 in the shape of a penguin. Patty gave her father,my husband, Nathan, a 4" pewter penguin with a "svwarskowski" (crystal?) tummy. I knew then that such a beautiful penguin should not be alone. It wasn't long before I realized I had gathered many penguins, and that they should have a place of honor. I have chosen my bathroom as their headquarters. The woodwork is black and white, the door is black and white, and the cupboards are black and white and Ginny found some washable black and white wall paper. My collection includes items made of paper, plastic, glass, video, ribbon, music boxes, brass, rubber and mylar ballons, soap, gourd, ceramic, yarn, thread, beads, cloth, bristle, wood, metal, and of course 'stuffings'! Dispensers have penguins on them too--soap, lotion, and even "Pez". I had the opportunity to go to the Mall of America in MN. While there I visited the "Sherpa" store. Now Sherpa can be jewelry but this sherpa is the softest wool. They featured several cream-colored afghans with penguins--something a penguin collector could die for! The largest penguins are a pair of lawn ornaments. The next largest is a standing automated Penguin. My smallest penguins are the earrings. When my family and friends heard I had a place for the penguins, they started looking for penguins. It wasn't long before I had many people sending or telling me of them. Granddaughter Laura, used a computer and so did Niece Heather. My neighbor, Betty, has been especially kind and thoughtful. I really treasure the set of individual Swiss (?) creamer paper lids she recently found. My bathroom shower curtain features Adelie Penguins and I've cut some out to decorate the windows and cabinet doors. Kris found 2 matching items on Ebay in different auctions. One is a fingernail brush and the other a small clothes brush. I have a penguin light switch cover, and the standing ceramic toilet brush holder. Kris made a penguin rug using needle-point stitches with one half inch material as thread and sewn to 1/4 inch grid canvas (?) A pair of Porter "scrubbie buddies", a "wooden peg" towel holder, lotion or soap dispensers, tissue box and individual teissue packets a penguin made of soap  and several toiletry items are the basis for my Penguin
"Den". National Geographic has several editions that feature penguins. There are also books about penguins. Any bookstore you go into has "cocktail table" books. These are usually oversize and are set out on a short long table for company to look at. The penguin books are outstanding. Every penguin collector should have a copy of "Mr. Popper's Penguins" if only for the dream of one day having a pet penguin. Son Jon made me a video shown on Real TV. Did you see the show showing the pet penguin, owned by a Japanese (?) family? The penguin takes walks to the fish market each day. I have another video, "---about penguins called(?) I enjoy working with jewelry and have used penguin beads and buttons to make necklaces. I have many earrings and pins. Ginny brought me a German penguin. When you pull the string at the bottom, the legs and wings move! Charlie was a doll. He saw a black and white owl that reminded him of a penguin. I redid the nose--now I have an "owlquin" or is it a "penowl"? Someone squashed a drink can and painted it to look like a penguin. In my collection are 3 wind chimes, 3" dolls with jointed legs, a black jujube, water globes, musical penguins, some with movement, a hand-carved wooden pencil, and an automated plastic pen. Other items include a slinky, paddleball, toothpick dispenser, hot pad, Pittsburgh Penguin trading card and a puck. I also have children's plastic stamps and rubber stamps  along with a tea service for two. There are several games with penguins. Cool Moves, a Discovery Toy, discovered by Cindy, has 12 penguins and instructions for playing 40 "jump the peg" games. And it comes in a box you can hold in the palm of one hand. Paper items include stickers, stationery, greeting cards, postcards, note paper, wrapping paper, shopping bags, news clippings, computer pictures, jig-saw puzzles, and several framed pictures. Wooden items include an Oriental Trading Post igloo with 10 wooden penguins inside; my German pull-toy ( 5" tall ); figurines 6" tall and 1 1/2" tall; and the paddle ball paddle. My penguin I sawed out of 1/2" plywood rarely gets displayed, but it was fun trying. Glass items include: drinking glasses; blown glass figurines--some blue, some clear; blown glass wind chime with 7 blown glass penguins featured with 10 blown glass bells. I also have a serving tray with penguin pictures under glass. I like my water globes especially the 2 musical ones. Discovering Linux, gave me a new appreciation for my son-in-law, Jerry. Linux is a computer operating system. That means if you like Linux, you hate Windows. The Linux website has a penguin for its mascot. Penguin lovers will appreciate a visit as much as I do to see just where the penguin goes and what all it does. All penguin lovers have coffee cups. One of each pattern at least, please. And we all have our share of standing penguins. At least one of each species will do for a starter. Then a few originals--like the purple passion fellow and the one with a water ball in his tummy. And don't forget an "Opus"! Patty likes Opus but let me have 2 of them. I have penguin clothing including shirts, nightgowns and socks. One more thing, I talked to a lady who had visited Antartica, I told her that I envied her visit. She said it was very interesting but it sure smelled bad. I never had thought of that--but you know they eat fish. Whew! Maybe some day we can charter a plane and jet down for a quick visit. Until then I guess we will just have to be content with Sea World, Seattle Zoo, and I hear there will be a new penguin place in St. Louis. Ahhh! Dream on. I plan to take pictures of my penguins and post them. I have an idea to stand them in shoe boxes (I love shoe boxes, too.). I will put a ruler in the shoe box so you can see the size of the penguins. |
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