This series seeks to promote one feline on one day and never again. But sometimes uncertainty lurks like a furball under a car, which brings us to what could be a repeat. I give the odds as 50-50 that today’s beastie is Betty, but I’m betting not or there wouldn’t be a featured shot. I met her on Nov. 11, 2016, in the alley behind North Ave. closer to Madison. She rolled around, grubbing attention from a neighbor who knew her.

The cat I call Betty Too (just in case they’re the same) was spotted on June 29, 2017, in a gated apartment courtyard opening into the same alley but closer to Monroe—street at the other end. I had walked down searching for a black cat that crossed the alley; hence how I saw this other blackie, way inside beyond the locked door-gate. I never did find the other one. Betty Too came up to visit, but she couldn’t get pats through the grates. Sorry `bout that, kitty. Like Betty, she is black, was sighted off the North alley, and wears a blue color. What are the chances they’re the same? 

On the morning of June 26, 2017, I took an unusually early walk through the neighborhood. Along Mission Cliff Drive, approaching Park Blvd., a pretty tabby moving in the shaded greenery from yard to yard […]

In the alley beyond Alabama going towards Park Blvd., about midway between Monroe and Meade, I spotted a lanky, grey short-hair sprawled on the pavement; June 13, 2017. She slipped away as my wife and I approached, among cars against a garage, resisting me and the Leica Q. The Featured Image shows her hanging on the fence, at least a six-footer and taller than me, following a dramatic leap. She balanced there long enough for four clicks of the shutter. This is the third shot.

Once again, the mirrorless camera’s 28mm, f/1.7 Summilux lens and 24-megapixel full-frame sensor deliver super sharp detail enough for a close-crop. Vitals: f/8, ISO 100, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 6:36 p.m. PDT. 

Two mornings ago—Memorial Day—my wife and I walked down Campus between Monroe and Meade, when she spotted a grey and white crossing the street. Whoa, two new sightings on the same block about 18 hours apart. The other: Siamese seen at dusk on May 28th. I also ambled to the other sidewalk, and there captured a series of sequential stride shots as the feline approached before turning into a yard (Featured Image). The other is below the fold. Vitals, respectively: f/1.7, ISO 100, 1/800 sec, 28mm; 11:04 a.m. PDT and f/1.7, ISO 100, 1/1000 sec, 28mm; 11:03 a.m. PDT. Both are crops.

For a compact camera with fixed lens, the Leica Q‘s focus and shutter response is fast. Easily, the entire series of shots as the cat approached is useable. The morning was overcast, which I consider to be perfect photography weather. At f/1.7, shutter speed was plenty fast enough to stop motion. Both pics are crops, BTW.