Thursday, December 18, 2014

Hippos in Fashion

Of course, we hippo-lovers already know for a long time, hippos are very "haute couture" and "fashionable". It's more that fashion designers have to catch up, with this (I hope :-)) growing trend. The designers of Hermes already understood the beauty of hippos in designs, but very happy to see that they got company from Salvatore Ferragamo, an Italian luxury brand. Last week, I was flipping through the New York Times Magazine. And there they were, showcased in a fancy ad, lovely hippo ties. If you go to their website www.ferragamo.com, then search (upper right corner) for "Hippopotamus", they will all come up. Wonderful colors and great design!


Sunday, December 14, 2014

I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (new release)

One of my first posts (published 22nd December, 2011), was about this very famous Christmas song by Gayla Peevey, recorded in 1953.  What a surprise it was to hear this song again during the "Christmas Tree Lighting" at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, this year. LeAnn Rimes made this year's celebrations a little more special, because of her interpretation of the perfect Christmas song (for Hippo-Lovers that is....). I am thrilled hippos are still very much part of Christmas!

Please enjoy the "live" version

LeAnn Rimes live at Rockefeller Plaza 2014

or the recorded version

LeAnn Rimes recorded version

and don't forget to sing along!





Thursday, December 4, 2014

Richard (&) Wagner

A rather funny coincident, this German Composer shared his name with two wonderful people who made it possible for this bronze beauty, to get to me. Last year, I attended the annual convention of the International Hippopotamus Society. I already published a post about the prize I won during the second "Hippo Game" (see post: Mr. Stuart). It is about time to write about the prize of the first game, I won thanks to Richard and Wagner. A beautiful bronze statue, that weights 7 lbs, or 3,5 kg! This prize comes with a little story. When flying back, my suitcase had to go through the X-ray machine at the airport... all alarms, bells, lights and whistles went off! So a very stern looking airport security lady took my bag, and told me: "I will have to check your bag, ma'am". So the lady went through my bag, took the box and opened it. In the meantime, I felt all the eyes of a long line of fellow passengers poking in my back....  The lady's face broke into a huge smile, when she unwrapped "the threat"... "OH, its a HIPPO!" she shouted out. I took my bag and the box, and headed to the nearest chair to wrap it up and put everything back. "You need any help with that, dear?" she asked me. "Thanks, I'm fine" I replied. Actually, I was still confused. Being approached as a potential terrorist, and then treated as a favorite niece in less than a minute, felt weird. But then I looked at the newest addition to my collection, and all was good!