Catopia Cat Café/ Albuquerque, New Mexico

DSC07354Ernest Hemingway once said “Time spent with a cat is never wasted.” Customers at Catopia Cat Café in Albuquerque, New Mexico can spend as much time as they want with about a dozen adoptable cats while having coffee and browsing the web. Internet coffee shops that have cats up for adoption is a new trend in the U.S. Right now, there are about one hundred cat cafés around the country. Café customers can get to know the cats that they might want to take home in the open space of the coffee shops.

Catopia’s manager, Sandy Dierks, said “They can kind of show their personalities in a bigger environment like this and wander around and play, and people can see a little more what they’re like.” The cats that are up for adoption have been neutered, micro-chipped, vaccinated, and have had a check-up from a veterinarian.

Catopia’s patrons find the presence of playful cats to be a stress reliever. Dierks told us “People, like students, can do their work on their laptops and we have free Wi-Fi and you can just get some work done while hanging out with a cat on your lap. It’s a lot more relaxing than other environments.”

All of the drinks and snacks are pre-packaged to insure cleanliness. The coffee is made from sealed pods. There are two sets of doors that can only be opened one at a time to keep cats from running outside into a busy shopping center. There is “cat furniture” throughout the café that allows the cats to climb up the walls or scurry through tunnels.

Catopia has only been open for a few months but has had seventeen cats adopted, as well as a positive local response. Dierks told us “We’ve had a ton of support from the community, people coming out and just wanting to help get these guys homes and just support our business and make a go of it, so it’s been, it’s been really wonderful.”

-Richard Lakin

 

Click on any photo below to start slide show.


Buffalo with an approaching snowstorm/ Sandia Pueblo, New Mexico

Click photo to enlarge

IMG_39180000022 2


Supernationals car show/ Albuquerque, New Mexico

Click any photo to start slideshow

 


The high desert in winter/ Zia, Jemez, and Sandia Pueblos, New Mexico

 

Click photos for slide show


Hummingbird/ This morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

click photo to enlargeDSC02789


The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array/ Central New Mexico

The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array is a radio astronomy observatory located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, and was a location in the movie “Contact.” It is on a fairly isolated high desert plateau (about 7,000 ft.) and surrounded by mountains, making it an ideal spot to avoid the normal wireless interference in cities. The lack of humidity in the air also makes for a clearer radio signal. There is no cell service there and visitors are asked to put their phones in airplane mode.

The array is routinely re-configured to cover different parts of the sky by moving the dishes on a network of railroad tracks.

This is part of a photo series featuring the American southwest.

click photos to enlarge

DSC02431

DSC02397

DSC02403

DSC02420

DSC02434

 


Desert Rose in bloom/ Albuquerque, New Mexico

Click to enlarge

DSC02361


Gathering of Nations/ Albuquerque, New Mexico

Billed as the “The Biggest Pow Wow in North America,” the Gathering of Nations brings together participants from Indigenous Nations all over Canada, the US, and Mexico.

This is part of a photo series featuring the American southwest.

Click photos to enlarge.

DSC01646

DSC02003

DSC01891

DSC01561

DSC02149

DSC01849 2

DSC01819 2

DSC01832

DSC01961

DSC01770

 

 

 

 


View of mesas on San Ildefonso Pueblo/ from Los Alamos, New Mexico

click photos to enlarge

DSC00964 4

DSC00943 4


Desert Life

Click photos to enlarge

IMG_3021

Near Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico

IMG_0440

Grand Canyon, Arizona

DSCN0499

Strait of Hormuz, Oman

IMG_0195

Mariachi/ Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico

DSC03904

Sonoran Desert/ Arizona

DSCN0447_out

Dune riding/ Arabian Desert, United Arab Emirates 

DSC00856

A light snow on the high desert/ Sandia Reservation, New Mexico

DSC00823

Sunset/ near Tecolote, New Mexico

IMG_0786

University Campus/ Dubai, United Arab Emirates

IMG_2908

Sandia Mountains/ New Mexico 

DSC00594

Dia de Los Muertos/ Albuquerque, New Mexico

IMG_0794 2

Burj Khalifa/ Dubai, United Arab Emirates

IMG_2845

Garage mural/ Albuquerque, New Mexico

IMG_0806_out

View of Dubai, enshrouded in humidity, from Palm Island/ United Arab Emirates

IMG_0437

Grand Canyon, Arizona

IMG_2737

Piña Blanca, New Mexico

DSC05008

Hospitality/ Casa Blanca, Morocco 

IMG_1618

Waterfall, Dubai Mall/ United Arab Emirates

IMG_39180000022

 

Buffalo, Sandia Pueblo,  New Mexico

Sony A-65 camera

 


Dia de Los Muertos y Marigolds Parade & Celebration

Albuquerque, New Mexico

DSC00574

DSC00490

 

DSC00454

DSC00493

DSC00458

DSC00418

DSC00459

DSC00515

DSC00478

DSC00622

DSC00634

DSC00525

DSC00676

DSC00647

DSC00654

DSC00609

DSC00670

DSC00503