Cat parks

I really am going to write about the school performances. First, though, I want to show this curious phenomenon.

Not far from my house, there are a couple of parks where cats live. They curl up in the grass inside the fence or lie on the sidewalk outside. I was surprised to see this in such a public place. This evening I saw a woman carrying a kitten around in one of the parks.

People feed them, though I did see a sign that said only authorized people were allowed to do so.
They seem to be of all ages. As I was watching them, a woman next to me said quietly, "Oh, pobrecitos." Yes, poor little ones. The park smells terrible, so contrary to what most cats prefer.

There seems to be no fighting among them and they weren't bothered by a dog I saw nearby.

This one looked familiar, though I know Mr. Bacon is home in Kansas, in good hands.

Midnight

My neighbor Midnight stopped by today for some pats. Here are a couple of pictures of her (though you can't see her half tail):

I'm not sure who put the ribbon around her neck. She doesn't seem to mind. She was happy to have a snack of cat food, Joe Fish's leftovers.

And while we're at it, a picture of me with Joe Fish again. He drapes well.

I was hoping for 300,000 miles...

Dang. My car got rearended today. I was stopped for traffic on the bridge when a truck came up behind me, hit me and pushed me into the trailer hitch of a pickup in front of me. Crunch.
You can't tell, but the hood is jammed shut and the trunk won't latch. I was able to drive it the few blocks home, but wouldn't trust it any farther than that (apart from it having no rear lights).

I wasn't hurt, nor was anybody else, including the cat on my lap. We were on the way to the follow-up vet visit, after last week's tooth extraction. Joe Fish is on my lap as I write this, relieved to be home.

I'd been hoping to get 300k miles (482803 km) on this car. I got 232247 (373765 km), which is still nothing to sneeze at. Toyota makes good cars--this 1992 Corolla has remarkably little rust and has been a great workhorse for the almost eight years I've owned it.

It does have a few muddy cat footprints on the hood, though. Or is this art?