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Other Things You Might Like to Know:
The original artwork is by Melinda Nettles © 2017 Melinda Nettles | Designed and printed (one little shirt at a time) in Oregon, USA | T-shirts are by Bella + Canvas, assembled in Nicaragua of US components. |
The Back Story:
Howie rarely ever lost his temper, especially in Autumn when the leaves were falling, and the warm afternoon sun was on his back. ...Well, there was that time ‘round last Thursday when that stinking squirrel was taunting Howie with his chattering chatter up on the fence post, just beyond Howie’s reach, whereupon Howie got himself a little cross with impatience and frustration, but then the wind picked up and Howie followed the scent of fallen apples on down the lane for a roll under the Furokawa’s old apple tree and he was quickly back to his usual mild-mannered self again, having almost immediately put that taunting squirrel out of his mind.* And so today, as the jays chattered and the golden sun made the leaves all glowing in their red and yellows, and the browning grasses ‘round the fence post, wet with last night’s rain, lifted up their mustery perfume, Howie just closed his eyes and listened to the world, transfixed in an ether of happy contentment, and entered into another round of his ongoing internal dialogue about the relative merits of the various seasons, and if in fact Autumn wasn’t indeed the best one of them all, a dialogue he would surely revisit after the snows came and he was having a delicious snooze on the hearth rug, cheerful flames crackling away beside him and Glenellen the cat draped over his toes. But that was a dialogue for another day. For now, this here was the best day of them all. *Ever So Important Note: It was a skill of Howie’s to be able to just Let Stuff Go. It was a mystery where this gift came from, nature or nurture well who can really say, what with that high-strung bunch of pound dogs who had been his companions in the early days, but somehow he came out of it all right and to this day just knows how to Roll With It in circumstances when the rest of us Simply Go Berserk, a most useful quality in any creature if you don’t mind him staying so. |