i experienced some sort of epiphany-with-a-twist in between my museum-viewing afternoon yesterday. whenever traveling i always like to check out a city’s botanical gardens to really understand the spirit of a place, you know, flora and fauna background etc. after a few minutes in the sunshine i noticed a black cat appear out of nowhere. so i start photographing it and then, after several minutes, i then put my camera away and observe two cats suddenly appear from another direction, posing beside a sign indicating a particular botanical breed from – wait for it – australia! interpreting it as some sort of omen, i savor the moment and then head towards the exit. as i’m leaving i tell this older gentleman who is pruning the trees that i just saw the black cats. he looks at me like i am nuts and responds “there are no cats here.”