Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for March 25, 2020

I think Sophie is showing some good self-awareness here. She knows she’s been invited to participate, and that the invitations are genuine, and she’s honest with herself about why she’s not accepting them. I believe in Sophie to find a way to participate in a way that suits her personality and honors her boundaries!

“He makes friends easy; he’s not like me

I watch for judgment, anxiously” (“Car On a Hill”, Joni Mitchell)

Inner fears can be frightening. Be Brave, Sophie, and step out: they actually love you, but you need to let them know. Maybe a small step, just a hint to them and then close your eyes and overcome your fears by participating.

“She would wake after midnight

Without him, And go to the window

And look out through the pain

But the statue in her garden

He always looked the same” (“Blue Boy”, J.M.)

And I’m curious – in this strange new lockdown world…what is everyone reading?

Today (yesterday now) I’ve been reading War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi, which should be a striking upper-YA novel about sisters on opposite sides of a near-future Nigerian civil war, involving child soldiers, very real ethnic and cultural divides that exist today, memory erasure and tampering, ecological crises, and the cyborgification of both healthy and battle-wounded…it’s just a shame, for me, that the ground and air portions of this war are being fought with bleeping gundams. I can’t stand gundams. They’re ruining the whole story for me.

Tomorrow I hope to get into the new Welcome to Night Vale novel, which glories in the unbeatable title of The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home. I have very high hopes for this novel and am looking forward to it immensely!

How about you? What are you reading?

Sophie, take a look at scowling Lupin in the background. There is nothing easy about his relationship with the one who has been here “10 minutes.”

EL Biff is literally rolling-on-the-floor-laughing! Tommy-Bee and Rowdy Grrl and Glamorous Puck are all smiles! I have hopes Sophie will — GAH — LUPIN!! You’re lurking again!

“Sophie is my joy, she is my sorrow

Now she wants to run away and hide

She says our love cannot be real

She cannot hear the chapel’s pealing silver bells

But you know it’s hard to tell

When you’re in the spell if it’s wrong or if it’s real

But you’re bound to lose

If you let the blues get you scared to feel

And I feel like I’m just being born

Like a shiny light breaking in a storm

There are so many reasons why I love her” (Tommy’s cover version of “Willy” by Joni Mitchell)

Elvis fans will love the latest photos on the BCN Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-InzmipgRo/

Goldie seems to be one of those folks that brings people together (never mind poop-head Lupin). I wonder if she will find a way to bring Sophie into the crowd.

It’s a two-fer today: Sophie’s back-of-cat-head and Elvis’ toe beans! Very satisfying!

Poor kitty….

Ohhh, my heart is breaking for dear Sophie….

Sophie, I know exactly how you feel.

Grumpy Lupin is the exception.

Looks like Goldie is doing stand up with good results.

Everyone?

On the all important topic of beer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpYNMQX41Gs

The offset of being popular, Sophie, is that you do make enemies too. And… is that Rowdie Goldie Pepper and Elvis the Giant???

The 10 minutes part is a bit deceiving – Sophie is the only real stranger here. The other cats have all met each other at one time or another.

Now, cat, there’s no need to self quarantine yourself. That’s only for the hyoomans. Get outta that cage and run amok!

Whether she writes or feels lonely too long

Whether she finds a place in this world or never belongs

She’s gotta be Sophie, she’s just gotta be Sophie

Who else can she be but be who she is?

She’ll go it alone, if that’s how it must be

She can’t feel right with everyone else

Until she’s brave as she can be

She wants to be free, free to be happy

To decide what to try, and do it, not cry

Oh! dear, lovely Sophie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-pk2vZG2M

I’ve Gotta Be Me

I think some one on one time with Goldie, and with little Beatrix, would do much to lift up Sophie. Or – perhaps with Lupin, who seems to be in a mood again. Sometime the opposite is what is needed…

The Pursuit Of The Pankara. A recenly found manuscript of Robert Heinlein that is a true treasure to us fans.

Oh dear, Lupin has a really big frown.

Is the Siamese You Can’t Please demonstrating a wrestling move to Rowdy Goldie Pepper?

Oh so me.

If her social anxiety is caused by being blind in one eye she’s come to the perfect place to be made at home what with Lupin’s deafness and Puck’s lacking a leg.

Ah Sophie, I know how you feel…

Enough, awreddy! :-|

I frequently feel like Sophie at gatherings of more than 3 – 4 people. I usually pour myself a glass of wine and settle myself in a corner and observe. Christmas at my mother-in-law’s can be especially unnerving.

Well, i see that somebody is still being a grump.

Awwww☹️

Oh man, can I ever relate to this…

They’re sure having a good time. (Except for Lupin.)

A feline Emily Dickinson…

Today is Manatee Appreciation Day. Dugong to do that? (Dugong is actually a separate species, but they deserve appreciation, too.)

From John Denver: Follow Me

It’s by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done,

Wanting to join in the gang’s fun, and be alone.

…….

Follow them as they go,

Show them my art, and what I know,

Make it part of me to be part of the gang.

Follow them up and down,

In the carrier, and all around,

Let me lead, and I will follow, too.

Knowing that Sophie suffers from painful shyness/social anxiety puts the situation in a whole new light. I knew a woman in college who would bust out crying if she had to speak out in class. OTOH, she had a terrific rapport with the kindergarten kids she taught in Sunday school. She was a completely different person because she knew they weren’t judging her.

Go for it, Sophie – these new cats won’t be judging you! And don’t worry too much about Lupin; he’s slow to warm up to new cats, & besides, it’s not you that’s got him so bent out of shape now. Just give him his space.

awe this one is sad

Just finished “The Third Victim” by Philip Margolin and just started “The Man who Smiled” by Henning Mankill. Interspersed with articles in The Smithsonian and short stories in Ellery Queen.

Poor Sophie… and who wouldst be her champion and show her the warmth and love of the BCN clan???

I empathize with Sophie. Her writing style is a bit purple but it’s still sad. She’s nice cat and needs to get out from under the bed or wherever else she hides.

I might just be in a precarious spot, but I really, really resonate emotionally with the loneliness Sophie is feeling.

Hmmm, Goldie must have won her match with Lupin given that look in the third panel. That or they haven’t had their match yet and he’s planning something underhanded.

I understand her. I’m lost if there’s more than two people around. Try to be out going, but feel like I’m making a fool of myself if there’s more than one person.

SOPHIE NEEDS HUGS. STAT.

Introverts! Take Courage™! And if you can’t get that, try Old Peculier™.

Seriously, Sophie has identified the problem and admitted her fear. Now she has to do the hard part: understanding the “why” of the fear. She could really use some help from a “high-functioning introvert” right now. I’m hoping for Sir Figaro or Elvis—but Georgia knows her characters better than we can, and it will be interesting to see how she works this out. Especially if it somehow involves understanding between Lupin and Goldie. (I can think of a number of plausible plot lines, but I’m keeping them to myself.)

And the frustrations just keep piling on. I tried to start the lawn mower because the front yard is getting really tall. It won’t start. It’s less than a year old and it won’t start. I called the dealership where I bought it. Their repair shop is closed due to the stay at home order. Guess lawn mowers in the spring aren’t as essential as liquor is. It’s probably a spark plug, which I know how to change, but this is one of those lawn mowers whose spark plug is recessed so deep my spark plug tool won’t reach it. I could order the tool and the spark plug, but the delivery date is late April. By then I’ll need the hay balers. Lowes has the spark plug but not the tool I need to remove it. Anybody got a goat they could lend me?

I am currently reading some UK DCI murder mysteries in Yorkshire & Norfolk, Scotland and Dublin. I like Medical examiner, Forensic Anthropologist & Archaeologist mysteries. Dr. Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. Dr David Hunter series by Simon Beckett and the Dublin based Quantico trained CSI Reilly Steel series bt Casy Hill. Read all the Patricia Cornwell “Scarpetta” books but could re-read them. Same with all the James Herriot books. The main 4 anyway. (All Creatures Great and Small etc)

Highly Recommended: Of the Steinbeck books, my favorites would have to be Travel’s with Charlie & Grapes of Wrath. Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides is much better than the movie. A Prayer for Owen Meany, Cider House Rules, The World according to Garp and others by John Irving. Any of Bradbury’s or Asimov’s novels. Still need to get the complete unabridged Foundation series. Even Lonesome Dove was good Larry McMurtry. (sp?) and that not normally my thing. Young people (&some adults like me, my son & his gf) might get into the Warriors books. Erin Hunter. The world through cat’s eyes…or a small rural part of it.

And lastly but certainly not least! Sir Terry Pratchett books. Particularly all the Discworld series (Death is a cat lover) and the Maurice book.(he’s a cat) (soon to be a movie?) Sir Terry loved to poke fun at humanity and in his special way point to issues that affect us all. In a humorous way, of course.

I got halfway through The Once and Future King but lost interest for now. (before King Arthur creates the round table) I will go back to it. by T. H. White

I am on the Horse and His Boy in the Chronicles of Narnia series.

Oh Sophie, sweetheart.

This is one (of the many) reasons I love this strip. As Sophie’s story unfolds we get great depth of character in a way that can help explain things to our children and make them feel ok about their own feelings.

I really feel you, Sophie.

He he, lupins pouty face in the background of panel 3

Grumpy Lupin in the background…

Sophie hasn’t noticed the look on Lupin’s face yet, I presume.