Let's Hear It For the Cat

The Cat won.

I suspected he would. Put A Cat up against bunch of 16th century Carmelite nuns and even if their digs have had a paint job or two in the intervening centuries, The Cat will win, hands down.

Which is to say that Kate has acknowledged that having a cat on premises is worth a great deal (more Euros, in fact). She would, of course, acknowledge that, living as she does with four of them all the time.

So, while in Galway, we are stayiing with The Cat.

No disrespect to the ex-convent. Or the Carmelites (one of my dearest friends is a Carmelite. Hi Ellen!). And I'm sure the ex-convent is a very nice place. It looks bright and cheerful and lovely. I imagine it is bright and cheerful and lovely. But who can compete with A Cat?

No one, says Sid (who, as you can see, is demonstrating that he can do just as good a job sleeping as any other cat and thus could run a hotel himself if he were so inclined, which he is not. Too much like work).

The Hotel Cat may or may not be one of Superior Breeding. Sid would know. I don't.

It looks like Bob -- R Redford, Kate's senior in command cat, which makes it a pretty Superior Feline in looks if nothing else.

At least everything is sorted now. All our lodgings are booked.

In the end it was Kate who was arguing for The Cat's hotel. Not on the basis of The Cat, mind you. She couldn't even find The Cat! But it didn't matter. She fell in love with other amenities -- like a place to park. I've tried talking to her about her priorities, but will she listen? Having a surfeit of cats, she doesn't understand how important it is to those of us whose children (50% of them anyway) are allergic to cats. We have to take them where we can get them.

So . . . A Cat and a place to park. Got to like that.

Everything's settled. We can breathe again. Live again. Write again.

I can stop getting up in the middle of the night to ring Irish innkeepers who aren't inn-keeping or at least aren't answering their phone (that was in Dublin, and Abby Green, new Presents author and Dublin resident, sorted them out. Nothing like an author-on-the-spot to drop by and look daggers at hotel personnel. Abby has Presence.). Deep breath.

All is well.

In the meantime, have you noticed that we've had 40 countries visit the blog since I put up the flag gizmo? That's amazing. I'm getting better at the flag quiz, too. Have you tried it recently? I'm still trying for my first perfect score, but I'm doing better. I'm going through trying to pick out the last 10 countries to appear. If I figure it out, I'll post their flags later this week.

Also soon-to-be-posted is more about one of our Here Come The Brides contest books: Liz Fielding's February release, The Valentine Bride. Later I intend to write about A Very Important D.O.G. who threatened to take over The Santorini Bride, and is still miffed that he isn't on the cover. And I just had a message from a groom who is getting more agitated by the minute. Oh, dear.

Stay tuned.