On a cold, bitter day when a chill rain alternates with biting sleet and frigid snow, and when ice seems to seep through one’s very veins, you know you’re in Central New Jersey in early winter.
Mere thoughts of going outside are unwelcome. Actually, going outside is avoided. Warm, safe, and cozy are the aims on such days…and maybe a cup of tea (honey fig tea, if you can. Trust me!)
But, oh, to be a Tabby’s Place cat!
The sanctuary is a warm place, full of cuddles and coziness, with promises of more that are kept each and every day. These promises are kept by the cats and are guaranteed by their caregivers.
For his part, Hips helps ensure that laps are appropriately filled to help chase off the chill. While Olive or Valerie may not climb up – paraplegia provides limitations – their attentions and affections are clear, although Olive’s may be best shown to visitors (Seriously, visit Olive. She loves you!).
But they all, along with the full lobby clowder, dare to delight in you and with you. Besides, blankets are plentiful to assist with keeping the chill at bay. (Boobalah reminded me to tell you that they entertain you with their antics. Her favorite antics involve wand toys.)
Although many of the Tabby’s Place cats came in from the cold alone, it is often the way that creatures come together two by two in the ark that Jonathan built.
Sometimes trouble comes in twos also. Oram has a pair of challenges, being both FeLV+ and, well, Oram. For a while, he was flying solo, which left him with a bit too much Oram time (read: exuberant youth runs amok). Happily for him, he has found a roomie and a friend in Ponce de Leon, of whom you’ve probably heard much and for very good reason. Poncey has two challenges of his own, being FeLV+ and FIV+. (Maybe Poncey has three challenges, if Oram is included. See the thing about the amokness of a particular youth.) Nevertheless, these boys hold up their part of winter’s promise: all the warmth, all the love, and all the fun can be found at Tabby’s Place, just add toys and fish mush (also maybe some less-fun, much-needed non-clumping clay litter, which is always in short supply during a New Jersey winter).
If the furry lasses and laddies aren’t enough to convince you that your toesies are best toasted by all things Tabby’s Place, another reason is YOU! On a daily basis, the love that flows into the sanctuary from places far-off and nearby generates enough warmth to keep thousands of stew pots, chowder pots, and pasta pots at full heat even when the high temperature barely grazes 20F/-6.7C. Donations, be they monetary or in-kind, keep the operation rolling. Reading the newsletter and blog, staying in touch, and providing endless support keep the staff and volunteers running (okay, the cats have a bit to do with the mileage on our sneakers too).
Your generous giving of yourselves is what warms the Tabby’s Place hearth the most.
Following December and all of the year-end activities that come with it, along with the increase in decreasing temperatures, the desire for being wrapped up snug and quiet intensifies for so many of us (even the extreme extroverts, like me). Come January, everyone welcomes the chance to bask in the extra special warmth created during the season of giving. Sure, there may be a wintry mix falling from the sky, and there may be frost on the windows, but toes and toe beans alike are as cozy as our collective hearts because of you. Thank you!