But first. . . Happy Independence Day, Morocco!
We were in Casablanca for a few days, and are back “home” in Marrakech for a few more before we head back to Rome. . . and from there, over the next week and a bit we’ll be making our way back home (a few more stops along the way, but brief ones — you’ll see).
My travel energy has flagged considerably, and a bit of gastro disruption hasn’t helped, nor have the bouts of insomnia. Pretty predictable for me as I approach another transition with the attendant check-ins and line-ups and border controls and luggage limits.
Luckily, I have a few hacks to keep me grounded — chief among those might be guided breathing exercises and/or meditations (I like Insight Timer where I’ve bookmarked some favourite Yoga Nidras and also have a rotation of Yoga with Adriene seated meditation videos that I’ve been known to do at 2:30 in the morning. (I also try, each day, to do a short practice from her Monthly Calendar).
Writing — here or in my travel journal; Sketching; Walking; Afternoon naps or afternoon reading breaks; Snapping photos; Walking and snapping photos; Snapping photos while walking. . . .and then there is, so my photo archive shows, the important practice of Snapping Photos of Cats While Walking. To clarify, that would be me walking, not the cats. So might be better to phrase this “Snapping Photos, While Walking, of Cats” . . . or “While Walking, Snapping Photos of Cats.
Too much palaver. After all, we have cats to see here. . .
This napper (il gatto acciambellato, if you remember this dough-nutty post) doesn’t care that Marrakech is known as “The Red City,” but you might see here how it got that moniker.
Apparently, motor-scooter seats are quite well designed for feline comfort. Also, this calico beauty’s tongue puts me in mind of a Botero sculpture that I saw in Rome this summer and haven’t shown you yet. Later. . .
That this regal black fellow so confidently assumes a perch on a Mercedes might speak to the special regard in which cats are held in Islam. (Here’s a charming personal account of how Islam helped a teenager’s mother overcome her fear of cats so that he could bring one home during lockdown.)
Just by the by, did you know that someone who loves cats is an “ailurophile” (from the Greek word for cat, “ailuro,” apparently). That’s a new word for me — and I have a daughter who fits the label. . .
They’re always found where someone might offer them a bite or two . . . my ailurophile daughter says she very much appreciates that she garners no scowls if she drops a morsel for a patient kitty in Muslim countries.
Honestly, I almost suspected this sweetheart might have a begging bowl nearby, so aware did she seem to be of her photogenic strength in this composition — she did gather a crowd! (So perhaps she got a commission in treats from the vendor 😉
I was impressed by this tabby’s colour-paletting — doesn’t s/he match that doorway well? (although yes, it could do with a tidy).
Someone has left a small snack for this pretty calico. . .
And here’s another Calico. . .
Paul got me to stand near these kittens, but he’d put the camera away by the time they all arrived — Six tiny gingers, all drawn to a bowl of food being dispensed by an Ailurophile at the seaside (looking over to the majestic Hassan II mosque.
A tabby on one of the city’s ubiquitous Docker motorbikes . . .
That’s all I have for you right now. Oh, unless you care to see the sketching I did on the terrace this morning. . .
Yesterday’s sketch on the left; today’s on the right. . . both are in a Hahnemuhle concertina sketchbook (known in Italian as un leporello — imagine a hare zig-zagging 😉
Zooming in . . . the “continuous line” sketch was drawn over a collaged bit of napkin from a café in the quartier — you can see the Selfie photo I sketched from here.
Then Zoom out for text. . .
Ok, that’s it. Off to read a Thursday Murder Club book in the sunshine. (Rain and temperatures in the low teens Celsius are in my near future, so I’d better enjoy this (moderate) heat while I can!)
Looking forward to comments from ailurophiles and ailurophobes and ailuro-indifferents alike. . .
xo,
f
What an interesting trip! Colours,atmospheric photos,one could almost feel “odori e sapori”. Please,could you write about moroccan kitchen,when you’ll have time?
I’ve learned a new word-interesting,never noticed it before
Cats and dogs were part of my life and I loved them very,very much,but am not interested in other cats,love to see the photos though
Have a stress-free return journey!
Dottoressa
Author
I will definitely write something about Moroccan cuisine — we even got to help prepare a tajine with the staff at the riad, and I took many photos. We’re planning to try out receipes back home as well, so several posts coming up 😉
Great photos! I love cats and have had numbers of them live with me, like you I enjoy photographing the resident cats when travelling. However for many years I have lived near a main road which is not safe for them. So we started to keep dogs when the kids were young and I slowly became a dog lover. When we by chance adopted a rescue saluki (Arabian gazelle hound) I realised that we had hit the jackpot. A cat in a dog’s body. Regarded by the Bedouin as a gift from heaven they are seen a ‘royal dogs’ and have a different status to other dogs in some parts of the Islamic world. We are now with our third saluki and in UK terms they certainly have the same level of entitlement as the average old Etonian. They will from time to time condescend to ‘obey’ a command, are fiercely attached to their caregivers if they think you’re up to scratch and have the grace and elegance of ……a cat.
Author
Salukis are so beautiful — I’ve only had a few opportunities to be in their company, but they’re very regal indeed — “the same level of entitlement as the average old Etonian” — hahaha!
I’ve met few ailuro-indifferents, cats seem to have a polarizing quality. Be well as you begin the trip home.
Author
I think you’re right! Cats do seem to polarize, although I’d say I like them well enough but feel no need to have one living with me anymore . . .
I confess to being a bit of a gattara so these are nice to see.
Your self-portrait has a nice sort of pentimento effect (and I must make more of an effort to remember which one is pentimento and which one palimpsest because I have to look it up every time…).
I don’t suffer from insomnia but I do let my fear of oversleeping on an early travel day cloud my last bit of time in a place. To call it fear is a grand overstatement but everything in me revolts against having a long list of things to wake up early and do at the last minute, on a deadline, while relying on a taxi to be where and when it should be. (Ha ha years after we split, an ex told me I could be a ‘bit of a control freak’ oh ha ha ha yes, well, yes.)
Author
Your opening sentence makes me think, Beauvoir-like, whether a gattara is born or made. . . 😉
Hmmm, I would say that page is perhaps both pentimento and palimpsest – or neither — because only a few days elapsed from blank page to finished.
Ugh! That fear of oversleeping — one of my Lisbon travel days, I discovered that my new iphone Alarm didn’t work the way my old one had, and, in fact, didn’t go off in the morning as set. Luckily (?!) I had been waking up through the night to check so got up on my own. . .
And relying on taxis, yes. Haven’t quite figured that out yet in Italy very well. . . Do better with splurging on a service.
I think being a control freak when it comes to catching trains and flights is a “bit of a good thing” actually 😉
Sorry you’ve been unwell. I guess it’s inevitable during such a long trip that tummy problems, insomnia and periods of flagging energy strike. You’re doing a lot, both in terms of new places visited and distances covered, and I’m pleased you’re finding time for some restorative activities. I’m in the 4th week of a 5-week online course on the history of colour in art. It’s taking quite a few hours each day and I’m not as available for shared activities as my family members would like. A busier social time in the lead up to Christmas is adding to the toll but I’m loving the course, which is fascinating and nurturing.
Moroccan cats are very photogenic and apparently self-aware. I recently read Osman’s first Thursday murders book and enjoyed it more than expected – funnier, well-written, but somehow slow-paced, despite the lightness of tone. Best wishes for your continued adventures x
Author
Your course sounds wonderful — I’m imagining candidates for study. . .
I took a long time coming to the Thursday Murder Club books and then enjoyed that first one very much. Hoping this other will also keep me entertained.
I have just learned that I am an ailurophile. As is my daughter. I remember many years ago while we were in Rome getting nearly as excited at seeing a cat as to viewing the the landmarks. I may have mentioned that after two months of being catless a gray skinny pussycat with a ripped ear wandered into my friend’s barn and came home with me. She told me she already had four barn cats as well as two house cats, so he was mine for the taking. Currently napping on the cat tree. I see so many positive reviews of Richard Osman’s books and wondering why I elected not to finish the one started after getting halfway through. I am tempted to try again as I really enjoy a good mystery.
Author
You have been waiting for the mantle of this word to fall upon you!! I remember your excitement at seeing horses on arriving in Rome . . . and of course you’d love it for its cats as well. Rome does offer an abundance of them (my daughter’s adopted one — not sure her elderly Persian appreciated that, but he’s adjusted — and is constantly befriending others). How great for you and your adoptee that you found each other!
Maybe try the Osman once more — I resisted for ages, and then really did enjoy it.
A few random thoughts:
-It’s completely understandable that your travel energy feels depleted. What a trip it has been. The memories will stay with you for a long time.
-I’m an ailuro-indifferent but I do love the photos…such beautiful colours.
-Really, really love the sketches.
-The Thursday Murder Club books seem like just the sort of gentle read you need right now.
-If the cup is too chipped to be of any use, could it be further broken, carried home in pieces, and recreated at home as a mosaic?
Author
Thanks, Genevieve. I appreciate the sketching encouragement.
I know you understand the toll these bigger, longer trips take. Some days I wonder what I was thinking!! Other days I’m glad we took on the adventure.
And good suggestion about the cup, I’ll think about that (although luggage space is really at a premium, and I have four solo train rides to lug my own gear through, so every ounce counts as well!
We are a family of cat lovers and always take photos of cats when on holiday – plus we pursue them (in a friendly style) and always hope for a jolly response. Sometimes I am a bit distressed by the state of cats abroad but often I am delighted. In Dubrovnik we happened upon a troupe who plainly lived a life of warmth and comfort, well fed and indulged, lounging about in the streets. And yes, if they approach my table, I will feed them. Total pushover.
The Moroccan cats do seem well aware of their special status. We always had a cat and a dog when I was growing up (the dog was always a spaniel, as a trained gun dog but also a much-loved pet), and the cat always had to be white and was given the same name down through the cat generations, regardless of gender. In adulthood I feel no need of a pet, and have to confess to being an active chaser of cats from my garden, where they come to do their business. I might even be known to lob a windfall apple in their fleeing direction…Dog ownership in the UK has exploded since the pandemic, but very few people seem willing or able to train their dogs. Our daughter befriended a kitten when working on a rural development project in Laos, and invited it into her sleeping bag. She later discovered that its present to her was fleas, and it’s always fleas I think of when I see street cats!
You seem to be into the final, disconcerting phase of travel, when “reinsertion” begins to appear on the horizon. I was struck by the reference in your travel journal to trying to relax into the present. So difficult, once the awareness of movement intrudes.
In the closing scenes of such an ambitious trip its no wonder you are a bit weary – I predict you will be delighted to be home, reunited with stuff you haven’t seen for a while, eating familiar things, etc.
I am neutral on cats – never had them growing up, had a couple short term foster cats years ago as a young adult. We’ve had dogs off and on but when the current one came some 12 years ago I promised my husband it would be the last one. He loves her but it’s a responsibility when one travels etc. Both my kids like cats however so we do have some cat exposure so maybe someday….
Thank you for all the travel pictures!
Ceci
Author
I’m the same way, fairly neutral on cats, have had both dogs and cats but probably not again, although we regularly dog-sit our kids’ canines and enjoy that.
Thank you for those lovely cat photos. They reminded me of my trip to Istanbul, many years ago, where I was very impressed by the way humans and cats shared the urban space. A relationship that seemed to be based on sympathy and respect on both sides. There is a beautiful documentary about Istanbul cats, called KEDI (turkish for “cat”), which can be found on YT.
Author
I’ll look for that documentary — my daughter and granddaughter were also very impressed by the cats of Istanbul.
Please excuse my delay in reading and responding to this post! I am very much an ailurophile; thanks for teaching us this term that I have never heard in my six and a half+ decades. In fact, my gym trainor and I had a whole conversation about cats we have known and loved during my session with her this morning.
I hope the winding down of your long trip goes as smooth as silk, and that your arrival in the chilly damp of the northern Pacific coast is not depressing, but full of the delights of home. I am trying to remember when it was that you left on this long sojourn–it has been two or three months, hasn’t it?
I think your trip began when I started moving into our new home in Corvallis or even before that. It has been a gorgeous, long fall here, and now the winter rains have been settling in the past week or so. I am loving being cozy and content indoors, for now. . . So different than Arizona! I will be happy knowing you are not so far away, especially when we visit our son’s family in the northern suburbs of Seattle before too long.
Author
Thanks Linda, I think I’ll be ready for staying inside so might not mind the “chilly damp” too much. Currently adjusting to cooler temps in Paris (although it’s been gorgeously sunny for me!). Did you suffer much from the PNW’s “cyclone bomb”?
We have had a LOT of rain. . .But I think we missed the biggest rains this past week, because my husband and I went to visit his 92 year old mother in Minnesota. It was very cold there; the last half of the time it was below zero (Fahrenheit.) Having returned to the cool, rainy PNW yesterday, it feels refresshingly cool, not frigid!
Author
Good to have that perspective! 😉