Books, a Party, & Catnip

I'm halfway through Dan Brown's new book, Inferno, and am enjoying it - it's one of his usual thrillers, with a certain amount of time left to save the world, using ancient texts and paintings.  And, since I want to know it all, I'm also getting a good grounding on the history of Florence and Venice, as well.  I'm still getting over a few emotional upsets caused by recent books - In Randy Wayne White's latest novel , the 20th in a series about Doctor Marion Ford (marine biologist) and his buddy Tomlinson,  one is left not knowing whether Doc will live or die...  And after 20 books in the series, there is always the possibility that the author is tired of his main characters.  But I want to read another twenty books about Doc Ford's adventures!  (That's me, whining.)  I was also amazed when I reached the final page of Dana Stabenow's latest Kate Shugak mystery - is the tale of Kate, Mutt and Jim going to end this way?  I am praying that it doesn't.  Again, I want to read more adventures involving Kate and Mutt - and Jim and Liam, too.
   I think Max's graduation party was part hit, part flop last night.  His folks had invited equal numbers of student friends and adult friends to attend; but Nancy told me they had received less than a 10% response to the RSVP invitations.  So they planned on at least 50% of the folks to turn up; and the party was catered by Chipotle, which means really good food.  But they had more than 80% of the food left at 9 p.m., when I returned Rosie back to the family home - they kept trying to convince me to take some of the chicken or steak, but they didn't know what the marinades consisted of, and I refused because I didn't want to get sick due to my food allergies.  I returned at 8:30 this morning to take Rosie out for our walk, and woke Joel up; then I woke him again, upon our return at 9:40...  I felt bad about that, but Rosie needed the exercise.  I know that a lot of Max's friends came to the party, and when I left last night, he was sitting on the sofa surrounded by girls - that's why I think the party was a hit (in some ways).
   Lovey and Nedi were treated to a new batch of organic catnip when I arrived home this morning - and I'd swear, that 90 minutes later, Lovey is still high as a kite.  My vet says that the effects of catnip only last for 15 minutes, but Lovey acts like she's high for up to 3 hours, depending on the type of catnip I give her...  Nedi is high, also, and is chasing Lovey all over the apartment.  (Jim is mowing the back yard and the kids don't like the roar of the riding mower.)  Going out for supper with a friend tonight; we should have a good time.