wealth a go-go + cats are not dogs

I had a meeting with a wonderful new acquaintence in Tiburon this morning. Susan was the highest bidder on an auction item that I donated to MSW. The winner gets a painted portrait of her favorite pet. So Susan has this great red cat named Rudy and I went to her house early (8 am) to take a few photos of him for reference.

Well, Rudy was not in the mood to have his photo taken. He was in the mood to go outside, which we weren't letting him do. He also did not love the flash on the camera when I finally did corner him. It ended up that Susan had to hold him in her lap and point his face to the camera. Kitty cat torture! She told Rudy, "This will not actually kill you." I liked her a lot.

As money issues have been forefront lately, it did not escape my notice that her house was enormous, beautiful furnished, bedecked with art that was just fun and great and beautiful, and all of this nearly eclipsed by the stunning wide sweeping view of San Francisco Bay. I couldn't help wondering how in the heck people ever get so much money. It seems like either a fluke occurs or it doesn't and -bam- you're rich. Or not. I know so many people who work quite hard but never have a stroke of luck and live a normal middle-class life. Do the super-wealthy really work that much harder? Somehow I doubt it.

I also spotted the money guru / author Suze Orman at Safeway in Tiburon on my way to Susan's house. She was getting into her very schnazzy silver Audi. Coincidence?

Went by the Cove apartments after the semi-botched cat photo op. The management office folks were delightful. Better yet, it looks like they will have a very affordable (albeit cozy) apartment coming available soon in a pretty good location in the complex. The drive from there to the offices in Berkeley where I work was easy peasy, about 25 minutes. And a nice view for most of the drive - gorgeous views from the Richardson Bay Bridge. So this perked me up.