pet heraldry, continued...

Thanks again, Wikimedia Commons.

Goodness, what have I gotten myself into? There are currently 82, count 'em, 82 images in Wikimedia Commons: Squirrels in Heraldry. That includes the one up above here, which is the coat of arms of Barguzinsk (Buryatia), dated 1790.

Cats are proving a little less bountiful. That will take some digging. Though I did find an unusual modern variant called the (ahem) Tigger.

what would your pet mean on your family crest?

Maybe you'd like to make your own family crest. Why not, right? (They had to come from somewhere.) And why not work your beloved family pet in there? Let's see if the ancient standards of heraldry equate your dear critter with the qualities you desire to advertise.

At this page, I learned that:
Dog = Courage, vigilance, and loyalty
Cat = Liberty, vigilance, forecast, and courage
Squirrel = Lover of the woods
Rabbit (also called Conie) = One who enjoys a peaceable and retired life

Should you happen to have a pet rhino, that's = ferocious when aroused.
I laughed out loud when I came to the definition of Woman = Various meanings. You best believe it!

Have a look at your options courtesy of the page by Fleur-De-Lis Designs. This is an extensive subject and I reserve the right to look at it more tomorrow.

england, 1587: our dogs are ye best

"THERE is no country that may (as I take it) compare with ours in number, excellency, and diversity of dogs."

Not that I'd thought about it very rigourously, but I always thought the Elizabethan reference work Holinshed's Chronicles were written solely by Holinshed. Not so. He had some help - a great deal of it from William Harrison, who includes in "A Description of Elizabethan England" quite a deal of musings "Of Our English Dogs and Their Qualities."

I have blogged upon a tidbit of this before - a snarky bit on ladies' lapdogs who hang about "as meet playfellows for mincing mistresses to bear in their bosoms, to keep company withal in their chambers, to succour with sleep in bed, and nourish with meat at board, to lie in their laps, and lick their lips as they lie (like young Dianas) in their waggons and coaches."

But there's so much more! How about
"Dogs of the homely kind are either shepherd’s curs or mastiffs. The first are so common that it needeth me not to speak of them."

"Some of our mastiffs will rage only in the night, some are to be tied up both day and night. Such also as are suffered to go loose about the house and yard are so gentle in the daytime that children may ride on their backs and play with them at their pleasures."

"Besides these also we have sholts or curs daily brought out of Ireland, and made much of among us, because of their sauciness and quarrelling. Moreover they bite very sore, and love candles exceedingly, as do the men and women of their country" (you should read the rest of THAT anecdote).

It's a bit long but very diverting - why not look it over? (Thanks to Bartleby.com.)

long ago: a pet squirrel in virginia

Once upon a time in 18th century Virginia, Elizabeth Ewell married her second husband. He was a French gentleman by the name of Galvan De Berneau, and as the excerpt below will prove, he must have been very fond indeed of her and her pet squirrel.

* * *

Of De Berneau Dr. Jesse Ewell wrote, 1869:

"He was a Frenchman of great vivacity and intensely frenchified. He could never acquire the true pronunciation of English. He had a residence near Dumfries called 'Rural Felicity', but he could never come nearer to the name than 'Fed-tr-al-city.' He was devoted to his wife and called her 'Honey.' I never saw them but I have seen Mrs. De B.'s portrait. She had a majestic figure, beautiful features and noble countenance. My childish fancy was much interested in a squirrel sitting on her shoulder in the portrait, and 'thereby hangs a tale."

"In those days ladies wore side pockets of large dimensions and in hers the pet squirrel nestled. On one occasion not finding his accustomed nuts he amused himself by cutting up the old man's gloves and also a piece of the lady's apron. She pronounced sentence of death against the pet but he pleaded for pardon and vowed that he would 'write one poetrie." After a long time he produced this which he read with great complacency :

'"How happy is de Bunny who lives upon de honey,
He find among us all his friend
He chaw in de pocket vidout distinctshon
His massa glove and his misses apron.'

"I do not remember how long he survived his effort but think the old gentleman, the old lady, and squirrel all died soon after without issue."

* * *

-- from Joanna Glassell, Virginia Geneaologies: A Genealogy of the Glassell Family Scotland and Virginia..., Joanna Glassell, Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden, M.A. (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: self published, 1891), p. 336.

prince rupert's devil dog, thanks to parlance

Yes, great thanks indeed to Parlance. Some of you may have seen her very recent comment and followed the link to Nicola Cornick's post, "One Man and his Dog," at WordWenches.

If you haven't I invite you to do so now. Little is needed from me in the way of introduction. Nicola has provided the backstory on a few of the portraits and anecdotes she has come across in her work. She speaks primarily of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a most fascinating figure of Charles I's time, and his poodle. Along the way you'll hear a bit about the actress Kitty Fisher and Lady Caroline Lamb, and the creatures who completed their lives and images.

I do think you'll enjoy yourself immensely. Read "One Man and his Dog."

diego has a pet deer

Remember my buddy Diego the Pomeranian?

Diego has a buddy of his own, as you see. That would be Spot, back there rocking the spots.

Spot hangs out at Diego's farm on WA State's Key Peninsula. He's part Sitka deer. A bit far south for Sitkas, but Spot is descended from a Sitka buck that was imported, I guess I'd call it.

Just thought you'd enjoy something fresh and personal on a summer Friday.

kitten calendar, with extras

So.

Got another kitten calendar.

Just like all the other kitten calendars. Nothing original or funny or anything, just the mere presence of kittens and flowers and blankies and zzzzzzzz......

But, if you are the genius with a Sharpie behind Kitti Graffiti, you don't have to take it any more! And suddenly those kitty calendars get way more entertaining. Got a Sharpie?

It's like kitten Dada. (See L.H.O.O.Q.)

Thanks for putting this in the latest newsletter, b3ta.

a classic: the cat came back

"You've never seen 'The Cat Came Back'?" John at the corner coffee shop said.

"No," I said. "You have to," he said. (John is a big Museum fan.)

I knew the song, of course. The cat came back the very next day, the cat came back, they thought he was a goner. . . There's a cartoon now, is there? Well no wonder I don't remember it. It's from Canada, created in 1988. And hopefully I'm not telling all of you stuff you don't already know, but the scene opens on an old gent practising his tuba when he hears a tapping on his door. Things go downhill from there - and the ending was a fresh enough take on the whole idea that I laughed out loud.

Getting rid of one yellow cat? How hard could it be?

**Thanks John!**

a potbellied pig rescue

Remember when potbellied pigs came on the scene as cool new exotic pets? I do. It was around the mid-eighties. I recall wondering which I'd rather have, a miniature pig or a miniature horse. (The answer: Neither, though they are both swell. I'd rather have a miniature cat.)

The first breed was originally brought over from Vietnam for zoos by a man named Keith Connell, and were bigger than the usual pet pig size you see today. Two other breed lines were established here in North America, and the result is the handy variety of low-slung porkers available today. There are actually a number of varieties in Vietnam itself, such as the "Heo Moi." You can get the short but sweet info on that in this article.

Alas, people grow tired of their pigs, or suffer misfortunes, or coldheartedly traffic in them, and the pigs take the brunt of it. They are abandoned or poorly cared for, like so many "inconvenient" pets these days (an intense peeve of mine, since I've spent my whole adult life choosing housing that would take my pets). Luckily, there are kind souls out there for everyone, including a low-slung oinker down on its luck.

Just such a place is Ironwood Pig Sanctuary of Tuczon, Arizona. They have a good site full of pictures and stories, if you'd enjoy learning about the hearts & souls of a few pigs - and I think you would.

the modern rabbit, distilled

I find today's subject delightful with a hip overlay. In 2006, Pictoplasma asked contemporary artists around the globe to submit their bunnies, and turned the resulting hundreds of images into a mandala.

Ranging everywhere from rude and creepy to baby-cute, the critters prove the inexhaustibility of individual vision and style. View the whole thing here: The Essence of Rabbit, or The Bunny Mandala Shrine. I tried to get more closeups but this is the best I could do so far.

catherine the great's pets

After children, dogs and animals in general were a great delight to Catherine II. of Russia, in connection with which many anecdotes have been recorded. In 1785, we are told how she took a fancy to a white squirrel, of which she made a pet, and about the same time she became possessed of a monkey of whose cleverness she would "the amazement of Prince Henry one day when Prince Potenkin let loose a monkey in the room, with which I began to play. He opened his eyes, but he could not resist the tricks of the monkey."

Her Majesty also had a favourite cat, which seems to have been a wonderful animal—"the most tomcat of all tomcats, gay, witty, not obstinate." In one of her letters she writes : "You will excuse me if all the preceding page is very badly written. I am extremely hampered at the moment by a certain young and fair Zemire, who of all the Thomassins is the one who will come closest to me, and who pushes her pretensions to the point of having her paws on my paper."

From Royalty In All Ages: The Amusements, Eccentricities, Accomplishments, Superstitions, and Frolics of the Kings and Queens of Europe (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1903), p. 261.

tax reduction and budget bureau: calvin coolidge's lion cubs

True. President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge had at one time lion cubs named Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau. They also had scads of cats and dogs and a few other critters, well loved or at least indulged, such as their collies Prudence Prim and Rob Roy. Read about them in this detailed and attentive article.

(It does contain an unfortunate story of Coolidge teasing the gentleman shoveling his snow one winter, which I didn't like so well, but Coolidge was a taciturn man and perhaps he just wasn't good with people that day.)

artist: sarah cloutier

Image copyright Sarah Cloutier, 2007.

Once when we were in Florence during the summer months we walked out from the city center, further than we usually do. We found ourselves in a quiet residential block of gray stone buildings and a greenish-gray, dusty park. The park's trees were large and gently sheltering - I think they were umbrella pines, though I can't swear to that - and along the wide paths elderly gentlemen in black slowly walked little dogs in the warm afternoon.

And that's what I vividly remembered when I came upon this serene painting by Sarah Cloutier, "Dog Walking." You may enjoy her other work too at her DeviantArt webpage.

Note: The Curator is disgusted with herself to have at first given the name incorrectly as "Susan." Do please look for the artist as Sarah.

50 dogs, one hunter - a classic tragedy

And I mean "classic" in the old sense: this is a post on the dogs of the hunter Actaeon of Greek mythology. It was he who, hunting with his pack of dogs in the woods, came across the goddess Artemis (Diana, in the Roman version) bathing. She was the most chaste and modest of goddesses, and forbade him to say any word or call any attention to the situation. But speak he did, and in her anger she changed him into a stag, whereupon his dogs did their job and tore him apart.

There were, by legend, fifty of them. And in 1898 E. Cobham Brewer, in his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, actually listed their names (I do not know why the apostrophes, though I imagine it's an old-school nicety of translation):

Alc (strength), Amaryn’thos (from Amary’thia, in Eubœa), As’bolos (soot - colour), Ban’os, Bor’eas, Can’ach (ringwood), Chediæ’tros, Cisse’ta, Co’ran (cropped, crop-eared), Cyllo (halt), Cyllop’ots (zig-zag runner), Cyp’rios (the Cyprian), Draco (the dragon), Drom’as (the courser), Dro’mios (seize-’em), Ech’nobas, Eu’dromos (good-runner), Har’pal (voracious), Harpie’a (tear-’em), Ichnob’at (track-follower), La’bros (furious), Lacæna (lioness), Lach’n (glossy-coated), Lacon (Spartan), La’don (from Ladon, in Arca’dia), Lælaps (hurricane), Lampos (shining-one), Leu’cos (grey), Lycis’ca, Lynce’a, Mach’imos (boxer), Melamp (black), Melanche’t (black-coat), Melan’ea (black), Menele’a, Molossos (from Molossos), Na’pa (begotten by a wolf), Nebroph’onos (fawn-killer), Oc’ydroma (swift-runner), Or’esitrophos (mountain-bred), Ori’basos (mountain - ranger), Pachy’tos (thick-skinned), Pam’phagos (ravenous), Pœ’menis (leader), Pter’elas (winged), Stricta (spot), Therid’amas (beast-tamer or subduer), The’ron (savage - faced), Thoös (swift), U’ranis (heavenly-one).

I'm #3! (guitar solo)

Just a quick post to express my glee at being chosen dare #3 at The Cat Realm's I Dare You All #5 contest! I'd also like to congratulate Diamond Emerald-Eyes with his "eastern egg hunt played with mousies" and Milo and Alfie with their "NUDE charity Calendar for cats." They tied for first. Hooray, what fun!

And how shall I celebrate? Why, with some feline-flavored heavy metal. Won't you stick your earplugs in and flick your concert lighters for the high decibel yowlings of "Hiss of Death," by Litterbox?

PS: it's ok if you can't get through it. I can't either but it's fun as long as you can take it.

the seven swabians, starring: a rabbit

photo: A. Praefcke

A little known Grimm tale, "The Seven Swabians" tells the story of seven friends from southern Germany and their search for adventure and success. Only one thing stands in their way: they're Swabian, an area which for a long long time "real" Germans looked upon as bumpkins and generally no fun at all. You figure this out right about the time they get seriously terrified by a sleeping rabbit:

A few days later their path led them across an unplowed field where a hare was sitting asleep in the sun. Its ears were standing straight up, and its large glassy eyes were wide open. All of them were frightened at the sight of this terrible wild beast, and they discussed with one another what would be the least dangerous thing to do. If they were to run away, they feared that the monster would pursue them and devour them all, even their skin and hair.

Things don't improve from there, but I don't want to spoil the story.

The image of the seven facing off the bunny pops up in regional craft and artwork, hopefully tongue in cheek by now. The illustration, a photo taken by Andreas Praefcke, shows the scene as depicted on an oven door in Deggenhausertal.

a dog a day, for the grownups

Dr. Salt draws a dog a day.
Black and white dogs, doing dog things, not so dog things, and being people more than dogs ("Salman Rushdog," for example). Done with a rounded economy of line, they're pretty cuddly dogs - even when they are evil. There is some black and/or rude humor and language, so don't say I didn't warn you, but they are funny and clever and you never know what each day witll bring.

Will it be Drinking Alone Dog?
Or the Dating Dog?
Or Ballerina Dog: "Dance like you don't hear the booing." Yeah.

Every day I draw a dog.

Madame de Lesdiguieres was a lady of the 17th century French court. (I can't find out exactly if she was part of the court under Louis XIII or XIV.)
Her cat's tomb, seen in the engraving above, bears this inscription:

Une Chatte Jolie.
Sa maitresse qui n'aima rien
L'aima jusques a la folie.
Pourquoi le dire ? On le voit bien.
(A pretty cat: Its mistress, who never loved anyone Loved it madly. Why bother to say so? Everyone can see it.)

From The Book of the Cat, by Frances Simpson (London, Paris, New York and Melbourne: Cassell and Company, Limited, 1903).

Maybe that's the same cat she holds in this portrait?

** An addendum: I am currently reading Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund, a novel of Marie Antoinette. This also takes place in the French court, though mostly in Louis XIV's time. The amount of overly-detailed etiquette, the constant intrigues, the uses and discarding of friends and allies, suddenly made me realize the probable reason both for Madame's cold reputation and deep love of her cat. As we all know, your pets love you for who you are, no matter what. Kitty was probably the only source of such love that she had. What must that kind of life be like? Isn't that sad?