los angeles

Change in an instant: Cat's love letter to Los Angeles.

Hello. This Cat.

Cat feels intensity in the airs. For past weeks, Cat has been work on newsletter for readers. Cat was tap tap tap when winds come. Big winds rattle windows, shake trees, leave Cat in dark. Then fires come.

Big fires in city Cat lives in, and everything change in an instant. So Cat decide write different newsletter. Cat decide write about Los Angeles.

Cat’s readers may know some of Cat’s lore. How Cat has rambled across United States working as bartender at Cuddles Bar. Or living on fishing boat in New Orleans, getting stranded in hot sandy place, and delivering wheel of cheese from Wisconsin crystal caves for mice. Cat has many adventures.

But before Cat was rambler, Cat was make musics on streets of New York City. One day, Cat was taken off streets by a human. Seem like luck: warm bed, roof over head. Then change come, as change does. Human become hollow and cold-hearted. Cat realize must leave to find freedoms. Must leave to make better life and find happiness.

Leaving, not easy. Journey filled with very many adventures, very many perils too. But Cat has nine lives, and Cat survived, as Cat does. Eventually, Cat find self in Los Angeles. And Cat find Cat’s human, who is kindhearted, gentle, and…a little strange.

Cat find happiness. Cat has good human. Cat is grateful to have house to live in, to feel safe and loved. To be surround by light. (And crunchy treats.)

Still, Cat not sure how Cat feel about Los Angeles. Feels like big unfriendly place, run by coyotes and cars. Cat must get used to the hot dry summers, the car exhaust, the leaf-blowers. Sometimes, Cat secretly hopes that Cat’s human will pick up and move somewhere new.

But past few years bring big changes and big losses. And Cat’s human, like many other humans, must accept and adjust. So Cat stays put and tries to find reasons to like, or even maybe love Los Angeles.

Cat loves sunsets in Los Angeles. Big orange sun 🟠 disappears behind mountains every evening with a sizzle. Skies splash with pinky orange and purples.

After sun sets, Cat wait for nighttime chorus to emerge from dark evening airs. The chirp of crickets, the howl of coyotes answering screams of police sirens, and the distant hum of humans drifting through an open window.

After midnight, when Cat is visiting dustbunnies, Cat hears chug chug of a train in distance. Cat finds comforts in the low whoooo whooooooo horn of train, it touch something spacious and wild in Cat’s ramblin’ heart.

Cat is perplex by the plants Los Angeles. No need water to live, grow new when cut, and make flowers in wintertime. Magics. Come in many shapes and sizes, plump with sticky juices or covered in needles.

But Cat loves climbing plant most. Have big fluffy clumps of petal-things that shake and dance in winds. Come in very many colors: red, scarlet, magenta, yellow, orange, white, purple. Cat think petal-things look like tears of a clown. Has tiny prickles too, name of thorns. Bougainvillea lives outside window, and Cat trusts tiny thorns will keep predators away.

Cat loves the creaturely landscape of Los Angeles. Cat has never lived in city with so many wild animals.

Baby skunks rustle through bushes. Sneaky raccoons dig through garbages. Possum waddle across backyard. Packs of coyotes howl in nearby canyons. Lizards perform sun salutations on rocks. Cat has even heard rumors of big cats that roam mountains, but Cat has never seen 👀

And the birds: crows gather around wires that criss-cross skies, hawks perch at top of highest tree. Flocks of wild green parrots screech and squawk from trees and Cat thinks,“Why so loud, green parrot? Why???”

Cat prefers woodpecker’s industrious, rhythmic presence. Cat’s favorite though, is owl. Owl moves silently after midnight, making soft hoot-hoot when moon is full and bright, observing secret workings of city in darkness of night.

Foods are plentifuls in Los Angeles. Citrus, avocado, persimmon, and pomegranate hang from trees. Cat prefer crunchies and meats, but Cat’s roof rat friends love the fruits. Cat spies them out the window at night, scurrying up and down the loquat trees, and they give Cat all of the neighborhood news. “Oh, the man with the loud floppy dog? He eats carne asada on Sundays and tosses his scraps and greasy papers. Then we feast.”

Cat has met very many strange and unusual humans in Los Angeles. Of course Cat is also strange and unusual, so when Cat meets one of Cat’s kind, Cat takes notice.

Like the wrinkled human who live next door, raising lovebirds and and singing opera. Or the human with the grizzled long hairs Cat spies out the window, who tinker mysteriously in garage at night wearing cowboy boots and goggles.

Once, Cat’s human tucked Cat into the snuggler, and took Cat for mountain hike. At foot of mountain, Cat deeply sniff airs, taking in earthy black sage, sharp chaparral and dusty buckwheats.

On hiking trail, come across strange barefoot human, sitting on tip-top of big rock.“You may pass, but first I will grant you three wishes.” Cat’s human was startle, but barefoot human had soft eyes, so wishes were made and Cat even snuck in a few of Cat’s own. More crunchies! Bigger sandbox! A new kitty friend!

If Cat has learned one thing about Los Angeles, it is that this is a city of hopes, wishes, and dreams. At night, Cat likes to sit in window and look at expanse of twinkling lights. Reach all the way to the ocean, cover city like big blanket. Beyond twinkles, Cat sees steady lights of cars as they snake through hills in the distance.

Watching parade of lights and tiny travelers, Cat thinks maybe one day Cat will join them. Cat has wishes and dreams of new journeys and new adventures. But for now, Cat stays put. Maybe not so hard to love the wildness of this place, the multivalence of life here, and all of this city’s strange angels.

Even as Cat writes, the fires still burn. Cat write this newsletter to help Cat remember and hold steady the humans, the wildlife, and the landscape now experiencing big, turbulent change.

Cat is safe from fires. But Cat is lucky. Many others lose home, lose lives in fires. If want help animals, Cat suggest give to Pasadena Humane Society, need moneys for helping and housing hurt animals who escape fires.

💚 Can also help some of the families who have lost their homes.

🌱 Donate to Aid O Happy Days Vegan Cafe Recovery: Cafe and Home Lost

🪘 Support Rhythms of the Village Family after LA Fires

Cat hopes readers are all safe and will join Cat in doing good work of sending love to all those who have lost homes, jobs, and loved ones to fires in Los Angeles. Or to hurricane in North Carolina. Or to wars in faraway places.

Wherever there is suffering, there is work to be done. This work starts with love ❤️

Thank you for reading.
Cat loves you 🐾