Petless In my Hometown (not Seattle)

Well, Cosmo went off to the Zoo on Tuesday, he was supposed to go on Sunday but we had a bit of a snowstorm, so it was postponed until Tuesday. We took him from the aquarium Monday morning to transfer downstairs so he could 'chill'. Since he will be introduced to a Koi pond outside we needed to lower his temp gradually. On Monday night we placed him over by the door to cool down even further.

He was greeted by the Director of Animal Services of the Zoo when he arrived and was enthusiastically welcomed. They don't have such a beauty as he, mostly the orange and black variety. Cosmo is so beautiful, not quite white, more of an iridescent very pale peach which can only be seen in the aquarium. ( click on the picture to see more details, then hit the back button to return here).

I played the Norah Jones CD for him one last time and even took a video of him swimming around to her song, 'Come away with me' one of his favorites and mine as well. He didn't take kindly to the camera though as I was taking some stills the camera was shooting a red beam to locate the 'living thing' and he didn't like that one bit. I tried to write about this on Tuesday and couldn't and yesterday it still hurt too much, an empty aquarium can be a very lonely thing, it is now just a piece of furniture, not a home to my beautiful Koi Boy, Cosmo.

Sometimes you don't realize how a lot of what you do and how you do something is directly guided by others around you. Then again there are some who are completely oblivious to how they affect those around them and can easily fall into the category of 'rudeness personified"!

Being an INJF I am one who is aware, most of the time of how my actions effect reactions of others, but sometimes it's always a mystery! With Cosmo since he spent his life in a black pond the openness of the aquarium was hard for him to acclimate to. Whenever we would walk by, if not slow enough, the shadow we would make or the reflection of the daylight off our clothing could cause him immediate terror and he would swim madly around the tank and most times crash into the filter or hit the top cover. I hated that my movements did this to him and tried my best to walk slower as I approached his corner of the house. I found myself doing this even after he was taken out on Monday and I had cleaned the tank and arranged the backdrop, something I couldn't do with him in there without a commotion.

I still do that when walking out into the living room and then I remember, he's not there. I look at the empty tank and am sad, despite his craziness, he was still a living thing in my house, one I couldn't pet but I could feed him, talk to him and play favorite music for him. Now he's gone and with Techelet ( my Blue Betta) dying a few weeks ago (which was expected as we had him over 3 years) and it being 4 months now since I lost Jazmine my beautiful Dalmatian Princess, for the first time in over 39 years, I am pet-less and I am lost. It is not a title for myself I cherish, and never will.

I feel as if I'm on another planet or in a strange dream that I want to wake up from. I don't know who I am without some creature depending on me. I've had so many animals in my life, from chosen ones to ones who chose me, mostly the latter. Strays seemed to find their way to me, injured or too young, wildlife as well. It's a long list but if you are interested here is what comes to mind for now. I've had 17 dogs, 18 cats, 4 squirrels (2 I raised from babies, one fallen from nest, another hit by a car and paralyzed), numerous birds of all varieties, two skunks, an opossum, various fish and gerbils, hamsters, a chinchilla, parakeets, gerbils, guinea pigs, turtles, (box, painted, snapping! and woods). I'm sure there is more but I can't think of them right now. This doesn't even include the wildlife animals I feed on a yearly basis, like the mother and triplets, deer we helped raise last year, feeding them each day, corn and such and supplying water , (always supply water), and a dozen or so squirrels, dozens of doves, and other birds and even having two red tailed hawks being raised in our yard to which one still lives here, dining off my fat squirrels when he can catch one. :)

The wildlife is still here and very prolific, for that I am grateful, but I can't touch them, cuddle them, comfort them or make a connection with them, that is gone.

I don't know if I shall remain pet-less in the future, for now I am too sad from all the lose and really can't imagine going through it again, especially after losing Jazmine who is still in my heart and I think will always be. They were my family, and now my family is totally gone.
If you are spending time with your family this week, don't look at their faults, don't look at their annoyances, don't look at it being a bother to get together, instead take joy in the fact that no matter who they are, how they are and what they are, they are, bottom line, your family and that really is all that matters. Take time this season to show them that, you won't be sorry, and as Monk used to say, You'll thank me later................... ( maybe much later, but I promise, you will :) )

Happy Holidays~

Could anything be sweeter than this? Jazmine at age 10 weeks buried in a chair cushion waiting for her mama to come wrap her in a blankie so she didn't get cold.

Stay warm, and make good memories this season and always to warm you later when you need them.

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Great Artists and Contest Results

Remember my telling you about a treasury I had made at the beginning of this month? Black and White and Blue over you? It was my first treasury in about a month and I dedicated it to Jazmine. I found this wonderful print from a Canadian Artist and out of every Dalmatian listing I went through (and I went through them all) this one reminded me of Jazz. It had 'The Look' she would have when laying down and looking up at me when I talked to her, but mostly when I was talking about her. She was very intelligent and astute and understood more than the average dog of about 500 words, she also understood two other languages and spelling!
Anyway, I showed my husband the treasury and when he saw it he started to tear up and then told me I had to get that print. So I did. I waited for 'Cedric' to arrive, the name on the listing.

And last week he came.

I know you have heard of special etsy sellers and some of you who have followed me for awhile remember Pointy Paws. Well this is a story of another special etsy seller. Her name is Pey and her shop is called Peylu and she also has another one called folkartvision , both are well worth exploring. She does her paintings on clay and then has prints made of them so many can share her beautiful works of art.

She is a member of the EFA - Artists Helping Animals , and her current animal family consists of a Rottweiler and a dwarf bunny, which is interesting because I've owned both, just not at the same time. The Rotty I had was pre-named Bear and my bunny was a Siamese Dwarf named Mr Peabody. So as you can see even though her shop has mainly paintings of chairs (which I also love and have had quite an extensive collection of chairs) she is an animal lover like myself and it sure showed up with this etsy transaction she made with me.

When I received my print, done on very good quality paper I might add, it was accompanied by a lovely note card with a picture of a loon, something I fell in love with when visiting Canada years ago, with very kind and encouraging words. Also accompanying the print was a lovely bookmark business card that I shall use and think of this wonderful artist every time I see it. And then there was Cedric, who looked 'in person' more like Jazz and made me cry. It took awhile to gather myself together and open the little burlap wrapped package I also found in the parcel.

I unwrapped it and found that sweet little heart necklace you see in all the pictures. It was handmade by Pey. On one side it has Jazmines name accompanied by lots of spots and the other side has 'Je taime', which for those who don't speak French means, I love you. If seeing the print of Cedric started the waterworks this brought on a flood. She told me that she had made one for a beloved pet she had lost and made this one for me for Jazz. I can't tell you how deeply touched I was from this great act of kindness from a complete stranger but I do know that though we are separated by many miles and in different countrys even that I will never forget her kindness along with her great ability to capture my heart like no other piece of art ever has.

You really should take a bit of time and explore her shops and read about her here. One thing I found very 'Twilight zone" was that she was born on August 14th, that was the day that Jazmine died. Strange how life works, isn't it?

Anyway I wanted to tell you about this when I announced the winner. Monday Sept. 14th I was supposed to make the announcement. Monday was the first month anniversary of Jazmines passing. It was harder than I expected and I had to postpone it until Tuesday but I needed to go out yesterday and do some shopping and was too tired when I got home. So I apologize for the delay but I have been working on this all afternoon. So here are the results of the 'contest'.

I had 24 entries over the course of a week of getting back to posting, including the post I made last night/early this morning. I thank each and everyone of you that took the time to read my posts, I know that they weren't the most peppy and uplifting I've done and I do so appreciate you sticking with me and all your kind words of encouragement and sympathy, may your kindness be returned to you a hundred fold.

I counted each comment as an entry so those who commented more than once got an entry for each one. I assigned each entry a number in order from the first to the last and used a random number generator to pick a winner. That number that came up was 20. :)

So that means that the winner is M.E.!

Congratulations!

If you would just email me your snail mail address I will get your prize out to you ASAP (organicodysseys@gmail.com).

The Prize? The Bluebirds of Happiness earrings. If for some reason you don't have pierced ears please let me know and I will make them clip on's or I can make it into a necklace for you! Just let me know what you'd like!

Thank you all again for participating and please keep coming back, I promise my posts will get a bit lighter! :)

Hope you all are having a great week!



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