Cat dish.

Coffee: The usual...fresh ground Columbian.

Mug: Although perfectly acceptable, I usually don't prefer these ubiquitous Chinese "novelty mugs". While this one fairly well imitates the design of the Waechstersbach mugs I love so much (see below), the walls are thinner and don't have the tactile pleasure (and insulation qualities) of the German brand. Picky, I know, but thick lips seem to prefer thick rims. On it's own merits as a plain mug, this would fall well above average, but there would be nothing "special" about it.

However, this mug is indeed "something special". It comes from Patrick McDonnell's Mutts comic site, and features Earl the dog and Mooch the cat. Mooch has something of a speech impediment. He charmingly expresses his approval of things and events by saying "Yesh!".

The Mutts comic strip is one of the most intelligent strips in the newspapers. The Sunday Morning versions always contain a reference to Art History in it's name block panel (often sadly dropped by newspapers in the ongoing comic pages "space-wars"). I've seen homages to Classical Japanese Block Prints, the Mona Lisa, Katzenjammer Kids, Van Gogh, Duchamp, and Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" all presented as part of the strip. I hope somebody is using these for an Introduction to Art History course somewhere.

Another great thing about this mug, and why it is today's feature, is the fact that it was a Father's Day gift from my daughter Catherine. Today is Catherine's 27th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Catherine! Yesh!