cats

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Shisa Dogs & Lucky Cats

One of the first things I noticed while driving around the island was the omnipresence of the rather creepy looking “lion-dog”, or Shisa. Nearly every business, household, and restaurant has two of each – one on either side of its entrance or rooftop. One, with its mouth open in a vicious snarl, is the male shisa (despite the obnoxious assumptions made by certain males in my company), and the other is the female shisa (with its mouth firmly shut, thank you.) As it turns out, these shisas are protectors based in Okinawan and Chinese mythology, intended to shun evil spirits. The open-mouthed shisa wards off the evil, while the close-mouthed shisa keeps good spirits in (although, according to Wikipedia, these gender roles can be “variously assigned.) I am not superstitious, but in the spirit of cultural immersion, I will definitely have to get a petite pair of these guys for my new home! Besides, who doesn’t want good spirits?

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The other item I’m seeing everywhere I go – though less frequently than the shisa dogs – is the Maneki-neko, or “the beckoning cat.” Usually made of ceramic, these cats are meant to bring luck to the owner. White cats bring general good luck all ’round, black cats bring good health, and gold cats bring financial fortune. There are a series of beautiful (sometimes heartbreaking) Japanese folktales tying the cat to good luck, which – as a crazy cat lady myself – pleases me to no end. In addition to my shisa dogs, I plan on getting a few of these feline talismans in smaller form, since I find the large ones a bit tacky and overwhelming for my taste. Maybe one in each color!

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Leave Kitty Alone!

This kind of stuff really gets my goat! I am seeing it everywhere – this mission to convince cat owners that their beloved fur babies don’t REALLY love you as much as we’d like to think. I get that it’s all a part of the age-old, semi-good-natured cats vs. dogs debate, but I just want to rant about how wrong it is anyway.

First off – I watched the video on the study done that shows dogs miss you and fawn over you after a brief absence, while a cat doesn’t seem to care. All this proves is that cats are more independent and less needy than dogs. That’s not to say dogs are bad – everyone loves that kind of adoration – but for goodness sake, it doesn’t mean your cat doesn’t love you. It just has less separation anxiety because it’s a more mature and self sufficient animal. Having been away from my cat anywhere between 8 to 72+ hours, she is ALWAYS there to greet me at the door with a pleasant chirp, soft affection, and better yet, NO slobber… even when her food dish is full!!

She missed me, dammit.

Second – anyone who thinks that dogs don’t love you for the food has clearly never had a dog. I grew up with a wonderful golden retriever whom I loved dearly, but I swear, that dog would have taken food from me even if I was starving to death. Dogs beg for food more than cats do! Dogs rely on humans for food more than cats do!! My dog would wake me up for food and interrupt my TV show for food and get me out of my death bed for food! Far more obsessive than any cat I’ve ever had. Sheesh.

So, as always, my disclaimer is thus: even though I am a self-professed crazy cat lady, I LOVE dogs. I grew up with them. I don’t think they are inferior to cats. They are just different. But all the cat hate irks me! Stop spreading untruths!

I am generally not a fan of cold weather, but I could see myself *occasionally* missing evenings like this once I move to subtropical Japan. Chilling rain outside… hot cocoa, snoozy kitties, fuzzy blankets, and glowing candles inside…

Seriously, it can’t get much better than that (sometimes!)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!! I hope you are celebrating a very joyous season with your loved ones 🙂

Annie’s definitely got the spirit of something… That’s for sure.

Annie sits at the corner of my nightstand and watches me every night before I go to bed, patiently waiting for her nightly brushing. Little thing is getting so spoiled. #cats

The many positions of Bean on our epic road trip to Southwest Georgia. It’s been a longggg few days folks, but things are calming down. More to come early next week, once we get Internet up and running.