Boo Boo . My predecessor was actually Boo Boo II . He was named after his mother ’ s beloved bird dog . Southern humans are so predictable when it comes to naming practices . I could go on as to my canine antecedents , but will not . This bitch is the star of all shows . Suffice it to say , my human loves Spaniels of all sorts . He can never have another American Cocker on account of that Boo Boo . Lord Almighty , I hate that joker . Anyhoo , Tub-oh toyed with a getting an English Cocker , but he did not make a move until the rescue lady contacted him about moi !
A Messenger message communicated the availability of a certain pedigreed Boykin ( you got that right , reader ). The communication piqued fatso ’ s interest . The rescue lady shared my foster lady ’ s contact information . The human and the foster lady spoke on the phone . Southern pleasantries were exchanged . I inevitably rolled my big yellow eyes . The foster lady ’ s family ’ s place on the Gulf is near one of my human ’ s childhood haunts . They arranged to meet so Tub-oh could see the marvelousness that is me !
As the song “ Just One Look ” goes , one glance “ was all it took .” I am not surprised as I am pretty damn spectacular — that you have to already know . Picture it . Bear Point Spring , 2018 . My soon-to-be tubby human spied me from a distance . I was trotting down a wharf following a beer cooler , because I am a lady like that . In one glimpse , my human decided that I was better than any bloody English Cocker . As if I could be anything else ! Please ! It was decided I would join him in a week ’ s time . We played a little bit that day . Dude is no athlete . He does have a soft stomach . I use it as pillow when I want something .
On that day , I was a tad timid at that stage of my life , not to mention scarred from my recent traumas . He seemed nice enough . I sat in his lap for a few moments . During our introduction , the foster lady informed Tuboh of three things about me . I will sum them up for you : bitch is crafty , bitch relishes soft surfaces , and bitch likes sweets . That foster lady is a quick study . I am cunning . All lives which cross my own ultimately revolve around me .
Take , for instance , my bowel movements alone . They condition the days of multiple people . The soft surface thing is real . Old Asian rugs , huge poofs , fluffy pillows , rococo revival settees , antique beds , and even nicely folded dress shirts are all to my liking . The tubby human ’ s lap has already been mentioned . Princesses like me need thrones . As to sweets , it has been proven that I will go for ice cream over bacon any damn day . I might not be sweetness all of the time , but I like sweets . These traits and preferences will be revealed more fully in the future . On this day , I first encountered the human . Graying and goggled , he is a rather oddlooking sort of chap . It was kind of cute the way he waved at me as he departed after that first meeting . He still waves when he leaves me for work in the morning . More on that ritual on accounts to come .
Back on topic again , I spent another week with my lovely foster family . They are good people . On the appointed day , the rounded one returned and took me to Mobile . We first visited what was my first real home , a pink shotgun off a square in one of Mobile ’ s older residential quarters . It was double shotgun in that some rooms were connected by two sets of aligned doors . I know this now because the human is an architectural and art historian . I figured that out soon enough on account of hundreds of books in the Shoty . I immediately noticed a white sofa in the living room . It remains technically off limits to me , but rules do not really apply to my brown ass . We continued our progress through our home . Books filled the dining room , and even the kitchen . They were in bedroom as well . I soon discovered that the human not only likes to read but also to write . This bitch has given him plenty of material . You will have the pleasure of learning more of me , his four-legged muse ( think of me on my settee , all Pauline Bonaparte-by-Canova-like ), in ensuing installments of my life story . Next up is my first trip to a beloved plantation up the country in the Alabama Black Belt . Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O ’ Hara has nothing on me !
MEET CART BLACKWELL
Cartledge Weeden Blackwell III , “ Cart ,” is a historian and a curator . Blackwell was born in Selma , Alabama . He obtained an undergraduate degree from the College of Charleston and his graduate degree from the University of Virginia . He authored Of People and Of Place : Portraiture in Alabama ( 1870-1945 ): Reconstruction to Modernism for the Alabama Chapter of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America ( NSCDA ). His second book , Of Color and Light : The Life and Art of Artist-Designer Clara Weaver Parrish , is to be published by the University of Alabama Press in the winter of 2025 .
Blackwell has penned scores of articles for magazines and numerous essays for exhibit catalogues . An eighthgeneration Alabamian , Cart loves his native state . When not found on his family ’ s farm in Wilcox County , he is on the Gulf Coast . Regardless of where he finds himself , Mae , his crafty spaniel , is always by his side !