This post contains video. Download QuickTime for Windows or Mac.

From what I understand, I have the makings of a Old Crazy Cat Lady.

First of all, and perhaps most importantly, I have a cat. He gets prime real estate on the bed, is pampered and tended on like a child, has his own water fountain (because tap water just isn’t good enough) and rarely has to eat anything that’s been left out more than a half an hour.

I talk to him, brush him and sometimes rock him to sleep. I even have the long crazy hair and a generally cranky demeanor directed toward "young people".

The only thing working clearly against my being an official member of that club is that I’m not single and am too young to meet the first word title qualification. Still, whenever I see a kitty I have to stop and say hello – I don’t want to get a bad reputation in their community… "Oh yeah, there’s that rude human I heard about – don’t even bother rubbing up against her leg".

How does this have anything to do with Italy you may ask? Well, as mentioned in a previous post, while walking the Cinque Terre trail it’s hard to not notice the overpopulation of them. There’s little feeding stations all along the path where people would leave canned food. As a result, they are quite friendly and approach hikers readily, expecting to be fed.

Here is a clip of one such cat that followed us downward for about 100 steps – I felt bad – I’m guessing that eventually he’d have to go back up. You’ll see that he actually tries to come aboard at one point. As Randy said, I had bought baby food because I’d seen an injured one on the path the day before and was thinking this would nurse him back to health. Please forgive the shaky camera work and us both sounding like dorks.

Funny how a cat only shows affection when it wants something. Hey – I’ve been told I have that "quality" as well. :)

Trackback URI | Comments RSS