Today was a beautiful Northern California winter day. It was about 60 degrees and the sun was shinning brightly. In the sun it was really warm. So after sleeping in and making breakfast, it was time for our walk.
Me and Gloria Vanderbilt.
She was in her favorite sleeping spot atop the cat cabinet. Lately she hasn't wanted to go on her walks, and whines when I disturb her. But I took her out on Friday at lunch time and the sun was out and she didn't want to leave when it was time to go, so this morning, she didn't complain. When I put her in the car, she was happy.
When we got to the park, Gloria was ready to explore. Of course, when we got to the open grassy field, she was ready to graze. I swear, if she were an outdoor cat, she'd end up a vegan. She loves searching for long juicy blades to chomp. She can do this for like 15 minutes before finally being coerced to move on. Today, the grass was freshly cut so it was a little difficult for her to find the good blades. It was kind of like eating a wilted salad, but she wasn't deterred.
After we left the grazing area, we made our way to the "lizard tree"Lizards love to sun on this particular tree. Gloria saw one and went after it. As usual (but not always), the lizard was too fast for her and disappeared into one of the tree's many crevices. Undaunted, she decided to climb the tree, something she's never done before. Because the weather has been a bit iffy of late, the lizards have been in short supply and she hasn't been able to do much lizard hunting. Lizards + warm weather = kitty bliss.
We spent about an hour in the park. When it was time to go, Gloria was okay, but kept making detours along the way to the exit. She could have spent another hour there, easily. So after our trip to the park, we went to my favorite cafe in Niles. They have an outdoor patio area so I can get my coffee and take her out there. It was a busy day, so most of the seats were taken. We ended up sitting by the exit. To make things interesting, there were about 30 motorcycles parked outside the cafe and the bar next door. It was loud and there was lots of activity. I was worried that it would make Gloria nervous, but she sat down and watched the goings on. The day was too beautiful to let a noisy motorcycle club get her down.
After I drank my coffee (a delicious Ethiopian blend), we headed back to the car. We passed a shop I hadn't noticed, and I peeked in, checking out the candles. One of the employees told me to come it, it was okay that I had Gloria with me. When I got in, the conversation switched from candles to cats pretty quickly. The owner and her mom were excited as the owner has a cat she takes on walks in a pet stroller. We talked about moving from the stroller to a harness, and she's game to give it another shot. Gloria was pretty good, but got antsy before I did. Finally, after about 20 minutes of chatting, I bought a couple candles and we were on our way. When we got home, Gloria was tired and ready for a nap. But she sat with me for a while, letting me know once again that she really appreciates the time we spend together out in the world.
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