#when to say goodbye

[dogcancerfoundation]

Saying Goodbye to Your Dog

Facing the well-being of an aging or ailing dog brings forth a whirlwind of emotions and concerns, often leading you to wonder, “Is it time to let go?” The contemplation of euthanasia is undoubtedly one of the hardest decisions a pet owner may ever face. There’s no universal answer that suits every situation or dog. A lot of the decision-making boils down to a combination of observable facts and…

[theorangepdf]

the feeling when you’ve gotten used to a lyric or a quote or a poem but then you read it again one random day and suddenly it focuses and then explodes into meaning

[obsob]

love is stored in the parallel play

[tubbytarchia]

I don't know what this is all I know is that LimL Joel makes me really emotional

[soaring-trash]

What happens if you leave?

[fiveredlights]

i really hate in the end that he did go quietly. not the media coverage surrounding it, but on track. drove the last lap alone. no other cars in sight. last memories of him on track are him driving into a pitlane. no donuts. no celebration. quietly left the cockpit, the place he’s known for years and walked away. last driver out the paddock. and that was the end.

[jackshiccup]

some modern hijacks for the soul (and bumping shoulders as a love language)

shoutout @midoristeashop for these swag brushes <3

[ruporas]

kiss the pain away

[bumblesnail]

pre ts gang ✨

[bluestempigeons]

I keep seeing people on Beau Post say that fluffy = happy and. no. it very much does not. so here's a visual reference for anyone curious.

No puff (neutral)

Smallpuff (comfy) - note the relaxed body language and lowered wings.

Bigpuff (defensive) - note the tension in her body (tense wings, head pulled toward the body). Most pigeons will do this around the nest when they see a threat (in this case it was a chicken who wasn't anywhere near her and didn't even try anything, but Beau is a very defensive nester) and it usually is followed by a nasty wing slap and/or a bite.

You will also see pigeons stretch their necks out and flatten all their feathers when scared and ready to run, but nesting birds will usually pick fight over flight.

[vigilskeep]

when you first start the cousland origin, you can have some conversations with arl howe, teyrn cousland, and duncan that shed some interesting light on the political situation in ferelden. it’s definitely the origin where you get the most context on the rebellion and on cailan and his father. while howe isn’t exactly the most trustworthy of sources, he is also one of the most openly critical of cailan that we have access to, which i think is worthy of interest

howe remembers maric with what the toolset describes as “genuine fondness”: “your father hasn’t spoken of our time with him? that man took care of his friends. as they say, he was large as life and twice as tall!” i think we should pay particular attention to that man took care of his friends.

what howe’s talking about is a really important aspect of kingship, where you win the consent and enthusiasm of the nobility for your rule by offering rewards like wealth, land, and prestige to the loyal. kingship is always less stable than it’s portrayed, and this is one of the ways that kings must essentially sell to the nobility that answering to them is worth their time, which would be especially important in ferelden given everything we know about its culture. fereldans believe someone only has power when it is given by the loyalty of those below them, who have the right to freely rescind that loyalty. the dao codex says that “the sight of [fereldan kings] asking for—and working to win—the support of ‘lesser’ men is a source of constant wonder to foreign ambassadors.”

i suspect howe is remembering a maric fresh from the victories of the rebellion, who was able to reward those who had followed him with the spoils of those victories. at the end of the stolen throne, we see that in the final days of the rebellion, maric was killing those who had betrayed his mother to the orlesians even when they arrived under truce to meet him on holy ground. in dao, we see no lingering orlesian nobility except for those who married in and continue to be met with marked hostility. i think we can safely surmise that maric elected to make no conciliatory measures and give everything to those who had followed him; with the orlesians on the run and his people out for blood, he was in a strong enough position to do so, and it certainly served to win the fond memories of men like howe.

by contrast, howe goes on to say, “it’s too bad cailan isn’t half that.” the toolset notes establish very clearly that it’s the same issue, elaborating on howe’s thoughts: “bitter turn, i don’t get as much from the current king”, and “disdainful, i have no use for him, he does me no favours”. this isn’t a minor character detail, if howe’s last words when killed by the player are anything to go by. “maker spit on you... i deserved... more...” whatever it is that howe feels he should have been given, by the crown or anyone else, it characterises his actions and his defining treachery.

it’s in these same conversations that we see another side of this demonstrated. there are two points where howe can openly criticise the king, and bryce immediately admonishes him for both. one even has the toolset note: “speaks sharply, as a lord to a lesser man, not a friend to an equal”. it definitely comes across that way; the way he tells howe “that’s enough” is not far off the voice he uses when the player, his child, displeases him. bryce can’t tolerate any criticism of cailan, as the couslands in dao are ardent supporters of the king. to venture some hc, i suspect that this is not merely royalist fervour, and that howe’s resentment for having been given less is matched by bryce’s awareness of the precariousness of having more.

over the centuries, the theirins have consolidated their power and eradicated almost all the teyrns (the noble rank that is second only to the king). with the only other lingering teyrn being loghain, who is essentially part and parcel of the royal family, the couslands stand alone as the only real rivals to theirin power within ferelden. there are rumours that bryce was once considered for king instead of the theirins; he too could have decided to believe he “deserved more”. but unlike howe, and perhaps understandably given his strong position and happy growing family, he is satisfied with what he has. he will not take the risk of even the slightest challenge being made within his hall

(i expect that bryce’s satisfaction with the current situation further spurred howe’s dissatisfaction to its heights, given the complicated cousland-howe history and the fact that he was expected to accept a friend he had fought beside as a superior for the rest of his life.)

i don’t think howe’s judgement on cailan is likely to be without basis. we don’t hear about any victories the young king has to his name, from which he could have passed around spoils. (to be fair, cailan had harder luck than maric in this regard. a king who raises a successful rebellion gets to bring glory and prestige to everyone who follows him, whereas a king trying to rebuild after that rebellion mostly gets to bring, uh, taxes probably. especially on wealthy centres of trade like howe’s amaranthine, one might assume.) cailan also takes a far more diplomatic approach to the question of orlais, which perhaps predictably did not win over many nobles of howe’s generation. it makes sense that cailan’s strongest supporters would instead be men like bryce who hope for things to simply continue, peacefully, as they are. perhaps in another world where cailan had won the battle of ostagar, he might have earned wider respect. (you could actually argue on this basis that there’s more sense and purpose to cailan’s glory-seeking than he usually gets credit for.) but howe already acts before ostagar, which can only demonstrate his certainty in cailan’s failings at this point: his belief that even if cailan could win, he would not be stable enough to pursue justice for the couslands

[leupagus]

Ted Lasso, the character, is one of the only representations of 'sometimes getting better with your mental health issues means that you are less visibly happy, and that is okay, because you are not required to be happy in order to be loved' out there and I am really discouraged that so much of the audience is angry at that.

[ohrackham]

Here's my lovely wife, Nadja. Thank you, my love.

Nadja and Laszlo in What We Do in the Shadows: Local News

[thinwhitedoc]

SHERLOCK | Martin Freeman as John Watson

[bixels]

I'm not getting into The Giving Tree discourse...

[gvaine]

5.13 ⋄ The Diamond of the Day