Good evening, felinity assembled! Boy do we have a story to tell you this month!
Hi, everyone, and a big, welcoming, hello to Houston, TX. and any attendees of the 60th anniversary of this fine event who may be stopping by for the first time to check us out.
I am Elvira Mistress of Felinity, your host for this post.
Yesterday, it rained all day in Houston but, to hear Daddy Kiril tell it when he got home..."Rain? I didn't give a fig! My day began gloriously, and it was all up hill from there!"
Daddy spent the day at the first day of the Houston Cat Club Charity Cat Show, the 60th edition since the club was founded in 1949.
When Daddy got home I couldn't wait to check out his bag to see what was in it!
I almost fell in! Yeah, yeah, I know, curiosity and all that, blah, blah, blah.
Anyway, Nikita discovered that our vet, the Houston Cat Hospital, was a ring sponsor.
The big news to start our series off, though, is who Daddy spent the first 2 hours of his visit with.
As everyone knows, things are not easy for us, right now, on the medical (Turning in papers for MD Anderson application, tomorrow), and financial, fronts, though Daddy may have the chance of getting a job soon, at last (Cross your paws, and pray to Ceiling Cat!), and so Daddy hadn't planned on attending...
Until, a fellow Houstonite, someone special to the cat blogging community, and whom Daddy has been friends with since discovering Carnival of the Cats in 2004-07, offered to pay both their ways in to the event.
I will end this post by letting Daddy explain, and the photo speak for itself...
"It isn't often that one gets to meet a legend, much less spend more than a few minutes hanging out with him. I should know, I have met a handfull in the last 17 years.
Yesterday morning I had the distinct honor, and pleasure, of spending 2 hours with the "King of the Cat Bloggers", Laurence Simon (No longer cat blogging as much as he used to, but the master of the 100 Word Stories Podcast).
A legend in blogging, for creating, in 2004, Carnival of the Cats as a weekly gathering of the best of the week’s cat bloging posts about cats from blogs all over the world, bringing cat blogging, however briefly, to the attention of the mainstream media of that era.
In it's first 5 years it was not uncommon for there to be 30 to 50 entries a week and, for the past 3 years, I, Nikita, Elvira, Miss Mog, and a host of truly wonderful fellow hosts and submitters, some who have been with us all, soon to be, 9 years, have been struggling to return the carnival to its rightful place as the premiere Cat (and Critter) show in the blogosphere, especially with #500 coming up in the fall of this year (Learn about hosting and submitting).
Far too many, in the current generation of cat, and other critter blogging, have no clue about the enormous debt of gratitude they owe Mr. Simon."
(Yes, those ARE 2 stacks of business cards for Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat on that table, for all 2 days of the show! More on how that came about in a future post.)
As well as being a little responsible for my discovering I was not alone as a cat blogger, his writing helped me discover my talent for 100 word stories of my own, and inspired the ongoing series of 100 word cat stories found on this blog.
I now owe him another debt that can't be re-paid. I can't thank him enough for helping me attend this event, an event I hoped to use to introduce Meowsings to the Houston cat loving community.
He served as my photographer during our time together, even as he took his own photos to share on his own site.
I had a great time in the 7 hrs. I spent at the show and, with the help of Nikita and Elvira, hope to share that experience with you, our readers, friends, fans, and newcommers, local, and further afield."
Next chapter: Daddy Kiril At Large: HCC Charity Cat Show 2 - Nikita Gets Distracted
Kiril, you haven't REALLY seen it rain in Houston until you deal with one of those inch an hour goes all day toad stranglers. They usually get two or three of them a year, and the whole day is pretty much flooded out city-wide. You probably noticed Houston is pretty much flat, so the water just sits there.
Posted by: Lee County Clowder | January 06, 2013 at 11:21 PM
LCC, so I've noticed. :-D
There are so many puddles on the sidewalks, that last for days, that I spend as much time walking anywhere but the sidewalk, as on it, to keep from falling in. :-D
The weather guys here claim we may be in for 3 inches of rain on Tuesday, and more on Wednesday, due to some freakish Thunderstorms. :-D
Posted by: Kiril Kundurazieff | January 06, 2013 at 11:30 PM
So glad Daddy Kiril got to go Elvira. That was pawsome. We has our paws crossed about the job, and are sending healing purrs for the eyes.
Posted by: Scylla, Socks & Fenris | January 07, 2013 at 06:24 AM
How marvelous that you got to go to this ... and to meet Laurence! Excellent, excellent, excellent!!
Laurence was primarily responsible for Grace & Company and their secretary finding each other!
In 2006, he sent a blog post to the secretary's daughter, who then sent it to her ... and the rest is history!
We loved reading Laurence's blog posts about his cats ... and we still love to go back an find photos, etc.
http://graceandkittens.blogspot.com/2006/05/momma-grace-needs-home-too.html
(We've taken over that blog and have had its design redone a few times!!)
Yep ... rain forecasts are ominous for tomorrow and Wed ... we'll see if it all comes about!
Grace & Company
(and their secretary!)
Posted by: Grace & Company | January 07, 2013 at 10:50 AM
wooo hoooo!!
Wow, we remember reading Mr Laurence's blog for a very long time!
Posted by: The Meezers | January 07, 2013 at 02:36 PM
Very interesting, Elvira. Love the photography here, but I'm afraid I have more questions than answers! I have no idea who Laurence simon is or why he is important or why he was at Houston at all, but I'm hoping Daddy Kiril will be able to fill us in later on.
Posted by: Amanda Socci | January 08, 2013 at 04:05 AM
Amanda, Laurence lives in Houston, as Elvira wrote.
Under our picture Elvira gave the "Short version" of who he is and why he matters to animal bloggers, feline writers most especially, with links to an "about page" related to the Carnival of the Cats.
It is kind of difficult to explain more about him and his writing, beyond the linked podcast website, and any info he provides about himself in a backround page there, these days, since he removed the 2 blogs tied to his long history as a cat blogger, and commentor on society in general, and encourager of creative writing.
Posted by: Kiril Kundurazieff | January 08, 2013 at 07:18 AM