Overview

Catwoods Volume 1 is about a couple who rescue, adopt, and love cats in their deep woods home in the southern US. These cats are all such original characters that they make every day blissful, giddy, poetic, or even somber, the way the moods and phases of real life unfold. Leah Alford observes domestic felines indoors and later studies wildlings like foxes and raccoons who live outdoors amidst the glowing, dense leaves of the Appalachian jungle. A screaming non-entity in the night might well have been a cougar. This heavily researched volume covers cat coat color and cat genetics, color in nature, cat behavior and affection, multi-cat home dynamics, feral cats, spay and neuter, radial hypoplasia cats, black cat rhapsodies, and more. Communication between animals and humans is the core of Catwoods, as despite the language barrier Alford and her husband have rapport with each cat; with looks, gestures, purrs, and meaningful visual cues, the cats voice their declarations and diatribes. This first volume extends into the year 2004 and revels in the natural world, the luxuriance of birds, insects, and yelling frogs. Covering many decades, Alford also writes of art, music, and writing in a changing South.

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9781733916523

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Reviews

Leah Alford's ambitious undertaking, Catwoods, encompasses a remarkable range of topics, from music history to coloration in cats and nature, from the cultural effects our furry friends have had on the human experience to her own personal interactions with a series of house cats. Her discourse on feline behavior is based on years of observation as well as intensive, well-documented research. Anyone who has ever shared a dwelling with a cat will recognize some behaviors that Leah describes. Cats are adept at noticing the focal point of your attention and placing themselves there, like when you're...reading. Catwoods offers myriad opportunities to explore the natural history of cats and their interaction with human beings. --Anne R. Gibbons is coauthor of Ecoviews: Snakes, Snails, and Environmental Tales and Ecoviews Too: Ecology for All Seasons In 1988, a little black cat wandered off the highway and into Leah Alford's heart. The Minx inspired Alford, a painter living in the woods of Alabama, to write a rich investigation of the connection between humans and animal companions -- and offer a compassionate call to arms to fellow black-cat lovers in and beyond the South. Alford's story is about much more than her own pets. She documents Tuscaloosa's little known history as a countercultural enclave in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement, and she meditates on the importance of art and nature in an increasingly digital and urban South. From brushing shoulders with Andy Warhol to brushing the tails of small creatures with big personalities, Alford's creative life in the woods has been both tenderly domestic and surprisingly wild. Catwoods is a thoughtful memoir and a compelling natural history by a uniquely Southern voice. --Sandra K. Barnidge, writer and editor

Author Information

Leah Alford began drawing and painting in early childhood and writing at age 12. She has a 1971 BA in English from the University of Alabama. She has been studying and writing about animals and the natural world for many years, with a focus on the (so-called) domestic cat. While working in a hectic t-shirt printing business and later, weathering a serious chronic disease, her art and writing has been published in a few small art, nature, music, and literary journals. She lives with her husband and animals in the deep woods near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, near a creek.

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