January 4, 2014 by Texas

Cats in New York: Meet Nicholas and his Human, “the Cat on the Head Guy”

We still have some posts about NYC kitties, and this one would have been welcomed before Christmas. Why? Because the kitty’s name is Nicholas, like, well, Saint Nicholas.

It was the first time that my human spotted Nicholas. She saw him and his human several times afterwards, Nicholas always comfortably sitting on his human’s head.

Apparently, Nicholas and his human have been walking NYC streets for several years, at least since 2008, Nicholas earning his human a dollar or two to have his picture taken. My human saw them back in 2012, in Tribeca.

According to a a 2008 NYT article, the human’s name is Charlie Perito and he started walking the streets of NYC with his cat on his head after losing his job:

Mr. Perito said he was just another victim of the recession and increasing joblessness, though he also admitted to problems with the law and addiction. A Staten Island native, he said he worked for years fixing air-conditioning and heating systems, but recently lost his job. So he taught Nicholas the balancing act and proceeded to use the gimmick to balance his budget.

Mr. Perito said it was not the first time around with the old “lose the job, train the cat” trick. He has lost other jobs and trained other cats before, he said. Anyway, Nick is pretty cute, and the whole thing looks pretty amusing, so Mr. Perito makes out pretty well.

According to a 2011 blog post here:

Charlie told me Nicholas is the THIRD cat that he has performed with, and that Nicholas loves being perched up there on the summit while watching all the happenings in New York City as they walk around town.

I asked him how did he start doing this and he told me how he was with his girlfriend one time and the original cat climbed up the chair where Charlie was sitting and rested on his head..He then found he could get up with the cat and walk around, so he took it to the streets of NYC.

This blogger also made a video in which you can see Nicholas climb on top of his human’s head:

My human said that Nicholas seemed not scared at all. He was just looking around him at what was going on. She wished she had had treats in her purse that day to give Nicholas (what?!?).

November 21, 2013 by Texas

Dream Pillow and Shelter Cat Dolls + a Giveaway!

Do you believe in serendipity? The human dictionary Merriam-Webster says that serendipity is “luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for.”
My human says that was serendipity that brought her to meet Ms. Darlene Margeta of Dream Pillow and to discover her work.

While she was wandering around the East Village in Manhattan a few weeks before we moved, she saw something that caught her attention in the window of a little herb store called Flower Power. There were artisan-made cat dolls with different faces! She entered the store to ask for information, and was given the name of the company that make them: Dream Pillow. She was also told that part of the profits for the sales of these dolls benefit an animal shelter. My human had to learn more! She contacted the furry nice lady at Dream Pillow to discuss her products and they met at the French Market on Broadway and 36th St.

Dream Pillow at the French Market on Broadway – July 2013

Dream Pillow

Dream Pillow makes products entirely handcrafted in New York: pillows, sachets, and cat dolls, that are filled with herbs and flowers, and they smell sooo good according to my human. Among other herbs, they contain lavender that comes from France! The pictures on each product are pictures taken by Ms. Margeta or pictures sent from clients for a customized work. Ms. Margeta has been making these products with the help of a herbalist for about 20 years.

Dream Pillow

They also make catnip sticks that we tried and loved!

Dream Pillow

What about my favorite product, the shelter cat doll? Here’s the description from the Dream Pillow website:

Our new cat dolls are not for cats, but for people.

They are replicas of actual stray and abandoned cats rescued by City Critters, a local rescue shelter and adoption organization. We donate $3 to City Critters for each doll we sell.
The dolls contain lavender and fiberfill. Fabrics used for the coverings are assorted. Like cats.

Dimensions: 15 inches tall, with long tails.

Shelter Cat Dolls

Dream Pillow

Wouldn’t it make the purrfect gift (hint: Christmas is in 1 month!) for your human or a human’s friend, and for the kitties it may help?

Ms. Margeta, which my human really enjoyed meeting, has loved animals for as long as she can remember. She was raised with lots of animals around. Her grandmother had barn cats that would wait besides her when the cows were being milked.

Of cats, she says they are like “a piece of art” that are very beautiful, have a sense of humor and enable you to relax. As an artist, she obviously connects with us kitties!

The idea of the cat dolls came when she was taking care of several stray cats in the East Village of Manhattan. She was feeding them and caring for them, until the day they were not welcome in the area anymore. City Critters came to the rescue. She herself kept a couple of kitties. With the dolls, she wanted to help City Critters in return.

The faces of the dolls are of shelter cats and dogs and can be customized with a picture of a kitty in your family (or a doggie…).

Of course, she is owned by several kitties: 11 rescue cats live in her studio, 3 in her apartment and she also feeds feral cats outside. A calico kitty is her artist cat too! You can see pictures of the kitties here.

Now in order to help the kitties too, my human has bought two dolls, one of which one of you will be able to win. Another doll has been generously given by Ms. Darlene Margeta. Yes, two shelter cat dolls will find a home among you, my readers.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

What do you have to do to win one?
1. Go visit Dream Pillow’s website here and tell me, in a comment below, which of their products – rescue dolls excepted – you prefer. This cannot be the doll, this must be another product.
2. For an extra chance to win, share this giveaway and post in a separate comment the link(s) to where you shared.
You have until Sunday, November 24, 11.59 pm central time to enter!

The winners will be drawn thanks to random.org and will be announced on November 26! The first person drawn will be able to choose which one of the two this person prefers.

If you cannot wait, or are not one of our lucky winners, you can visit Dream Pillow’s website and order the products you like by emailing them. Their contact information can be found here. If you live in the NY area, you can buy Dream Pillow products at the Broadway French Market (information here).

We really like their products and we are delighted to share and think it would make an original and furry nice idea of gift for humans!

Disclosure: We did not receive a compensation for this post. Opinions are our own. We were offered a sachet, as well as 2 catnip sticks, to test the products. Dream Pillow generously donated one rescue cat doll for the giveaway.

October 26, 2013 by Texas

Bookstore Cats of NYC: Hayes and Rainer at Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers

Today we are going to the neighborhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, to meet with Hayes and Rainer, at the Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers bookstore.

Hayes – which can be spelt Haze, too – is the mostly black, tuxedo kitty.

Rainer is the tabby and is a tripod.

My human went to this bookstore twice because the first time, she only got to see Hayes. She did met Rainer the second time and was glad she did come back: Rainer was really affectionate.

According to the person my human talked to, Hayes and Rainer have been there for 10+ years and enjoy sleeping on books.

Here are some more pictures.

[You can click on any pic to biggify and open the slideshow]

Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers | Texas, a cat in... Austin

Once again, we would like to thank the bookstore humans for letting my human take pictures of the resident cats.

Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers
218 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.387.7322
http://spoonbillbooks.com/

October 19, 2013 by Texas

Bookstore Cats of NYC: Tiny at Park Slope Community Bookstore

One day, my human was reading an article about a bookstore in New York City. The article had nothing to do with cats (I know!). To her surprise though, she discovered in the article (she cannot find the link again, sorry) that the bookstore in question, the Alabaster bookshop in New York, had a resident cat.

She got an idea: find out about this kitty and other resident cats in NYC bookstores!

She looked on the Internet and found different old articles including this one, this one, and this one. All included bookstores in New York, but they were not recent.

My human learned, for example, that the kitty from the Alabaster Bookshop had crossed the Rainbow Bridge about 4 years ago. The Alabaster Bookshop is a book lover heaven (according to my human), with books piled everywhere. Apparently, the kitty loved to find hiding places in there!

Humphrey from the Drams Book Shop in Manhattan is now living with his human, and Francis from BookCourt in Brooklyn has moved in with a new family.

She wasn’t lucky either when she went to Babbo’s Books on Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. The bookstore had just been sold and was closed. She has no idea what happened to Holly.

Then she went to The Park Slope Community Bookstore in Brooklyn.

She knew the bookstore, but had never entered. It is extremely unlikely for my human not to visit a bookstore. She had first spotted it thanks to this:

Yes, the kitty! Little did she know there was a real one in the bookstore at the time!

When she went back last summer, she learned that Sir Marjorie Lambshank III had unfortunately crossed the Rainbow Bridge (he is pictured in the second article linkie above). But she got to meet Tiny!

Tiny is said to be good-natured… only when he feels like it =^.^= He let my human took some pictures though, so she thought he was a really nice kitty.
According to the bookstore humans, Tiny was part of a litter found in front of the store. His litter mates were all adopted and scattered around the neighborhood. He has a polydactyl brother the bookstore humans still hear about.

Here are some more pictures.

[You can click on any pic to biggify and open the slideshow]

Park Slope Community Bookstore | Texas, a cat in... Austin

My human and I would like to thank Tiny and the bookstore humans for letting my human take pictures of the star of the store.

The Park Slope Community Bookstore
143 7th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 783-3075
http://communitybookstore.net/

Next week, we will stay in Brooklyn, but we will go to Williamsburg!

October 5, 2013 by Texas

It’s (Still) Caturday! Cat Mural in New York (Part 3)

Today we are going to the East Village in New York, to a pet store, more precisely, to Whiskers Holistic Pet Care on 235 E 9th St, close to 2nd Ave. As for the other murals I posted, this one was made by Chico and features several animals.

[you can click on any pic to biggify]

If you look closely, you will see that some of the animals have probably crossed the Rainbow Bridge, since it is written “in loving memory.” And indeed:

Phil Klein, the co-owner of Whiskers, is happy to be one of them. Mr. Klein asked Mr. Garcia to paint a small mural of the pet shop’s logo in 2008. In the years since, a crack has developed on the wall’s face, forcing the city to remove it.

Mr. Klein can recall when he first saw Mr. Garcia’s work in 1991. “I used to pass by it every day,” he said. “It started to feel familiar. Now you can’t walk three blocks and not see a Chico.”

Three years ago, Mr. Klein asked Mr. Garcia to paint a mural based on the company logo, which depicts two of Mr. Klein’s favorite former pets.

For the latest project he wants three animals depicted. “I said, ‘Hey Chico, I need my dogs and cats in there, but for everything else, just do what you want,’” Mr. Klein recalled. ”You don’t want to tell a master too much of what to do.”

Earlier this week, Mr. Garcia was hard at work on the mural. Nearby, balanced on a saw horse, rest paint-dappled photos of three of the pets Mr. Klein wants featured in the mural. Two have passed on, but the third, a cat named Rachel, is still alive.

Ain’t that a lovely mural?

On a lighter note… Look! My human saw this poster in the window and thought it was Sammy! It does look like Sammy! Is that you Sammy?

September 28, 2013 by Texas

It’s Caturday! Cat Mural in New York (Part 2)

This week’s mural is at the corner of Third Avenue and 103rd Street, in the Upper East Side of New York. There are not just cats but other animals too on this one.
Animal Care & Control New York is not very far from there, up on 110th St.

It wasn’t easy for my human to take good pictures because there were trees and parked cars blocking the view.

This mural was done by the same artist as last week‘s mural: Chico.

[Click on the pictures to biggify]

Apparently, it was painted for Advocates for Animals, back in 2001!

Next week, we will go back to the East Village for another mural.

September 21, 2013 by Texas

It’s Caturday! Cat Mural in New York (Part 1)

Last week, I featured a pawsome cat mural in Paris, France, my hometown. But in New York, where we used to live a couple of months ago, there were pawsome cat murals too!

Here is one of my and my human’s favorites.

It is a mural for Mama’s Bar at Avenue B & 3rd St, in the East Village. If you click on the link to the bar, you’ll see another mural with kitties. Obviously, they must like cats! My human has never been there though.

The one my human photographed is signed Chico Art NYC.

What do you think about this one?

June 22, 2013 by Texas

Cats in New York: Whole Foods Tribeca Can Has Milk

My human works twice a week not far away from the Tribeca Whole Foods store, in Lower Manhattan, and here is what she saw the other day.

[Click on the pic to biggify]

Again: cats rule =^.^=

Just a couple of comments for the Whole Food humans whose mission is healthy eating: we do agree that chocolate milk or cookies are no-nos for kitties, right?

Is it me or does the kitty looks a LOT like Lil Bub?

June 8, 2013 by Texas

Cats In New York: Apartment Hunting? Uptown or Downtown Cat?

My human has some pictures of cats – real or not – that she has taken in the place called Manhattan these past two years and I thought I would share some of them.

Just another proof that ***cats rule the world***