Memories Are Made of This: Collections, Curios and Cats

For as long as I can remember, I have collected things. One of my first collections was cats.....small cats, medium sized cats, large cats, fuzzy cats, porcelain cats, ceramic cats, wooden cats, concrete cats, stuffed cats, cat ornaments, cat clothing, pictures of cats, real cats.....you name it. Madeline likes to call me The Crazy Cat Lady. I suppose she hit that one right on the mark!

Anything cat-like makes me smile. I am a cat lover in every way. One of my favorite parts of my cat collection when I was young was little ceramic cats that I often bought in gift shops when we traveled. Daddy always gave us "spending money," (really, isn't most money SPENDING money?) to use on our vacation. I was drawn to these cute little cats. I had them displayed in my room. George Newman made the coolest shelves for my cat collection. They were wooden boards that we painted PINK (of course) and they were joined together by ropes. We called them hanging shelves and they really were unique and fun. I wish I had a picture of them. Hopefully a picture will turn up somewhere sometime. Anyway, I had all my little cats proudly displayed on these shelves. Below them was a chest (pink) that I used to store all my stuffed cats in and on top of. It was truly the room of a cat lover! I know that once I went off to college Mom had my cat collection all packed up in a box for safety. Eventually she gave it to Madeline and I know it is around this house somewhere. I'd love to find it and go through it. I'm sure each little cat would bring back a memory. I remember one that was a natural piece of oddly shaped wood that had three little blue-eyed Siamese cats glued to it. I think that was always my favorite piece in the collection......that or the little cat with a real gold chain around his neck and hanging like a leash. (A cat on a leash is a real oxymoron in my mind.)

My Aunt Myrtle lived in The Methodist Home in Charlotte when she got older. She took ceramic classes there. I have a few cats she made for me in her classes and they are cherished additions to my collection. They are larger than the little cats I bought in the gift shops. They looked so stately and elegant amongst the smaller cats.

I am pretty sure that the stuffed cats and fuzzy cats are long gone, but my memory of them will never be! There was one little fuzzy white cat that I carried with me everywhere. I slept with him and loved him like he was a real pet. Madeline loves the stories I have told her about this cat....in particular the one in which I explained that I rubbed his little fuzzy head so much, it wore away and became very small. It really made him quite funny looking, but I loved him all the same!
One time I was playing out in the backyard and it was cold and icy from a previous snowstorm. I was all bundled up and couldn't move very well, but I still managed to carry my funny little furry cat with me! I slipped and slid into the creek. I was really scared and couldn't get out. I remember our neighbor, Terry Tillman, saw me and ran over and got me out. I was never so glad to see someone as I was her! I will forever be indebted to her. The worst part of that incident, once I was safely back in my yard, was the little cat who fell in the cold, dirty water when I slipped in. I remember either Mom or Martha (or both) going back to the scene of the incident with me and found my cat and got it out. When I saw how nasty and muddy and awful the cat was, I cried and threw it back in. I was devastated. They rescued the cat again and took it inside and tried to clean and dry it. I guess I eventually accepted the cat back, but in the meantime I will never forget the surprise I found on my bed one day.....a pink basket with not one, but three, little fuzzy cats in it! They were all different colors with little bows tied around their necks. I guess Mom and Dad had gone out and bought that for me trying to give me some sort of comfort. I played with those three kitties and petted them until they, too, had small flat heads!

It's no wonder that "Cats" is my favorite Broadway show. I have seen more shows than I can recall, many of them several times. I think I lost count at 9 for "Cats!" I love the show...everything about it. The cats and their movements in their costumes fascinate me. I love the music and the set. I love the comedy and the drama of it all. I am a big Andrew Lloyd Weber fan and I am also a T.S. Eliot fan. I have a copy of Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats." It is the book that inspired the musical. Carol Rose was my first 'victim' of accompanying me to see the show. We were in New York, and went to see the matinee on a whim. I was hooked as soon as we sat down in our seats! Jim, Mom, Madeline and some other friends have been 'victims' at other times. I am not sure anyone, except maybe Madeline, loves the show like I do. Perhaps you have to be a crazy cat lady to totally appreciate it!

In my lifetime I have collected Dreamsicles, dolls, Precious Moments figurines, Willow Trees, seashells, Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, Pandora jewlery, minature boxes, coffee mugs, Christmas ornaments, angels, Playbills, ticket stubs, and many other things. I doubt anything will ever top my cat collection. In fact, anyone walking through my house today will find some sort of cat figurine, picture, or pillow in almost every room (and of course, my ever present Leo and Peabo!). I just can't seem to let it go.

On Dec. 25, 1991, Mom started a collection for Madeline. Fortunately for me, this collection has "lived" in my house, but I feel the day coming before too long when Madeline will take her collection to her own home. Her collection is antique perfume bottles. They are so beautiful. I enjoy looking at them every day. I have the letter that Mom gave Madeline with her first 2 perfume bottles she received for Christmas that year....she was 2 years old! I keep the letter in the little drawer in the curio cabinet that houses most of her bottles. It says: "Sweetie Pie, Gramma is starting a collection of antique and unusual perfume bottles for you. You may keep them in a "safe" place until you have your own place where you can display them. Here is one for your first and second year. Hope I can find a special one each year. I love you--Gramma." Not only did Mom find a special one for each year, she found many more than that! We haven't gotten any new ones to add to the collection for awhile, but I feel like it is something I will always want to look for when I visit an antique shop. And for now, the bottles are In a 'safe' place.
The first time Mom and Martha came to visit me after I moved to Florida we decided to go to St. Pete and tour the Dali Museum, have lunch and sightsee. We passed the Museum of Fine Arts and noticed a banner that said they had a display of Scent Bottles Through the Centuries. If was from a collection of Joan Hermanowski. We couldn't help but go see the display. I remember how breathtaking some of the bottles were and how interesting their history was. Mom enjoyed this exhibit as much as I can ever remember her enjoying anything! I still have the booklet we received when we toured this exhibit. I actually came across it at Mom's hosue when I was packing her up to move to Florida. In the booklet, there are pictures of some of the bottles with a description and their histories. Madeline's collection has several bottles that are similar to the ones in the booklet. It's nice to know the time period they might have come from and the use that they had. I keep that booklet in the drawer with Grandma's letter to Madeline about the bottles.

For years we had the perfume bottles here and there, but we never had a great place to display them all. As the collection grew, it became very frustrating. One day I was playing bridge at my friend Dee's home. She and her husband are antique dealers and she knows how much I love antiques. When I walked in her house, I saw this unusual curio cabinet in the living room. I knew it hadn't been there before. I immediately started admiring it and saying how it would be perfect for the perfume bottle collection. A lot of people didn't know about the collection since it has never been displayed in a great place for people to see and enjoy. Dee told me they were going to "fix up" the cabinet a bit, such as mending a broken leg and replacing the light inside it. She also told me it was for sale. I told her I would buy it right then and there! Nevermind that I didn't know where I was going to put it or how much it was going to cost. Of course Dee gave me a great deal and when she and her husband delivered it to my home, I immediately found the perfect place for it. It only meant changing around a couple of pictures and knickknacks. It is so beautiful and is now a conversation piece for anyone visiting. I love the history and stories behind the piece of furniture and each perfume bottle inside it. (And of course there is one bottle with cats on it!)
To date, Madeline has 36 bottles in a curio cabinet and 21 minature bottles which are on a little shelf in her bathroom. Mom had a few of Madeline's bottles living at her house as well, so when we packed Mom's stuff up to move, we labeled the box of perfume bottles "for Madeline." Who knows....we may need to buy another cabinet for the minature bottles and the hopefully growing collection.

Thinking of collections, cats and curio cabinets, I can't help but muse over the phrase "curiosity killed the cat." I also believe the myth that cats must really have 9 lives since their curiostiy so often seems to get the best of them. The proverb "curiosity killed the cat" is used to warn of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation. Research showed me that a less frequently seen rejoinder to "curiosity killed the cat" is "but satifaction brought it back." I am definitely a believer in that rejoinder and I think I must have to start adding that to the phrase as I use it.

I have had a few real live cats in my life, starting with my red Tabby cat Tiger, or more affectionately called Dinkle. We got this cat when I was 8 years old when we first moved to Ridgeview Drive. He was killed right before I went off to college, so I really enjoyed growing up with Dinkle. Although Martha's friend across the street, Karen Hege, had the mother cat and the litter of kittens from which we chose Dinkle, I think he became more my cat that Martha's. She loved him too, but the last 4 years of his life she was away in college and the 4 years before that she was a busy high-schooler. So, I really had Dinkle to myself a lot. I remember coming home from school so anxious to see him that Mom would let me sneak him up to my room (he was an outdoor cat) with the exception that I would put him out before Daddy got home! Moms are good about those sneaky kinds of things sometimes.

I now have Leo and Peabo. Between Dinkle and Leo, I had Minnie and Oscar. I also had a few dogs along the way. Peabo is a precious and sweet cat, also a red Tabby (as was Oscar and so is Leo). Peabo is 16 and 1/2 years old. His hearing is bad and he's pretty lazy. He sleeps a lot, but he proves he has a bit of spunk when one year old Leo annoys him. He can pounce and hiss with the best of them!
Leo is my newest cat....a rescue cat and a birthday surprise last year. I love him very much. I think he came at a time in my life when I needed something new to love. Funny thing is, Jim loves him as much as I do. Leo has truly become a part of our family. And I surely hope he has nine lives, because curiosity is bound to kill him....that is, unless satisfaction brings him back!

Leo has been in and on every possible place in this house. I don't mind him sleeping on a chair or an occassional foot of the bed, but not on the dining room table, the countertops or anywhere else like that. We have a trusty spray bottle of water that we use on him when we find him in or on an undesireable spot. Sometimes he is just so darn cute it's hard to spray him, but he always knows he is being "bad" when we yell his name. He quickly jumps off.

So far Leo hasn't gotten into the curio cabinet that houses the perfume bottle collection. I suppose it is because the door is always shut. I have noticed him admiring all those beautiful bottles, however, when the light is on inside the cabinet.
Keeping Leo out of this cabinet might be one of my biggest challenges. So far in his short life he has been inside my bathroom cabinet, my closet, the dryer, the linen closet, on top of the computer printer, the shelves in the laundry room, kitchen cabinets, any open suitcase, shopping bag, or purse....you name it!

As the wise Dr. Seuss wrote: "Young cat, if you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you would learn! The most wonderful stuff!" I am pretty sure Leo and Peabo adhere to this advice.

I guess without curious cats or curio cabinets full of interesting collections, life could be pretty dull. The stories that develop from those things are endless.....and memories are made of this.