Vegan Celebrations and Lucky Black Cats

>>  Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I have the great luck to be able to celebrate my wedding anniversary between the yearly Veg Fest events in my area. This year on our 24th (but who's counting?), we attended the 4th annual Tampa Bay gathering located off the beautiful Hillsborough River. As usual there was delicious food, cool music and a full day of activities from petting friendly animals to watching videos and listening to informative speakers.

We got to see the popular film Vegucated. We also enjoyed Dr. Milton R. Mills give an interesting presentation about keeping our bodies (specifically our colons) healthy through eating plants. He addressed the serious topic of food choices in a humorous, easy to digest way.  And Jane Velez-Mitchell was just a ball of energy and enthusiasm in her talk to motivate the audience to get active in helping animals. 

The week after we went to the 8th annual Central Florida Veg Fest and as the announcement says it's an extremely family and pet friendly setting. We thoroughly enjoyed the talks presented by body builder, vegan-athlete-extraordinaire Robert Cheeke. And abolitionist speaker, educator and activist Elizabeth DeCoux gave a riveting and compelling talk on why justice to our fellow Earthlings is long overdue.

In both events there were great exhibits and lots of fun to be had. Along with the memories of sharing a special time with other compassionate people, we came home with a goodie bag filled with coupons, brochures, buttons, stickers and samples: 

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Here's a happy me standing in front of the Take Your Blinders Off video truck operated by the amazing activist and animal vet Randall Cannon. His inexhaustible dedication is truly admirable.
The video Why Vegan from the EVOLVE campaign is one of my favorites for it's solid message of compassion and it's closing question asking "why aren't you vegan"? And I too would like to know - If you're not vegan - Why not?

So that was our very perfect two week anniversary celebration... 

Here at home the time of black kitties is relevant again in my life. We're thrilled that this little guy made his way to us. We've named him Oz and he was found of all places, by a fruit and vegetable stand at a local market. When I first saw him, I picked him up and held him out to everyone around asking "Casa? Casa?" 
For sure he had no takers and no home. As it turned out we learned his mother had tragically been run over and his only surviving sibling was rescued just that day. 


Sweet little purring orphan - He truly was meant to be a member of our family. 
For those who may not know... Black cats don't fare well this time of year. So lucky for us all, for so many reasons... He couldn't have come into our lives at a better time! 

To Happy Anniversaries, Happy Kindness Festivals and Happy Halloweens... May our dreams of love, peace and hope all come true. 

8 comments :

proud womon October 31, 2013 at 12:40 AM  

thank you for sharing bea... it is nice to be able to put a face to your name...

and lucky, lucky oz - and he is so very handsome - i'm a sucker for a black cat - i have shared my life with a few over the decades and my shadow is no exception - he is 10 now and came into my life when he was only about 5 weeks old - a tiny, tiny wee boy - we met in a supermarket car park...

thank you for being such a voice for our nonhuman kin...

veganelder October 31, 2013 at 4:19 AM  

Congratulations on your anniversary! Best wishes and good thoughts to y'all. :-)

It sounds like you had a good time on your visits. Thanks for the link to Elizabeth DeCoux, I was unfamiliar with her.

And Oz...good grief...thank you so much for taking him in...he looks like a very handsome and happy fellow. A youngster who will likely treat y'all with lots of wild romps through the house at strange times. :-)

Happy Anniversary and also Happy Oz Halloween!

Marla October 31, 2013 at 7:18 AM  

Lovely, Bea! Hugs to your new little Oz, too.

Bea Elliott November 3, 2013 at 6:32 AM  

Hi proud womon - Glad a happy face to the name suits you. I too have a history of memories with black cats... Some better than others - Wish I had been born with all the knowledge my gray hair indicates I've accumulated!

Sending hugs to shadow and you. I know you both fell into the best of chance when you met each other in that wonderful parking lot.

Bea Elliott November 3, 2013 at 6:40 AM  

Hi veganelder - Yes, it was an exceptionally good few days... After a run of some bad ones they were very welcome.

And the strangest thing about this fellow Oz - He adores our dog Tucker and the feeling is mutual. They wallow in each others fur, breath and slobber. They are the closest of buddies as if they'd been friends since forever. I know I'll eventually post photos of the two of them together. Oz literally uses Tucker as a nap-mattress. Who knew?

There's still pangs of course of who's not here... But - We take the smiles and joys where we can. Thanks for adding those into the world in your own way too.

Bea Elliott November 3, 2013 at 6:43 AM  

Hi Marla! We'll take all the cuddly hugs we can get! It's a perk of narrative activism! ;)

Laloofah November 9, 2013 at 11:44 AM  

A belated Happy Anniversary to you!! And I love that photo of you (I agree that it's great to finally put a lovely face to your name!) with the I Love Being Vegan sign that I just pinned it. :-)

Bea Elliott November 27, 2013 at 7:42 AM  

Hi Laloofah! And a belated thank you! Gosh am I ever behind! Lovely face? Maybe... But also an exhausted one - Tis the season and we always begin it with our annual yard sale. That's enough to fill up a whole month of sorting, cleaning, fixing and so on. Glad it's done though! Now for all the delicious ThanksLiving celebrations! Hope you have a great one as well! Thanks for the visit. ;)