6. mug shots: the only person who really knows what's going on

This is part six of a series called "Mug Shots". The series was inspired this summer as I rummaged through the cupboards of different people we visited in search of interesting mugs. If you need to see the mug in a larger format, just click on the image.

I could instantly identify with the message on this week's mug:



I mean, who else did this mug suit but someone who has it all together, someone whose sense of humor is impeccable, who is the very definition of sophistication, competence and class? Yes, there was no doubt about it: this mug was Heather's.



Uh, 'nuff said, yo.



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to start the series from the beginning.

5. mug shots: santa mugs

This is part five of a series called "Mug Shots". The series was inspired this summer as I rummaged through the cupboards of different people we visited in search of interesting mugs.

This week's Mug Shot comes from the North Pole. This first mug was made by animal-rights activists:





The second mug is perhaps the classiest mug I've ever seen.



It made me want to be Santa.



I could pull it off, don't you think? I mean, I could grow my beard out a little more and I already have the belly for it. "Like a bowl full o' jelly", eh?



Click here...
to start the series from the beginning.
View the next mug in the series.

4. mug shots: john deere

This is part four of a series called "Mug Shots". The series was inspired this summer as I rummaged through the cupboards of different people we visited in search of interesting mugs.

This week's Mug Shot comes from Colorado; specifically, my sister's. Here it is:



Looks normal enough, no? But what makes this mug so unique is the punny play-on-words on the other side. It says, "Nothing runs like a Deere".



Get it? Deer (sans e) run and so do machine Deere! I thought it was clever--and funny. In fact, it made me giggle for quite some time.

But then I remembered that the mug's intent was to inspire confidence and awe in a piece of heavy equipment so I shouldn't be giggling like that (all girlish and whatnot). So, I decided to act vigorous and virile with it, like the cup belonged in my hands, deserved to be used by someone vigorous and virile such as someone like myself.



I kept at it for a while, and you'll be happy to know that the mug actually helped train me in vigorousness and virilentness and other things that make men what they are--that is, other than their you-know-whats. Here I am getting more vigorous.



If only everyone could have a mug like this the world would be a stronger place.

Click here...
to start the series from the beginning.
View the next mugs in the series.

3. mug shots: tea cup

This is part three of a series called "Mug Shots". The series was inspired this summer as I rummaged through the cupboards of different people we visited in search of interesting mugs.

This week's Mug Shot comes from Illinois--again. There was this one particular household we stayed in whose owners must be a tad "feathery" in the head because they had lots of "interesting" mugs that suggest the residents may be two cards shy of a full deck.

Anyhoo, the mug this week looks like a coffee mug, but it is, in fact, not intended for coffee. It's intended to be used for tea. The mug design clearly indicates this along the top rim. Behold:



I surmised that, should one decide to flaunt the wishes of the cup designer by drinking a beverage other than tea in this mug, one could likely fall susceptible to The Curse of The Mug, which, as you probably already know, is a curse that all mugmakers place upon their mugs in the event someone should use their mug in an unauthorized fashion. For example, should someone put coffee--or whiskey or malt liquor (which I, ahem, did not do)--in this mug, something unsavoury would happen to them.

So, I was very careful to only drink tea in this mug because I didn't want to develop a rash on my left armpit and festering boils on my right armpit (which is the precise curse that is placed on mugs of this nature, viz. mugs that say "tea" at the top more than twenty times).

Here I am, drinking TEA (not COFFEE) from this mug and pointing it out, to prove it (he said, scratching his left pit).



Click here...
to start the series from the beginning.
to read about the next mug in the series.

2. mug shots: taz

This is part two of a series called "Mug Shots". The series was inspired this summer as I rummaged through the cupboards of different people we visited in search of interesting mugs.

This week's Mug Shot features a classy selection: Taz.




I was drawn to it because it was about the size of my son's head.




The nice thing about this mug is that it could double as a soccer ball holder, if you were ever in need of something to hold your soccer ball, which I do frequently.




It was so big, I had trouble seeing to the bottom of it.



Click here...
to start the series at the beginning.
to view the next mug in the series.

1. mug shots: big brown mug

This summer we had the chance to stay in lots of different homes. While there, I had fun digging through their cupboards in search of coffee mugs that either made me laugh or were just plain stupid. Each Monday for the next 15 weeks, I'll post a new mug in a series I've come to call "Mug Shots."

The first one was found while staying at Pat and Bill Thomas' house in Illinois. It actually belongs to their daughter and my good friend, Monaca.

I found it in their lower cabinet:



I was immediately drawn to it because I couldn't accurately ascertain its size nor its color. So, I wondered, "Could this be a small, pink mug?"

Here's a picture of me wondering that.



And, then, it hit me: "OH! This is a BIG BROWN mug!"



I was glad the manufacturers had the presence of mind and forethought to actually write on the cup that it was a BIG BROWN mug because otherwise I might not have been able to figure that out.

Next week: Taz.

Click here...
to view the next mug in the series.