Feline Urbanism

So everyone has seen the feral cat running around here and there.  Have you ever consider that those cats are simply tourists, coming to visit your town, from their City?


Their City is Caboodle Ranch, a 30-acre, "Feline City", near Lee, Florida in Madison County, maybe 30 miles west of Lake City.  There, founder Craig Grant, has created a sanctuary for over 650 abused or "discarded" cats.  But what catches my particular interest, is the community he's set up for the cats.  It's complete with homes, a main street, a church, a Walmart, and Town Hall.  I imagine they have the full assortment of political problems - tea party republicats or liberal democats. (Sorry, too hard to pass up)

All jokes aside, Mr. Grant is an incredible man.  Spend any time on his website and you'll see his dedication to helping cats is beyond question.  I think it's quite funny that Caboodle Ranch has a nice town layout and better landscape facilities than the accompanying town of Lee.  Stephen Colbert also covered Caboodle Ranch a few weeks ago - quite funny.

Weddings in a Parking Garage?

This parking garage at 1111 Lincoln Road has been finding its way into various conversations in my classes as design redefining the ordinary.  It also was featured in the NY Times.  So how many folks would want to get married in a parking garage?  Better yet, how many folks want to spend more time in a parking garage than simply finding and getting to your car?  The new Herzog & de Meuron parking garage in Downtown Miami has 34-foot ceilings on the second-to-top level and boasts some of the best views of Biscayne Bay and Downtown Miami. 

For about $12,000 per night, you could have a wedding (click to see one couples invitation - complete with a sketch of the garage) there too!  You might hurry though, I imagine with all this press, the waiting list is getting long...

Iwan Baan Photography (NY Times Source)