Cathouse of the Kings

The Cat House on the Kings is California's largest no-cage, no-kill, lifetime cat sanctuary and adoption center.

Here's a video of life on the property

and here's the home page of Cathouse of the Kings

via The Swivet

Update on Paul Haines benefit auction

I'm delighted to say that A23,230 was raised--more than the 20,000 they were aiming for. Thank you for those who donated.
Ellen

From girlyjones' blog:

We have now surpassed our goal to raise the $20,000 for Paul's Avastin treatment. This is just totally awesome and the extra monies will be given to Paul with the intent to cover other medical expenses over and above this drug, of which I am sure there are many.

As organisers we have received so many really kind messages along the way from contributors and from the community at large. It's definitely been a reward in itself to be at this end and get caught in the periphery of the warm glow being shone in Paul's, and his family's, direction. Someone emailed me today and said that he wished there were more people like us in the world and thanked us for all our hard work. But the thing is, firstly it hasn't really been all that hard work at all - the money has flowed through on its own. And Cat, Tansy and Tehani are amazing women to work with - nothing ever feels impossible when they are around.

Secondly, donations and contributions have come from far and wide and it takes more than a few people to raise over $20 000, especially in basically just one month. What I have taken away from this is that there are a lot of amazing, kind, generous and openhearted people in this world. And maybe, actually, there are more of these people out there than not. I'm uplifted and inspired by the generosity, warmth and love and I'll never forget how quickly and kindly it was mobilised.

The world is a good and amazing place full of wonders and beauty and love.

We love you Paul and we hope for your speedy recovery.

*picks up a reloaded gun and hands it over*

To everybody involved I don't know what to say but thank you. And thank you. And thank you. (And big kisses from me, Jules and Isla to Alisa, Cat, Tansy and Tehani for making this happen).

The Funds

Tell No One

Today I went with a friend to see a french thriller that had been recommended to me. Tell no One directed by Guillaume Canet, who apparently, checking imdb, is an actor/heart throb --and was in The Beach, which I never saw--and whose partner is Marion Cotillard (star of La Vie en Rose). The movie is based on a novel by Harlan Coban.

We were both very impressed. I don't want to give anything away so I'll just say it opens with a married couple driving to the lake where they grew up (there are flashbacks to their childhood together throughout). The wife is abducted, the husband knocked out. There are many effective red herrings, the plot is complex, the acting is great, and we found the whole movie (slightly over two hours) riveting. Kristin Scott Thomas played a major role and was excellent. The others were french actors, most of whom I'm not familiar with except for Nathalie Baye and Jean Rochefort.

After watching it we went to the bathroom and everyone was discussing the movie --several women were confused. Unfortunately, some other woman came out of the stall and asked us to please stop talking about it as she hadn't seen it yet. I told her the plot was so complicated that she probably wouldn't remember what we'd said anyway.

My friend and I decided we'd like to see it again, particularly the opening scene, in order to place all the characters. My only problem with the movie is that two of the main characters looked so similar to each other that I thought they were meant to be sisters. They were not. In fact, they were inlaws, so it was a little more confusing than necessary to me.