About

the creator and author of all blogs by felinepaws4thought

Many moons ago I used to express my creativity in several ways.  I had started drawing at a very young age.  I never had art lessons, even though I nagged my mom for them until I eventually gave up.  I’d draw in my own sketchbooks and use the drawings of two girls in my elementary school class as inspiration.  What I considered to be my specialty was faces.  I loved to draw with pencil the faces of people I knew.  Years later, I started doodling with colored Sharpie Permanent Markers just for the fun of it.  I found out that I really enjoyed creating abstract art using this medium.  It wasn’t until I went back to public school, after being educated at home from seventh grade to ninth grade, that I was able to fit one year of Advanced Art class into my schedule.  I loved it!  The only problem is that I wanted to learn more.  It’s impossible to fit all the artistic techniques into one year of art class.  Maybe some day I’ll learn how to use oil and watercolor paints.

This is my brother Jim on the night of his high school graduation back in 2003. I wouldn’t graduate until 2004. It’s my favorite drawing.

For art class we had to draw different emotions conveyed through the eyes.

It’s simple, but I had fun drawing this.

I enjoy the art of crochet.  Believe it or not, I’ve learned to crochet solely by watching YouTube videos.  I love YouTube, but I think I love the people that take the time to record and upload their how-to videos more.  If I were to choose a crochet speciality, I’d have to say I specialize in “amigurumi”.  It’s the Japanese craft of making knit or crocheted dolls or toys.

a gift for a mother-to-be; hat for baby, hat for mommy

Something else I started doing at a very young age was read.  I love to read!  Two of my favorite fiction series are the Tea Shop Mystery series by Laura Childs and the Thrush Green series by Miss Read.  One of my favorite books of all time is The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Despite the fact that I’ve read it three times, the intensity of the suspense I felt never dwindled with each read.

My mood determines which book I will pick up to read at the moment.  My husband knows the gift that will always make me satisfied- books.  I started to read before the writing bug bit me.  That makes sense.  Reading increases your vocabulary, improves your grammar skills, and enables you to read at a higher level than someone who doesn’t spend significant amounts of time reading.  All of these skills contribute to writing successfully.  In my opinion, if I can evoke some kind of an emotional reaction from my audience then I’ve been successful.

I gave this owl to my good friend as a baby gift since her nursery theme is pink owls.

For my eleventh grade English Lit class, each student had to do a “hometown research project”.  We had to write an eight to ten page research paper about a past event that added significance to our town.  I soon found out that several of my classmates were researching events that students from previous years in the same English Lit class had already covered.  I wanted to be different and stand out.  Being different and standing out, some might call that over-achieving, was the story of my life.

bow hats

Harold the Hedgehog

My hometown research project had to be something that was never researched by any student before me.  I received the tip that I needed from my high school librarian.  Years ago, there had been a female published author by the name of Margaret Sutton.  Much to my surprise, I had never heard of her.  She wrote detective novels in which the heroine was a female.  One might liken her novels to those of the Nancy Drew mysteries.  However, the Nancy Drew mysteries were ghost written by the same pseudonym used today- Carolyn Keene.The librarian had a friend that loaned me some of the novels.  It was through her that I learned of Margaret’s daughter living in Baltimore, Maryland.  Her daughter granted me an interview- in person.  My parents took me to Baltimore and we met the daughter of the deceased Margaret Sutton.  She permitted me to record our entire interview on tape.

The interview proved to be valuable as each student also had to submit something extra besides their research paper.  I was the first student to submit a hometown project researching Margaret Sutton.  Also, I was the first student in the history of hometown research projects for English Literature 3 to receive a 100% as their grade.

As the topic for my senior paper, I chose to write about the benefits of reading aloud to children.  For my senior project I organized a public auction in which the proceeds benefited the construction of our town’s new public library.  I was able to acquire that area’s number one auctioneer to donate his services for my auction.  I received a medal, passing my senior project with distinction.

little girl hats

I enjoyed writing poetry during high school and a brief stint after I graduated.  Some of my poems are light-hearted while others are extremely dark and depressing.  The words that I wrote down in a poem conveyed the emotion I was feeling at the time.  I haven’t written poetry for several years.  Maybe one day I’ll take another crack at that creative side of me.

My sister Annie, who has her own blog chronicling her experiences of living in New York City, encouraged me to start blogging myself.  I had a desire to raise my creativity that had been dead for about six years.  I enjoy writing what I know and embellishing  it with descriptive imagery.  Sometimes, I find myself conjuring up ways in my head to make a sentence more interesting and appealing to the reader.

Humphrey the Hippo

The purpose of my blog is to feel a creative release.  My blogging experience has already proved to be very therapeutic.

The title of my story is: Nigel’s Way– from “dog person” to cat lover- How one cat made me become the unthinkable.   I begin by telling you what it was like for me growing up, moving out, and eventually, when I adopted my first cat as a house pet.

Each blog published is a continuation of the story and I will state it as such.  Once in a while I may be inspired to blog about a subject that is not part of my story.  In that case, I will inform the reader.

So, I hope I can make you cry or laugh.  I hope I can entertain you with my zany humor.  (My brother Jim, my sister Katie, and I got class clown out of our respective graduating classes).

Please feel free to leave comments and feedback as this will encourage me to continue blogging and to keep striving for a really good read for my audience.

Without further adieu, it is my pleasure to send out into the cyber sphere  Nigel’s Way…