I use the phrase “Chasing a black cat around “ loosely since I’m unable to even follow my shadow yet.

Today marks a month since my second hip replacement surgery.  I started writing this on my third gin and Pepsi cocktail. Don’t judge; we rarely drink and a bottle of gin and a liter of Pepsi were the only things in the house besides water out of which to make a cocktail. Gin and water just doesn’t sound right. Gin and tonic, yes, but we had no tonic water in the house.  Gin and Pepsi wasn’t half bad. Until the next day when I didn’t feel so good.

I love the drive up Beverly Blvd when we arrive in Los Angeles. It may be hard to believe, but there are two motels in the heart of La La Land that are as affordable as any nearby Motel 6.  We stay at the Bevonshire, right on Beverly Boulevard, so late at night we are delightfully awakened by sirens and motorcycles that sound like they are coming straight through the window toward us.

That was because we were in the handicapped room, though, which was right on the street.

Right across the street from the hotel is Terroni, an Italian restaurant, and right there, under the name, is a black cat. I don’t know who painted it or why, I just know it compels the viewer–in this case, me–to find more of them and take their picture.

I wouldn’t have gotten such good pictures of them if our appointments with the doctor hadn’t been so early. We were driving down the street before many pedestrians were out, or many cars were parked along the street. There were plenty of cars driving down the street, however.

One driver pulled a move I’d never seen before: Making a right turn on to the street, the driver pretended to pull into a parking spot, but instead weaseled their way into traffic. It was a smooth move.

The first cat I found on Beverly Blvd was this one:

Someone saw an accident of peeling paint in the form of a dog, and added the black cat. I was hooked and began chasing a black cat from pillar to post. There aren’t that many pillars and posts, either.

I don’t know if the black cat is in other places in La La Land, because I only saw it along Beverly Blvd. I wanted to use it as the name on blank journals, but the name, Black Cat  journals is already taken. I put up two blank journals on Amazon, which was surprisingly easy to do. I didn’t need to write a thing for them. What a relief.

After so many post op visits to Cedars Sinai, I was able to get a picture of all the black cats I spotted.

All this whimsicality is too much for an urban dweller. I might have to sneak out at night and start painting black cat silhouettes on the casinos. Caesar’s, the Trop, the Rio–so many to choose from.

I’m sure they wouldn’t view a black cat on a casino as bad luck. Not at all.

AND……we went to Lake Isabella, three hours from LA, and there on a building in the country, nothing else around, I found…..

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