After a relatively short climb, the wide path quickly opens up into a small terrace and after counting nine cats, your first thought might be that you have stumbled upon a shelter for cats, when in fact these nine cats are waiting, with certainty, the arrival of the lone elderly woman who has been faithfully feeding ALL the cats in this village for years, arriving onto this same terrace shortly after sunrise, and nearby, after she has removed the small weathered padlock from an even more weathered wooden door painted in a ‘light overcast blue’, she enters the small darkened room and begins to fill the many stainless steel bowls with dry cat food, setting them down onto the terrace outside the doorway as fast as she can, bowls that when set upon the stone surface make a clanging sound, a ‘breakfast bell’ that alerts other cats both near and far, turning the once recognizable stone terrace into what can best be described as a wall to wall carpet of cats.
Fifteen minutes tops, the food is gone and the cats have dispersed, returning to their familiar resting places, including the many stone steps that are found in villages big and small on Santorini, Greece, which is where I came upon this lone cat, a ‘black and white’ cat, an elongated Oreo cookie, full of contentment , as was his belly, surrounded by a sea of blue.
Nikon D500, Nikkor 18-300mm at 18mm, F/16@1/80 sec. 1250 ISO, Daylight/SunnyWB
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