Insomnia is good for the Blog

I can’t sleep. I’ve been lying awake for hours. I have so many thoughts running through my head to lie there gives me a headache. There is so much stress in my life right now to lie there gives me heart palpitations. So I got up around 4 am to do something constructive. Either laundry or blog. Guess which one I chose.

I figure I’ll post something innocuous and not ranting or raving. So I’ll write about the newest addition to my kitchen. MR made me a cow shelf for Christmas. Before we put it up, I had to paint the kitchen. It was gray because I wanted a neutral background for the white cabinets and the colorful Fiesta dishes that can be seen through the glass cabinet doors. We went to Home Depot and picked out a softer gray- I thought the first gray was too harsh. After about a half hour of painting, I looked back at what I had already painted and couldn’t tell where I had started. I had picked out the EXACT same color. It is a little softer, however, in the finish- it’s satin. So we hang the cow shelf, and I’m finally able to unwrap my cows!

My collection started with this baby given to me by my Great-Grandmother, Ida Arfmann , about 25 years ago. I used to go over to her house once or twice a week when I worked at the tile store. I’d go over for lunch, and she’d always served me bologna sandwiches. I always ate them, even though I hate bologna. This cow creamer was always on the table filled with milk for our tea. I commented each time I used it that it was throwing up in my tea. It always made her laugh. She’d tell me stories for that hour, and as I’d leave to go back to work she would thrust into my hands some trinket that she had lying around the house. One day it was this cow creamer. So started my collection.

“I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one. But I can tell you this right now, I’d rather see than be one!” Original poem by Gelett Burgess, adapted to this version by Ogden Nash. Sung to me by my Grandmother Francis Arfmann. I quote this here because these two cows are two of my favorites. I sang this to two of my under-30 friends after seeing a purple cowhide pocketbook for sale on the streets on NYC. They looked at me like I was crazy. Not because I was singing, but because they had never heard it before.

These two creamers are not like the conventional standing creamers. They’re resting. The black

one was bought on Ebay (like most of them) and has pretty gold accents. The blue and white cow should be with his cousins on the Delft shelf, but I like how they sit together.

The Delft cows. Only two of these cows are creamers. The two little ones on the plate are actually salt and pepper shakers. The small one behind them is a toothpick holder, and the one behind that is a sugar bowl. I bought these as a set on Ebay. The sugar bowl is missing her lid, but other than that they’re in great shape.

These three were found on Ebay under the Vintage Fiesta listing. I guess it was fate that two of my collections came together in one listing. Red is a creamer, yellow is a salt shaker and blue is the pepper shaker. These cows have never been packed away since they go so well with all my Fiesta.

I collect only realistic cow creamers but I couldn’t resist this square boy. He looks like he’s looking out of a box. I don’t know why a square cow creamer would be made, but he does fit perfectly on the shelf. His brother next to him was purchased in Vermont in a huge antique center.

This little girl is probably my oldest cow. She was listed as being about 60 years old when I bought her a few years ago. There aren’t any markings on her, so who knows? She has a sweet face!

This little one is my tiniest cow. She only holds one serving of milk, and has pretty violet decals. Zombiegirl likes this one the best.

This cow was one of my earliest purchases. I can’t remember if it was my second cow or my

third. Anyway, I bought this one to match the one my Great-Grandma gave me. It’s a sugar bowl, and is almost a twin of my first cow creamer. Bought in an antique center in New Jersey.

These two cows aren’t functional at all. They’re replicas of two cows that appeared in Cow Parade NYC back in 2000. The girls and I went on a scavenger hunt armed with all the cows that were placed all over NY, and took pictures of about 200 of them! We saw MOOMA, by Karen Nelson and Nicole Gaenzler, but we didn’t see the Fiesta cow, which was created using pieces of Fiestaware. I think that art cow was in another city. Anyway, I have replicas of each of them, given to me by my family at various holidays.



This is my newest acquistion. I bought this one on Ebay right after Christmas. She's tired, but pretty! She's Royal Crownsford Ironstone, made in England.

So my cows are out of the closet and into the light, residing on a beautifully crafted custom shelf made by my talented husband. Thanks, MR! I love it! And I love my cows! And if you look at the first picture carefully, you’ll see my favorite mug, Cowoline!

Enough. I’ve already typed this twice after my PC died, and I have to get ready for work. I’ll sleep on the train…