YOU CAN HEAR ME NOW!!

Hello, I'm Sportster. Remember me? I have missed you all. Where have you been?

I am inviting all of you to listen along with me to our new audio book, COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST narrated by Anne Johnstonbrown, annejohnstonbrown.com

As you can see by my expression, Anne's voice takes me back to mine and Judy's amazing trip from coast to coast. Wow! What a journey. Listening to Anne tell my story is like reliving the adventure all over again. I mean like I'M THERE!

Since becoming a professional actor, Anne

The audio book is now on sale at audible.com

This link below will take you directly to the book. http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00EYIQ88W&qid=1378488709&sr=1-1

The audio book can also be found  on Amazon.com
The link below will take you to the book.

COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST

The audio book was so great I invited Jack Incarnate to listen too. He hasn't got back to me with his review but I am sure he will be speechless.

Scroll down and read a are upbeat review from Jack Incarnate

"I am Speechless!!"




DON'T FORGET

GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST is also available on audio. Listen to the  fifteen minute excerpt.

GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST.

AND

Print and e-books are also available.

COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST

GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST

GOD BLESS THE USA

Jojoba Hills SKP RV Park is one of my favorite places. I purr and meow, rub and roll, when Judy announces we are coming here. No matter where we stay in the park, the scents in the air vary from sage and cacti to rabbits and quail. Summer or winter, the breeze blows gently down from Mt. Palomar.

I have been here since Friday and am sorry to say we disconnect our electrical cord tomorrow, the Fourth of July. We spent most of the days writing, editing, rewriting and then repeating the process over and over again. Afternoons I retired to my bed while the words and phrases danced in my head until Judy returned from the pool, or happy hour, or dinner out with friends. Evenings and mornings are the best parts of my days because Judy is not distracted with the myriad of duties with which humans feel compelled to fill their life.

I have tried to teach Judy the simplicities of life, that the universe has its own clock and  ticks to its own schedule. I am in tune with its pulse. You will never see me pacing over what the future has in store. My future is this moment, as I study a bird on the fence. My attention may stretch into the next five minutes but only until it takes flight. Then my feathered friend becomes part of yesterday and I am blessed with the ability to forget.  I believe Judy is catching on as she joins me to examine a bug's journey in the dirt.

But tomorrow belongs to Judy and she has explained that those complexities I mentioned have to be dealt with if I want to continue my lifestyle. She reminded me that not all cats live in the moment and are able to leave yesterday behind them, pointing out the commercials on TV for the SPCA. Her poignant comment caused me to cease my complaints as quickly as if she’d used the squirt bottle.

So I padded down a different track as I pondered the Fourth of July and its significance. Judy told me it had been Jack’s birthday. I didn’t know Jack when he lived but from all Judy told me I believed it was his hand guiding me as a kitten when I struggled on the streets of Sun City looking for morsels of food. When I was weak with hunger and thirst, an apparition floated in and out of my consciousness, whispering in my ear. I have seen pictures of Jack. The ghost in my dreams wore the same Harley hat and shirt. Judy told me the Buddhists believe an animal born after the death of a loved can possess a piece of the loved one’s soul. I don’t know if Judy agrees but she thinks it surreal that her birthday and mine are the same.

The Fourth of July means freedom. I wonder how many other countries a cat is allowed to travel across the land without a passport. I have rolled in the red dirt in Bryce National Park and driven past Elvis’s Graceland. Although I consider water only a means to satisfy my thirst, I trembled at the sight of Niagara Falls. The images of Ground Zero, The Pentagon Memorial, and The Flight 93 Memorial live in my mind and I will always wonder about the spirits of my animal friends born after 911 .My freedom permits me to sleep anywhere, in either of my two homes. The Fourth of July represents these privileges and I don’t want them taken from me.

I have met cats at the shop who lost these opportunities because they hissed and growled and refused to conduct themselves as respectable cats. They’ve never ventured out of Sun City. I’ll try not to meow when Judy works too long and I will with hold my urge to squeeze past the fireplace screen to gain immediate attention when I feel I’m ignored. Freedom is a privilege I don’t want taken from me. When I look in the mirror I am proud of who I am and I am grateful. God Bless the USA.

SANTA BARBARA SPORTSTER IMAGINES RETIREMENT

We are spending six quiet easy days here at the Elks Lodge in Goleta, California. I’m not disturbed by the occasional whistle of the Amtrak that roars past our campground. The sunny salty days are calming, peaceful, lulled by the rushing traffic on Highway 101.

I live for days like these and I know Judy does too. Although she still spends many hours at her computer, she takes breaks and we walk through the forested picnic area on the lodge grounds. I could do this forever.It is probably good that I cannot talk because we would get tangled in too many discourses about the quality of life.

I believe we should follow our nose. Even Judy’s rving friend, Vicki, who spent her life in the company of horses, quoted the philosophy of the steeplechaser:“Through your heart over the fence and the horse will follow.” Judy just finished  reading to me from the book titled, “The Art Of Racing In The Rain.” by Garth Stein. She read the lines in the book over and over, “That which you manifest is before you.” I would tell Judy that every day my thoughts are to be free and wild. If I am not actually experiencing the “ the wild,” I am manifesting our next adventure, except when I am sleeping in the safety of one of our two homes,  So, if I had the words, I would argue with Judy who, I know in her mind, has already thrown her heart over the fence. Her eyes are on retirement. Another quote from “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” “Your car goes where your eyes go.” Or in this case our motor home. 

But like the Enzo the dog who is now my hero, my tongue‘s function is limited to lapping water and combing my fur. So I watch Judy fight and kick the temptations of retirement like knotted bedcovers. The bedcovers are soft and warm, comforting but entangling. She retorts with, “How much is enough?” I can’t answer, but as Enzo related, "No race is ever won in the first corner..." 

LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF

For starters, let me introduce myself to those of you who have not had the privilege to meet me in Judy’s book, COAT TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST. I am a domestic short haired cat but some say I might have Bengal genes in my blood. As in the world of humans, we felines like to brag about our ancestry too, and I tend to sit a little taller when Judy discusses the possibility of my wild heritage.

I am a prosperous cat, able to afford two homes. One home, although it is stationary, I would not identify as my main residence, because I also spend large blocks of time in our second home that moves which Judy calls The Wizard of Winnebago. Photos of Judy, me and The Wizard can be found on the back cover her first book.

Since Judy’s time has become limited, she has allowed me to write this blog so we can keep in touch with our readers. I am always eager to help out when I can. And I am excited too, because I will be able to communicate with my fans. I do have a large following that is growing daily.

I got my start with Judy at her pet grooming salon, The Canine Beauty Salon. My mother had disappeared one day when I wandered too far from her side. I roamed the hot sidewalks of Sun City for several days looking for her, always hiding from everything that moved. I guess I must have just got dizzy from thirst and hunger making it easy for the man to sweep me up and take me to Judy. He had wanted to take me to jail, but Judy relieved him of the task assuring him she would find me a good home. All I remember from those first days was that the water was sweet and cold and I gobbled food until my belly ached. At first all I did was roll on the floor in piles of hair and chase tuffs of fur floating in the breeze. It didn’t take long to realize I could upgrade my toys to the hairy customers that Judy tended to on her table. Soon Judy began arranging playtime with select customers that I trained in “Kitten Play – 101.”

Judy was my first pick from all the people who came and went at the grooming shop. But I learned quickly how to work the flux of people with their pets. When I tired from play and the constant doting of the patrons, I collapsed onto a pile of colorful bows Judy kept in a drawer.

That is how I started out. But look at me now. I am older and my responsibilities are endless. I still assist Judy at the grooming shop, but my job of equal importance is co-author. I give technical and emotional support to Judy for her second book, GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST. Yes I am in the second one too. We are spending most of our summer in our stick house as we wrap up the story and publish it.

But we have one more trip to do. We will be attending the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. Judy will spend most of her time networking and honing her craft for six days straight, and although I am not allowed to attend these kinds of functions, Judy always fills me in when she gets home. One reason I love Judy so much is that she includes me in everything. She turned down the room at the Hyatt and chose to stay in The Wizard, so we could at least have our evenings together.

I hope you visit often and drop words of encouragement.

It has been nice meeting you.

Sportster the cat.