The conservatory garden at the hotel would be perfect for a kitty or two or a hundred to roam around in, but alas it was clear that outside of the two ducks and this one poor schmuck bird who clearly had gotten in accidentally, there were no animals to be found outside of the human kind.
We didn't arrive in downtown til fairly late in the afternoon on Friday—after we spent the better part of the afternoon setting up the booth—and not realizing that things might not stay open (t'ain't New York, darlins'), we just about missed being able to go into Hatch Show Print, a plac
e which had been recommended by Frommer's.
e which had been recommended by Frommer's.In another random act of kindness to strangers in Nashville, the female clerk at the front opened the door and said "well, we're about to close up, but you can come in and look around if you'd like." To be honest, I hadn't even noticed that they might be closed. I was busy looking at the sign on the door: "Please keep door closed - we have cats."
Cats?! CATS!? We walked in and I spotted an orange tabby. In my reverie I think I replied to her something along the lines of "Is it all right if I pet the cat?", as opposed to politely going on about how we were grateful to be able to look through the posters and see the machinery in action.
Well, Maow turned out to be the flighty kind. She had been a stray, and had not grown to enjoy petting. Especially by kitty-starved strangers, I would imagine. So instead, I turned my attention politely to look through the racks of posters. We quickly spotted one on the Hatch Cats, and an old-timey one of Uncle Dave Macon, that fit into our budget. So we went to the counter to pay, and the clerk told us about Maow's background, and that there was another cat around somewhere. As she spoke, Maow was tentatively poking her whiskers at a box of the large size posters near the door. I decided to try to pet her again. No luck.
No. Wait. LUCK! Maow, that smart kitty, had clearly been listening to our sad tale of woe, and though she was unwilling to sacrifice herself she WAS willing to point out where the other kitty was to be found! Huey, a white kitty with orange patches who weighed at least 20 lbs, was stretched out in the box. Sorry, Huey, to have disturbed your slumber, but I had a fever and it could only be cured by a furry feline.
And here's a short YouTube clip of the shop. Watch for a brief appearance by Maow herself!
1 comment:
I know exactly how you feel. When I'm on vacation and I see a cat, I make it a personal mission to befriend that cat, and then I usually start to cry... We were in some marine-animal park in St. Thomas and a cat was hanging out in the food court (which was strange, you'd think it'd hang around by the area that they keep the little fish that they feed the small sharks) and I made sure to make it my new friend. And I think I told you -- every night of the 10-day cruise, the room stewards made a different animal out of a towel and I kept them all on the couch of the suite. On the last night they took them all away and I was devastated... :)
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