Mister Stuart

During the Annual International  Hippopotamus Convention, two games are played. For the first game, all participants must bring a hippo-gift. All the gifts are put together, and when your name is drawn, you get to pick a present. You have to open it, tell everybody who brought it, and enjoy the ooohs and ahhhhhs :-). The second game is pretty much the same, for the exception that you can exchange your chosen hippo-gift, for somebody else's gift... making some people try to hide their precious-po, "steal" it back or try (by different techniques...) to make the person change his or her mind. All the ingredients for an evening full of fun, laughs and a few broken (hippo) hearts... 

At some point, this beauty was unpacked by the Master-of-Games: David, then "exchanged"... what prompted him to shrug it off with the comment "Oh, yeah, you take the blue pig"... making everybody laugh. But I had already fallen in love with this blue beauty, so when it was my turn, I exchanged it with my gift. I was very lucky I could keep it! David's comment reminded me of the animation movie: The Lion King (Lion King Quotes)

[Timon and Zazu are cornered by hyenas]

Timon: Please don't eat me.

Pumbaa: Drop 'em!

Banzai: Hey! Who's the pig?

Pumbaa: Are you talkin' to me?

Timon: Uh-oh, they called him a pig.

Pumbaa: Are you talking to *me*?

Timon: Ya shouldn't have done that.

Pumbaa: ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?

Timon: Now they're in for it.

Pumbaa: THEY CALL ME MR. PIG! AHHHH!

Dear Stuart, thank you for bringing this wonderful hippo from your collection. As I told you already, he is called Stuart... but because he was called "pig" (by somebody who should know better ;-))... I have decided it will not be MISTER PIG, but MISTER STUART.

Hippopottermiss

Hippos contribute to world peace! I admit, it is a bit hard to believe if you have seen bulls fight over territory, or a mum stampede whatever is too close to her baby. Also, the idea of "wallow-whole-day-in-mud-and-wiggle-ears-" is not so much associated with peace (at least not by non-hippo-lovers). Maybe I have to rephrase, and say: The existence of hippos contributes to world peace! They bring people from all over the world together, they inspire artists and their images are a source of smiles and happiness. I know, I may not convince many people, but to me it is very true! 

The "living proof" of this statement is a very talented artist called Jen Robinson (she sometimes calls herself: Hippopottermiss, hence the title of this post). She is originally from the UK but lives in France. I had the pleasure of meeting her twice, in the USA. Hippos made by her, are lovingly named: Jen-Pos by her friends and admirers of her work. I have witnessed it myself. Jen-Pos bring many smiles and much happiness to everybody seeing them. Definitely contributing to world peace! I rest my case.

I do have to mention that Jen also makes many more different and equally beautiful animals, as you can see at www.jen-robinson.com, but I will only mention her hippos here, this being a Hippo-Blog after all ;-).

Dear Jen, I feel very fortunate our paths have crossed, thanks to hippos. Your kindness, sense of humor and wonderful personality make me wish more people were like you. Our world would be a much nicer place.  

Inkognito

Inkognito, is German for incognito. Not too difficult to guess. Not that this post is about hippos being incognito, but it has everything to do with the most fun, adorable and cutest printed hippos I know. A few years back, a dear friend of mine found a few hippo postcards in a shop while travelling through Groningen, which is one of the Northern provinces of The Netherlands. When I saw them, I immediately fell in love. Luckily a website address was printed at the back. I wanted to buy more of those cards, and check out whether this company had any more hippo items. Not so much other hippo things, but a few more adorable cards. My absolute favorite is this one called: Nilpferd früh am Morgen, which means: Hippo in the early morning. I can't get enough of looking at her four furry slippers, her over sized toothbrush and her toy hippo that keeps her company.

Artist: Suzan Visser - www.Inkognito.de

Please check out the website of this company! For those of you, not understanding German, please go to the upper left corner on their home page, just under their name, you'll find the flag of the UK, click on that and the site will translate into English. Then look for: Hippo. And you will find the cutest cards ever! Dear Marius, you are the best! Thank you for thinking about me, and to make it possible for me to share this dose of pure Hippo-Happiness!

The Big Six

In my post "Kiboko" (hand carved ebony hippo figurine), I mentioned that my friends also brought a hippo-painting back from their home leave in Tanzania. They told me that the artist sold many paintings of the so called: Big Five. The Big Five refers to the five greatest wild animals of Africa: the lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros. Some people claim that a safari is not a safari, unless you have seen all of them. The fact that hippos are not part of the Big Five, together with the fact that most African people do not like hippos, could explain why my friends could not find any painting with a hippo. They were so sweet to order one for me. I remember they told me they had to do so many last minute errands, including picking up this painting. So happy they did! I had it framed in a shop in Banani Bazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, making it a very "international" piece of art. Dear Didi and Mr. Bo, I love it very much. Not only because of the cute looking hippos, but also because of many fond memories it brings back, every time I see it. If you ever hear of a campaign to get the hippo join the Big Five, please let me know! I will gladly support: The Big Six!

Marbelous Three

Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, will be celebrated this year on Monday January sixth. I remember celebrating it once, in elementary school in The Netherlands, a very long time ago... The teacher made a cake with a dried bean hidden inside. The person finding the bean, would be "the king" for the rest of the day. I still remember the name of my classmate finding the bean. Wikipedia is mentioning "the king" getting a paper crown... but I can't remember whether he got that or not. In France, they put a (usually porcelain) trinket in the cake, calling it a bean. Obviously too fancy for "down-to-earth-Northern-Dutch-people". I think the rewards were: bragging rights (about finding the bean) and probably a sticker :-). It is a bit hard to explain how you get from Three Kings Day to hippos... I think the number three is to blame for the association when I saw this picture. I did not get these marble figurines all at once, but when displayed, they always stand together because they look so similar. Who gave them, or how I got them, I have no idea. I called this post: Marbelous Three. Three (hippo) Kings and Three Wise Hippos, also crossed my mind, but how do you explain that???