Cats, cats, cats, and more cats, part 2

I said I would be back with the random cats around my house! If you are interested, you can find part 1 here in which I said "I have quite a few around the place, some because I fell in love with them myself, others because for some weird reason people think I like cats and have given me a lot of items over the years. Really strange, I know. Why would they think something like that? 😂"

Let's start with a cat in existential crisis. I get you, cat, I really do. I feel like screaming this way a lot these days.
When the resident artist with the fuzzy ears decided to turn my beloved bunny peeler into art - in other words, he knocked it down and broke it - I had to look for a replacement. The bunny peeler had been a gift from my cat food shop (the best blade ever), so I had to settle for a black cat instead. Gundel and I love black cats. As expected, it's not as good as the bunny, but it does the job.
Oh, and those are cat tins behind it. They came with some cat medication and are perfect for holding tea, wire, and beads.

"Are you interested in a Steiff cat?" As I have mentioned before, Steiff has a huge variety of dogs, but not so much of cats, and we already had the most common post-war ones, so our reply to our seller acquaintance was a little lukewarm.
"She has a red ribbon." Steiff cats (and dogs) often had a ribbon around the neck, so that didn't tell us much. "In the ear." Now that made our ears go up like those of a cat. If it was really a red ear tag, that would mean pre-war and was definitely worth looking at.
It was love at first sight. Not only has the lady the beautiful green-blue eyes (we always called them pre-war eyes because after the war the cat eyes turned a more vivid green instead) that we loved so much, she also wasn't a tabby as in striped, but had more of a dotted fur. She was absolutely gorgeous and is - along with Fluffy, but that's another story - still my favorite Steiff cat. She's almost 100 years old, can you believe that?

I deliberately took her photo next to those scratches on my sideboard. Wanna guess? Yes, it's another artwork by the resident artist (Marsha, how's that for the next SIA challenge? 😜). In his defense, he was inspired by an earlier piece of art by Greebo, displayed on the same sideboard.

When I saw this cat keyring at a jewelry shop, I just couldn't resist ... I had to make the ex buy it for me 😂 That sounds worse than it was, really. I just said "ooh, I love her" and he asked me if I wanted her. We were on a shopping tour through antique and thrift shops on a day off and had been prepared to put down a bit of money here and there.
Oh yes, I wanted her. I love my silver cat. She's cute and heavy, and if I can't find my keys in my shopper because they have once again hidden in the bottom corner, I always feel around for her.
Once I thought I'd lost her, the screw of the keyring had unscrewed. Ever since the first thing I do when grabbing my keys is to make sure the screw is tight.

This is another cat I can identify with on some days when I'm not in cat peeler screaming mode.
It's a print by Wiebke Rauers, a German freelance illustrator.

I told you before that Steiff didn't just make plush animals, but also a lot of wooden toys.
Pictures of Steiff animals also appear on a lot of other items, however (which is a topic for another post).
This is one of them. I have three of these little plastic bowls for children in my collection, another one with a Zotty teddy and a cat, and one with two dwarfs. This one has a Cosy Molly and a Cosy Snobby dog watch over a sleeping Floppy Kitty (Floppy animals had embroidered "closed" eyes).
There's just a copyright mark for Steiff on it but no maker, and I never bothered trying to find out more. I have some smaller plush animals sitting in there, so you can still see the design.
Can't you imagine toddlers eating from these? They are cute, sturdy and easy to grab. The bowls, not the toddlers.

I own a small collection of Zippos with cats on them, most of them gifts. I used to use all of them, but now they decorate my cat book cabinet.
Once we were at a pub. It was quite full and when we left the table, the next group was already over it. Right outside the door I noticed I had forgotten my pack of cigarettes - you can tell from that how long ago that was! - and my favorite Zippo. We are talking not even a minute before I was back, but both the pack and the lighter were gone. I asked at the table and just got shaking heads, so I asked the waiter and he said no one had given it to him.
So I went back to the table again and said it was impossible they hadn't seen it. All of them looked at one guy, one of the girls looking mad and giving him a sign, so he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out my Zippo and cigarettes. I was upset and said "So you really just lied to me?". He didn't even look embarrassed and shrugged. One of them could have caught up with us easily. I admit I called him something when I left. He could at least have apologized. The girl said something I don't remember, but the others just laughed at him for getting caught. Some people!

I didn't try to polish these or anything, the use and wear is telling their own story.

I got this cute little pair years ago as a Christmas gift from a colleague. The pinkish stone is so pretty. I choose to believe that these two are friends.

Have you ever heard of The Kindness Rocks Project?
It's about painting pebbles or rocks and hiding them in public for someone else to find. Children do it, but also grownups. There are Facebook groups where you can share your finds or the rocks you painted yourself. The rocks can have messages, little paintings or both.

An artist friend of mine (I'm not saying the name because she's in web timeout as far as I know) painted rocks for a local project. She showed pictures, and when I said how much I loved this one, she very generously offered it to me as a gift.
It ended up in our customs office. At the time, they picked random private parcels for checks and you had to go to the office to open the parcel as they weren't allowed to, and then they would determine its value to see if fees incurred.
When I put the rock on the table, the clerk took it, turned it around and asked me what it was. "Uh, a rock with a cat painting on it?" "Yes, but what is it?" "It's a rock. There's nothing more to it. There's this project for which people paint and hide rocks. An artist friend participates in her town and sent this one to me because I liked it." "Oh." We looked at each other, maybe she tried to read my mind for the reason why anyone would do any of this. "A rock." "Your friend did that beautifully." "Yes." "Okay, I guess ... that's it then. Have a nice day." And off we went, my rock and I.

I love it when an item comes with an extra story on top of the original story 😁 

That's it for today, but I'm pretty sure there will be a part 3. See you then!