This afternoon, I seized a rare opportunity to take a portrait of Cali sun slumbering on the Katris blocks in my home office. While she sleeps there often enough, the Tortie rarely so perfectly presents herself, and the illumination exposes fine fur detail otherwise obscured.
The Featured Image comes from Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/430 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 3:50 p.m. PDT.
I scrapped my planned post, in the interest of time. My daughter needed help with health insurance stuff (open enrollment ends tomorrow for January coverage). Of course, she has to do everything by text message, which quadruples the amount of time necessary to do anything. I can more quickly explain and better keep a train of thought talking versus typing (on the phone screen).
The Featured Image was quickly taken, using Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, so that I could write about something. Neko chills with the plushie purchased for Annie during a recent trip to the Ralph’s supermarket in Hillcrest. She kind of liked it, and Christmas themed things were on sale.
This morning, I poked my head into the bedroom and spied an unusual sight: Our cats Cali and Neko nestled close (enough) together soaking sunlight. Outdoors temperature soared to 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit) on this fine Friday before Christmas. I often say San Diego has three seasons: early Summer, mid Summer, and late Summer.
The single shot, quickly taken, comes from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/325 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 11:11 a.m. PST. The Featured Image is composed as shot, but lightly edited. On Samsung Galaxy S9 Ultra, I used Google Photo’s Magic Eraser tool to remove an annoying, and large, tag from the striped blanket.
As the hunt for my neighbor’s missing kitty Bruce continues, I take a moment to regard one of our two felines. Neko has started to occasionally nap on the bed in my old office, which is now our daughter’s bedroom. She moved into our apartment on April 11, 2023, as part of recovery from a traumatic event, which her medical record describes as “severe hypoxic injury and bilateral subcortical infarctions”. Her progress so far is nothing short of miraculous, considering where she was on March 2. That said, doctors have counseled us to expect one to two years for her brain to heal as much as it will ever.
Our girl’s arrival kind of sent the cats (Cali is the other) into exile from one of their main rooms in the residence. But the Featured Image, taken today using Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, shows how Neko is starting to share territory with our girl. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 125, 1/60 sec, 70mm; 10:40 a.m. PDT; composed as shot.
Keeping things simple tonight, and a bit more cheerful, I share something sweet and silly. Neko hides in one of two blankets that Annie and I received following our blessed marriage ceremony in Korea on Jan. 12, 1989. I can’t find the original file; this comes from a Google Photos backup.
I used Fujifilm X-E1 to capture the Featured Image, on Nov. 24, 2013. Vitals: f/4, ISO 3200, 1/28 sec, 55mm; 4:32 p.m. PST. This camera, like its successors, is greatly underrated. Detail here is sharp, even at higher ISO.
The annual eye exam to check my implants leaves me somewhat visually impaired this evening. Nearly 10 hours later, my pupils are still quite dilated, which makes reading and writing somewhat challenging. So I am posting something short but hopefully worthwhile. You tell me.
The Featured Image, taken using iPhone 13 Pro on Oct. 20, 2022, was quickly composed after realizing that from the right vantage Cali appears to be hidden behind the catnip plant. She stretches on the desk beneath our dining room window. Our other kitty is hefty ginger Neko.
On this day in 2012, my wife and I brought home the ginger that the County of San Diego Animal Services called Dermott. We renamed him Neko, which is Japanese for cat. The shelter took him in on February 15. We would have first seen him on either the 18th or 25th; I don’t recall which but am confident a Saturday. Because he was so handsome, we were surprised to see him on subsequent visits.
Our Maine Coon mix, Kuma, disappeared on January 15. After city workers recovered his collar in a nearby canyon, we had to assume that a coyote took him. But being ever hopeful not, I checked the shelter website most evenings and we walked through the facility every few days looking. All the while, Dermott remained unclaimed, and we soon learned why.
This is what knowing you’re handsome looks like. The Featured Image comes from iPhone 13 Pro on Nov. 4, 2021. Vitals: f/1.5, ISO 50, 1/1209 sec, 26mm; 10:07 a.m. PDT.
We let outside one of our two cats for romps in the apartment building courtyard. Neko is older, slower, and too big to fit under the front gate. Cali is younger, quicker, and skinny enough to squeeze through in pursuit of birds or squirrels. He asks to go outdoors, she doesn’t (thankfully). Today, Neko played hide-and-seek, so to speak, among the center area greenery. I happened to be carrying Leica Q2, because we (Annie and me) had prepped for a neighborhood walk before letting the fluffball walkabout; supervised, as usual.
The Featured Image is nearly a 100-percent crop. Yep, the camera captures loads of detail—and I can trust the autofocus, even shooting through foliage. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 1:43 p.m. PDT.
The Wilcox family lived nearly 10 years in our old apartment, located in San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood. Except briefly for one or two bad rain storms, the small window by the front door stayed […]
I can’t speak for my wife, but to me a pair of benefits marshaled my interest in choosing our current apartment: The front windows and what I call the “squirrel tree” majestically before them—as expected, providing plentiful wildlife entertainment for our cats Cali and Neko to watch; for the humans, too. Yesterday, the management company overseeing the property snuffed out magic, and life.
Time is immeasurable this year, thanks to triple-P: pandemic, politics, and protests (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2, also known as COVID-19; Election 2020; and racial riots). As such, I don’t recall how long ago the building manager spoke to me about the tree—two or more months, seems like). He said that the perennial would likely be dramatically trimmed back; being top heavy, the branches pulled the trunk into brickwork before it (see first photo). Some discussion drifted to removal, which I opposed, promising in threatening tone: “The day they cut down that tree is the day I give notice”.
For this fine first Caturday in May, I present a portrait of our kitties rather than one from my “Cats of University Heights” series. Neko sits atop the Casabelle Mail Center purchased from Pier 1 […]