Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Life in a Fishbowl


One of the best parts of being a bona fide Cat Lady is that life is never dull. Our ten cats opened my eyes to so many new vistas. I escaped the ivory tower of the museum world to find a more meaningful existence at Catland. Actually, “escaped” is not the correct word because I am still gainfully (thank heaven!) employed as an editor of art books. But adopting and domesticating orphaned felines gave me an unexpected opportunity to achieve that perfect “unified oneness,” as the New Agers like to say. No life in a fishbowl for this Cat Lady, simply a life well lived, and certainly outside the box.

But then along came a fishbowl. While trolling for goodies on eBay, I found a collectible that only an antiques-loving Cat Lady would long to acquire. Although the $1,500+ price tag of the Muskota cat [and fishbowl] is way out of my league, I can’t help thinking that an unusual art object such as this one belongs in my home of disparate artworks.

You see, before I began adopting cats, Cat Man and I collected cracked pots by the dozen and by some of the best 19th- and 20th-century American potteries. We did not care if the bowls and vases we discovered in consignment shops were flawed or slightly chipped or broken; we loved the colors and textures of pottery by Roseville, Van Briggle, and Weller. Our “cracked-pot collection” defies the matchy-match philosophy of decorating, which must be among the reasons why I am coveting this fishbowl cat by none other than Weller.

Query of the Day: Would somebody please throw a penny into the [missing]fishbowl? I am starting my acquisition fund today.

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