Absalom

Today was my son Adrian's birthday, and I visited him at his friend Liv's place near the Wesleyan campus in Middletown, Connecticut (an hour south of Northampton).

This cat is also a visitor, boarding while her owner is away.  Absalom is a Biblical name, though he is a Maine Coon  (perhaps a mix). It's a breed of cat that I must confess I had never heard of. But according to Wikipedia, "It is one of the oldest natural breeds in North America, ... native to the state of Maine, where it is the official state cat."  His face struck me immediately, and this is the first shot I took--none of the others worked nearly as well.