FUN MONDAY - COLLECTION

Marieposa says : For some reason or another we all collect something and we collect it for reasons that will definitely make for good reading. So on Monday, I want to see your collection.

(sorry for those who saw my cat collection already in Show & Tell)

I really don't know how, when and why my cat collection started ! But certainly more than 35 years ago. I think somebody offered me a little ceramic cat ...... and look now !!

When you come into my house the first thing you will see is this glass vitrine where some of the small cat items are shown. They are coming from different countries all over the world. My friends use to buy them when they go travelling or when they find a special cat somewhere.





These little chinese once are very special, they are of porcelain and very old probably beginning 20th century. I got them from a neighbor whose nephew was working in China in 1919.



See the one on the toilet covered with the bandages ? My son bought it for me when I was sick !
The little cats out of glass came from Venice (Italy)



This little watch is one of my favourite cat items. The cats are carved in horn. The watch doesn't work anymore of course. I found it in London in Portobello market.






Cats are like Russian dolls, you can put them one in the other

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The one beneath is very special. I found it on the Chrismas market in Waterloo. It is made out of pasta. If you look right you will recognize different pasta forms. For example the wings are made out of "farfalle" (butterfly form), the body of a macaroni, and the arms also in a small noodle form. The whole angel had then been painted in gold.








These cats I got from American friends. One says "Husband and Cat missing - Reward for Cat" and the other says "If you hate cats you must have been a rat in your former life".



A cute blue ceramic cat I received from friends in London





In my kitchen too I am watched by different cats.



This cat can shake its head when you move it and I use it to put some fashion collars in it.



I love these wooden cats because they have such an elegant shape.



These little cats look almost real but they are sitting in a treasure chest.
A friend of mine brought them from Poland.




A lemon transformed into a cat.



and this tall cat has the size of a four or five year old and watches over the living entry.

I think I better stop here otherwise in a year I am still busy with Fun Monday's collection !

SOME MORE ABOUT MY TRIP TO GREECE

The past week I spent mostly in a bus travelling through Greece to see the most important sites of Greek mythology and history. But I also stayed two days in Athenes.

These nice paintings I found on the wall of two houses, make them bigger the inscriptions are quite funny ! As it is in English I suppose it had been painted by some english speaking taggers.

For the first time I was quite unlucky with the choice of our guide. (see post beneath) She rattled her

explanations about the sites like a machine gun and obviously had learned everything by heart. The result was this :

A "just married" American couple from San Fransisco slept during the whole trip and only woke up to climb out of the bus. But before they read in a book what they were going to see ! I always woke them up when the stop was approaching and we had a lot of fun !

When she started to quote her texts in English and French, people stand or walked around, taking a sunbath, or cleaning their fingernails like our old 84 year travel companion behind the guide. We all had decided to complain about her to our respective travel Agencies.

The tip of the top then was when approaching Athenes and the end of our trip, she proposed us some "Greek" music. We all expected some nice and light music to get some funny ambiance, but she spoiled us with some melodramatic opera songs so that we all had the feeling to attend a funeral. Suddenly almost everybody had something in their ears, Ipods or other helpful means, I opted for some tissus which I put in my ears. Finally somebody asked her to stop the music and from this moment on she sank in a offended silence and didn't speak to us anymore.

Nobody got a "good bye" or a "have a nice trip back". She didn't even leave the bus and left us without any explanations in Athenes !