Merry-New-Roll-Tide-Mas!

'Tis the season.

The weather was recently quite lovely.

And then the rains came, followed by this bitter, what-would-be-snow weather anywhere a hundred miles north of here.

Alas; that's how Southern winters go.

Tonight the air is crisp and painfully cold, but I can see the stars twinkling brightly overhead like the permanent fireworks that they are.

I'm reminded of a lovely stanza tonight:

"Though my soul may set in darkness,
  it will rise in perfect light.
  I have loved the stars too fondly
  to be fearful of the night."
             - Sarah Williams
    from The Old Astronomer

Never have I felt so defined by a poem, but this is me, a living collaboration of words all strung together in something beautiful and haunting.  

I hope your holidays were lovely.

Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year.

Roll Tide.

Here are a few recent photos sure to put a smile on anyone's face:

Love,

Jess

The Dogs Days of... December?

The weather has been blissfully, unseasonably warm here in west-central Alabama and the dogs and I have been enjoying every moment.  One of the many perks to not working is having this time at home with my furry family.  If only that job paid...

Today was another perfect day and I decided to shoot a ton of photos of the pups.  Naturally I wanted to share them here.

I'm an animal-lover.  Get used to it. :)

Fable wouldn't sit still long enough for any photos today.  Better luck tomorrow!

A Fall Photoshoot

The title of this post explains it all.

The sun was glorious and the air was crisp when Fable and I tumbled outside for our morning poo and playtime (two separate events, of course).  I knew at once it was a photo-taking kind of day.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Hagrid

This painting is amazing and I am obsessed with it.

That is all.

Playing Santa

Christmas can be embarrassingly stressful for those playing Santa year-to-year.  After Halloween, time just seems to fly by at an ungodly speed and then BOOM: Christmas Day.  I try to budget and have things under control by the first week in December, but I always end up with that one person for whom it is impossible to shop; however, this year I am on point!

It's going to be admittedly difficult budgeting when I'll be out of work for so long after my surgery, but I'm doing my damnedest and I am already ahead of schedule.  I should have this whole shopping nonsense covered before December gets here.

Here's hoping, at least.

Today I decided to feature one of my favorite gifts so far.  (I don't have to worry about spoilers because this is for our wee little Fable.)

Blueberry Pet is a company that I stumbled upon entirely by accident, and once I found them, I was hooked.  Their vibrant colors and whimsical patterns create the perfect collars and leashes for dogs and cats.  Here's Fable's:

 

Aren't they perfect?  I am extremely pleased with this set.  The fabric is high-quality, the colors are bright, and both pieces were reasonably priced.  I'm not 100% happy with the quality of the plastic on the collar (I feel like if I stepped on it it would easily snap), but I don't think I will have any problems with it.  I can't WAIT to see her in it!

Here's their website if you want to check their merchandise out for yourself:

http://www.blueberrypet.com/

I just adore Christmas.  Don't you?

Frosty Halloweenies

Happy Halloween and Happy First Frost to you all!

You read that correctly: tis the end of the grow season for Central Alabama!  All of you folks dressed up as Elsa tonight totally nailed it.  Shit's gettin' cold!

This is the first Halloween that I haven't gone out to celebrate and it's kind of been awesome.

I've been enjoying my evening reading books (I started and finished The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare AND finally started Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas!) and watching Halloween-themed flicks and cartoons on the television. What could be better?

Adulthood is weird.

I'm not feeling particularly creative, I just felt like posting was obligatory today.

It is cold and windy and Halloween and perfect.

Trick or treat, motherfuckers.

:)

A Snippet of Perfect

If you could take a cross-section of Jessica's perfect life, you'd see our five cats frolicking around the house and the four pooches currently in our house snoozing nearby.

Right now I am in love with life.

Now, if you read a previous post, you know that isn't always true; however, more often than not, I love this life.

I love these nine furry bodies and the instant success we are having as a rescue.

I love nesting in this fixer-upper of a house and being so centrally located to everything.  It's brilliant.

I love my fantastic boyfriend and amazing family and friends.

Life fucking rocks.

So this is the cross-section of perfection, and it involves etsy.

Etsy is a crafty gal's porn.  We are all obsessed.  For ages now I have had pet ID tags picked out for our cats on this nifty little Etsy shop.  Recently, I started scrolling through looking for an ID tag for River that was just as adorable as the ones I chose for the cats.  I didn't expect to fall in lust with these damn pieces of metal.

The people over at Doggone Tags have ruined/made my life because, as soon as I have the funds available, I am buying the crap out of their merchandise.

Without further ado, here are my current obsessions with the corresponding puppy:

1. River (the names and phone numbers go on the back!)

2. Jasper

3. Fable

4. Booker (pending a name change because 'Booker' sounds like 'booger')

Are these not the cutest things you've ever seen?  If they aren't then just shut up and humor me, because THEY ARE.

Go check these guys out on Etsy. They are amazing:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DoggoneTags?ref=l2-shopheader-name

I'll eventually save up the $124.00 it will cost to purchase these gems, assuming my life remains perfect.

Like I said, this is a cross-section of perfect.  This perfect life is assuming we can adopt Fable and Booker's new family never comes for him.

Four puppies.
Crazy.
Perfect.

Fable vs. Epic: Act II

At some point, somewhere in my Googling, browsing, scanning, reading, I first saw fable used as a proper noun.

Fable.  

It struck like an artfully timed chord and reverberated deeply.

Then an adorable ball of love dropped down from the sky like a fuzzy raindrop and landed right on my heart.

Fable.

This perfect animal was intended to be a brief little visitor, her stay with us like a fable:  "a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral."  But our love for an animal has never been this profound.  We love River.  Griffin.  Nyx.  Liesel.  Hyde.  Bimini.  Jasper.  Booker.  Lilly.  Delta.  Cooper.  Zelda.  Every animal that has come through here; and we will love every single animal that passes through here from this moment forward whether they stay a day, a year, or forever. 

And yet, Fable. 

We fawn over her every breath.  We stare at her as she sleeps.   I annoy myself with every status update or Instagram photo that I post about her, but I just don't care.

Perhaps it's our being in our prime child-bearing years that is making our hearts grow three times their normal size and our paternal instincts thrum like tribal drums.  

Fable.

I fell deeply in love with the name and proceeded to fall deeply in love with the life that now bears it.  And yet, for her, it is a misnomer.

Josh and I cannot imagine this story ending here.  

We decided not to let it.

Perhaps we are crazy.  In some ways, we know we are.  But this is life for us now.  It's furry and mysteriously damp and you teach yourself not to smell it.  But this is our life.

And it's beautiful.

And it's epic.

epic: "a long film, book, or other work portraying heroic deeds and adventures or covering an extended period of time."

 Fable Tibbs: Born August 19, 2014 -

 
 

Fable vs. Epic: Act I

fa·ble

ˈfābəl/

noun

noun: fable; plural noun: fables

1. 1.

   a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.

   synonyms:

   moral tale, tale, parable, allegory "the fable of the wary fox"

   • a story, typically a supernatural one incorporating elements of myth and legend.

     synonyms:

     myth, legend, saga, epic, folk tale, folk story, fairy tale, mythos, folklore, mythology "the fables of ancient Greece"

   • myth and legend.

     "the unnatural monsters of fable"
   • a false statement or belief.

verb

archaic

verb: fable; 3rd person present: fables; past tense: fabled; past participle: fabled; gerund or present participle: fabling

1.

tell fictitious tales.

"I do not dream nor fable"

 

ep·ic

ˈepik/

noun

noun: epic; plural noun: epics

1. 1.

   a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation.

   synonyms:

   heroic poem; More story, saga, legend, romance, chronicle, myth, fable, tale "the epics of Homer"

   • the genre of epic poems.

     "the romances display gentler emotions not found in Greek epic"
   • a long film, book, or other work portraying heroic deeds and adventures or covering an extended period of time.

     "a Hollywood biblical epic"

     synonyms:

     long film; informalblockbuster "a big Hollywood epic"

adjective

adjective: epic

1. 1.

   of, relating to, or characteristic of an epic or epics.

   "England's national epic poem Beowulf"

   synonyms:

   heroic, long, grand, monumental, Homeric, Miltonian "a traditional epic poem"

   • heroic or grand in scale or character.

     "his epic journey around the world"

     synonyms:

     ambitious, heroic, grand, great, Herculean; More very long, monumental; adventurous "their epic journey"

   • informal

     particularly impressive or remarkable.

     "the gig last night was epic"

Blowing My Fucking Brains Out

There are moments so deliciously fulfilling and then there are the moments that fill all of the time between where I want
to blow
my fucking brains out.

Today is one of those days where, while I planned to bust my ass cleaning, I spent the entire day, morning, noon, and night, on the phone and out running errands for my OTHER job.

Yes, that job.  The one that doesn't pay.  The one I do out of the goodness of my fucking heart and my love for animals.  The one that costs my every nickel and dime and sweat, blood, and tears; because let's face it, animals are fucking exhausting and it is ALWAYS something with pets.

"There is urine on the floor.  Oh look, there's more."
"Our fourth and final iPhone charger is lying is seventeen pieces."
"Something smells like shit.  Oh wait.  It's shit."

These are the moments that pass between my smiling eyes and glowing jubilance.

Behind every selfless, caring, hard-working individual is their exhausted, beaten down shadow hunched over themselves in tears.

But it passes.

When I'm done washing, mopping, and scrubbing, there are nine plus pairs of eyes staring at me with nothing but love and loyalty.

It's hard work, but it's a choice I make every single day.

I could stop, but I press on.

It's okay to have bad days.

Sometimes you just want to blow your fucking brains out.  After all, the silver lining of a pee puddle still smells like ammonia.

Harrowing & Beautiful

Tonight I whispered with the wind and closed my eyes against its algid breath.  I watched as cotton fields erupted into flame at twilight and night descended, extinguishing the sun and lighting millions of candles across the sky. 

What blues I've seen in darkness.
What hues I've touched at night.
With shadows birthing monsters
My eyes looked towards falling light.

Enraptured by the silence, I was cast between lives both harrowing and beautiful.

 

A Test

This is a test of the 'I don't know which font to use' system.