2004-12-09 - 7:11 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Amos Moses", Primus cover

A few months ago, when I was out shopping near the Wal-Mart that sits along the Delaware River, some bikers getting in my way caused me to go to the far back of the parking lot, where there is a fence, some overgrown weeds, and then the river. Much to my surprise, I saw a bunch of kitties there:

There were at least half a dozen, and probably more lurking in the weeds. You can see that someone's been feeding them, and in the second picture the tabby is sitting on top of a shelter of some sort. I don't know a whole lot about cats, but it looked to me like they were feral cats and somebody was taking care of them. They are quite beautiful. Some of them look very young, as though they were born within the last year.

Anyway, I forgot about the kitties and the pictures I had taken until this past weekend, when I was down there again and saw a woman park her car there and put food into the tupperware. I went over there and asked, "Are those your kitties?"

I unleashed a torrent of chatting, so much chatting and so reminiscent of the repetitive style of chatting we often encountered in West Virginia that I felt a sort of cognitive dissonance since the accent was pure Philly.

The jist of what she said was that some were strays or had been abandoned, she was there feeding them every day, and there was a guy she'd met who also feeds the cats and he'd been doing it for four years, and they were hard to catch, but you want to catch them so you can spay or neuter them, and she has a trap, a humane trap, and it just breaks her heart that they're out there with no food or warm shelter, once she's retired she hopes to spend more time working to save the kitties, and maybe try to get people together to help, and if I wanted to help out and feed them I should get X kind of dry cat food, and it's cheaper at Wal-Mart.

I asked about making donations to help get them neutered or spayed and she seemed to think that what these kitties really needed was to be fed, so if I could just help with the feeding...

Also, she has 14 cats herself. Wow. In a row house.

I was confused about why she was feeding them (the broken-heart problem aside) since I thought if they were truly feral they'd be able to catch and eat their own food, and that by feeding them she was encouraging them to be dependent on humans for survival, which sounded like a huge commitment and possibly bad for the cats.

When I got home, I started researching on THE INTARNET. I was astonished. Apparently this feral cat rescue thing is an organized movement. And there are an estimated HUNDRED MILLION feral cats in the United States. There are people who take it upon themselves to assume responsibility for a feral cat colony, which means they feed and water them, build shelters for them, and take them to the vet for fixing and when they're sick.

I'm confused ... aren't these wild animals? (Feral cats, not strays.) They are from a domesticated species, yes, but you can't domesticate them once they've been born to a feral mother and raised in the wild. Is this like feeding the birds or something? Is it necessary for humans to feed them to keep them alive? I can't quite figure that out, since most of the information I'm finding is geared toward making people stop thinking euthanasia is a good idea, so you get stuff like "Some people think feral cats lead miserable short lives so we should just rescue them by killing them, BUT THAT IS WRONG, they actually live very nice lives." But is that because people feed them, or because they're good scavengers and do OK on their own? To me it seems that spaying/neutering is a no-brainer. I'm not going to kill cats when preventing them from breeding accomplishes the same purpose for about the same amount of money.

It's been a while since I nattered on about clothes, so I figured I'd do that.

Lately my focus has been on heavy winter sweaters, plain cardigans I can keep forever, and accessories. My most recent purchases have all been much less expensive, or at least more more discounted, than my original spree in the early fall. Most of what I've bought has been $15 or less.

Here is the outfit I wore when Poindexter and I went to Best Buy on Friday to buy his Xbox:

I was trying to understand something Poindexter was saying when he took this picture, and I was amused by my expression, so here y'go:

I think this would look better with a very dark wash of jeans, but I have been procrastinating on getting my dark wash jeans hemmed. But I'm always looking for an excuse to wear my tweed, as you know. Plus the real reason I wore this outfit was so I could carry that particular purse, which I got at Marshall's in Florida for $12.99. It is dark green mock croc and I am a little nutty about it. You can see it better (bottom right) in this picture, which is all of my bags except the pink and black ones shown here:

Now that I have so many different colors of bags, I am having a grand old time creating outfits around bags. Some days I will decide to wear something because I want to carry a particular bag. I'm insane.

The three tote bags at the top are the ones I got at Burlington Coat Factory. I am actually using them as laptop bags. I can fit my computer, the power cord, my purse items, and a couple folders in there so it works really well. I got them because I wanted to have nice bags to wear with my new business clothes when I go to meetings.

The blue one was taunting me from a store window for a few weeks before I finally went in and bought it. Dulcevox is making me a fuzzy scarf that I hope will coordinate with this bag. I didn't find out until later that it is a Marc Jacobs knockoff. It was $40. Similar bags by Marc Jacobs are nearly $1000. You gotta be freaking kidding me. People get fussy about how designer bags are so expensive because people buy fakes, but for crying out loud, people! I wouldn't pay $500 that for that bag! I'd just have to live without it! If it was $250 I *might* consider it. MAYBE. But it's not all that likely.

One of my favorite expressions is "woolgathering". Probably because I do it a lot. It's not necessarily "fanciful daydreaming" so much as being lost in thought. Sometimes in the morning, when I'm driving home from dropping Poindexter at work, I'll be woolgathering and miss my turn (I only have my "watch out for traffic lights, crazy drivers, and pedestrians" mode on while "watch for your turn" mode is off). I did that yesterday. The good thing about being in the city is that I always have interesting stuff to look at AND there is always another route to take -- I don't have to turn around and backtrack like I would in the suburbs.

Anyway. So Brian is giving me a hard time, saying I probably only carry around some stuff because I have a purse. While I certainly have carried items sometimes just because I can (a book to read on the bus, for one), most of the stuff I carry around gets near-daily use or is brought along to avert the occasional catastrophe. I like to be prepared and I don't like wandering around hunting for Advil or pens. Here's what I carry, and why:

- In the summer I always need a purse because I do not want wallet bulges ruining the lines of my tarty outfits. Plus I often don't have pockets.

- In winter, when I am wearing glasses and just head out the door for a quick errand, I stick my wallet in one coat pocket and tissues in another and I'm good to go.

- When I have contacts in, I have to bring along my glasses case, some saline solution, and my contacts case. I don't want to have a problem with my contacts and not be able to rinse them or take 'em out and put glasses on because I CANNOT SEE.

- Other items I will bring along if I'm gonna be gone for a while: chapstick, lipstick, face powder, gum, a granola bar, Purell, my little pill case (Tums, Tylenol, Advil), hearing aid batteries (never know exactly when they'll go, and if they do, I'm deaf), and my little tiny notebook with a pen so I can write down, say, Christmas present ideas or movies I want to rent, or whatever.

- As a woman, I need the Advil for several days a month, guaranteed, and I also get headaches sometimes that are related to pressure changes and you never know when the pressure is going to change and my head is going to fuss. The sooner I take a painkiller the more likely it is the pain will go away. It gets expensive always buying those little two-pill packets at drugstores (which is what I used to do far too often).

- Have you seen me when my blood sugar gets low? It's scary. That granola bar is a necessity. Poindexter would make me carry it if I didn't already.

- I'd rather have my own pen than ask someone for one, but I do sometimes use a piece of paper in my wallet. I like the notebook because it keeps all my notations in one place for easy reference. Otherwise I am overwhelmed with small papers and make my husband crazy in the process.

- When my lipstick disappears after eating, I like to reapply it (the powder compact has a mirror in it). I am vain and my makeup usually coordinates with my outfit, so if I didn't have the purse I'd carry lipstick in a pocket.

- I rarely carry gum and Purell -- that is mainly for plane trips.

I would say I don't know how men manage without purses, except I do -- Poindexter is ALWAYS asking me for stuff. "Do you have a tissue?" "Can I have an Advil?" "Got any gum?" "Can I have the Purell?" Men don't need to carry stuff around with them if there's a woman around who's carrying anything they might need in an emergency.

You know I'm dying to hear what you carry in YOUR purse and why. Spill! Do you think you carry some stuff because you CAN, not because you HAVE TO?

And since I'm sure all non-pursey people's eyes have glazed over at this point, here are some pictures for you. This is what I wore yesterday. I was experimenting with two things: Using one color top to bottom, and making my clothes work with my coat (as opposed to just throwing on a coat just to keep warm). Supposedly wearing all one color makes short people look taller, but I think I canceled out that effect because the pants are kinda wide-leg. But I like the winter-white and brown combination.

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