Poppies and Puppies

Here are some more pictures from my visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I love Rookwood Pottery, and I love poppies, so I would love to have this vase. My picture doesn't really do the colors justice. This one from the museum is much better.

Yes, another poppy vase. One thing I really like about Arts & Crafts era vases and lamps is that so much of the work was done by women artisans. Like this one. They didn't really get famous, like their male counterparts, but they were there, and they are documented, some of them at least, and they did lovely work.

This little guy was just about my favorite item in the entire museum. And he is really old - 3rd century CE - just goes to show that even the ancient Chinese liked their cute dogs.

And the Japanese, in the 18th century.

So did the Koreans. This adorable little puppy (who looks an awful lot like puppy Miikka) is from the 16th century.

Tomorrow - Medieval European art and artifacts.

Meet Miikka!

On Saturday, an event I have been waiting 8 years for finally happened: We adopted a puppy! I love my cats, don't get me wrong, but they didn't fill the puppy-shaped hole in my heart. Well, pine no longer, o heart!

Miikka (no, that is not a typo) is supposedly a daschund/shepherd mix. Huh. We shall have to just wait and see what he ends up favoring when he gets older - at 8 weeks he is cute, and that is what matters! I had wanted a big dog to go hiking with and so forth, but all the bigger breed dogs I looked at were just too hyper, too big, too intimidating to the cats. Miikka is a good compromise - he's a puppy, but he isn't at all scary. I don't know if he will be up to long hikes, but we will find out eventually. I guess he could always end up in a backpack, much as I have mocked people who do that.
He is named after Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. We watched him a few years ago in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and liked him and his name... So far, the puppy has proved to be intelligent, and best of all, the cats aren't afraid of him.