vibes. I haven't kept up with them through the years so I looked up their latest album and, yeah, they still have the same sound! I bought a copy of this CD from Discogs. Airbourne's genre is heavy metal/rock.
  • The Temperance Movement - The Temperance Movement I think I might have first found out about this band thanks to Starbucks. Years ago (maybe still? I don't know, I don't patronize them anymore) they used to give away cards with a free song code you could redeem and I got quite a lot of music that way. This is another band I haven't kept up with. I was reminded of them again by going through the albums I have in Foobar. I forgot how much I liked this CD, especially Only a Friend and Morning Riders. There are a few songs that swing a little too country for my tastes but on the whole this is a great album. The Temperance Movement's genre is blues/rock.

    • Reading

    I finished The Snake, The Crocodile and The Dog by Elizabeth Peters. This was the 7th book in a 20 book series. Eventually I'll read all of them but after finishing that I switched gears and read an SF book. Now, something about me is that I'm easily swayed by videos with titles that include words like underrated, lost cult classics, best movies/books/whatever you never heard of, stuff like that. Grit, Guns & Gravity: Space Western Books You Don't Wanna Miss! crossed my path and I fell for it, even though Westerns are not usually my jam. But space is so I watched it. There were some interesting titles but the one that caught my attention was Through Darkest America by Neal Barrett, Jr. I poked around online for information on this book and was intrigued enough to hunt down a copy on eBay. This is from the back:

    Bluevale was about all Howie had seen of the world. Even his Pa, who knew everything, didn’t know much about the way it was before the war. Scriptures said all of the unclean animals had been wiped out. Howie didn’t know what that meant exactly. He’d seen horses. And stock of course. Stock looked like humans. ‘Cept stock had no soul. That’s why they was meat.
    Howie had a good life for a boy. Then the soldiers came. And what they did to his folks made him grow up right quick. He got his revenge—‘cept now the whole darn army was after him. But he had a huge country to run across… and lots of miles to stay alive.

    Come on, wouldn't that grab your attention? I read it this week and, well, I'm not quite sure what I thought of it. It was very violent and I was stuck travelling post-apocalyptic semi-cannibal America with a teen boy. Not sure which one of those aspects was the worst. It wasn't bad enough to make me DNF it. But I'm not sure I felt good about finishing it. It got decent reviews when it first came out so it's not a bad book, it's just me. If all of that intrigues you, you should check it out!

    After that I was in the mood for something light so I started on the third book in the Discworld Death series, Soul Music.

    Watching

    I finished Babylon 5, the series! It was a great rewatch and I'm glad I did it. I now have 5 movies and the Crusade series to go through. I wasn't sure which ones to tackle first. Crusade is only 13 episodes so I decided to go with that one. I've watched 2 episodes so far and I'm not sure how I'm feeling about it. I know first episodes can be rough so I'm giving this some time but, I don't know, it just doesn't seem to be of the same quality that B5 was. I'm hoping it gets better!

    That's it for this week!

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