A little bit of whimsy

In my humble opinion, 2026 is not off to a good start. Our current affairs have me, for the absolute first time in my life, terrified. Over the past year, I have written — in my head only — any number of essays regarding the behavior and actions of the administration “leading” our country.

Those ramblings have not been committed to documents and published for a variety of reasons, procrastination and my rather thin-skinned condition chief among them. But perhaps the most important reason is simply that daily events consume enough of my brain, my emotions, my outlook and my overall mental health that I don't need to consume space here rehashing what we’re all living.

So I come here today with a bit of whimsy and some pride in and appreciation for the workmanship of Thun, an Italian pottery company.

I ordered an Olympic coffee mug recently and received it this week. As simple and as silly as it may sound, I absolutely marveled at the quality I discovered upon unboxing it. I can’t really explain it, but this mug hits it out of the park in every category I could create, should there ever be an Olympics for coffee mugs. 

Thun porcelain mug featuring Tina, the mascot of the Milano-Cortino Winter Olympic Games.

First, the vessel is downright adorable. It features a panoramic image that stretches around the entire cup. The artwork is a hand-painted watercolor of a village scene and incorporates the Milano-Cortina logo and Tina, the Olympic mascot who, by the way, is an ermine, should you wonder. The inner lip of the mug is emblazoned with “caffé al volo,” which translates roughly to “coffee on the fly.”

Secondly, the mug feels luxurious in my hand. It’s porcelain, as opposed to earthenware, and just feels elegant. It is smooth and glossy with nary an imperfection. It’s just glorious. High praise for a coffee mug, I know, but there it is.

Thirdly, it’s a nice size that fits well when I wrap my hands around it to borrow the warmth of a fresh cup of brew. In the words of a famous children’s story, it’s not too small and not too big but just right.

But perhaps the coolest thing was the care obviously taken in packing the mug for shipment. The sturdy, attractive mug box was wrapped in protective paper, nestled into the shipping box and then immobilized with more packing paper. So it arrived in perfect condition, something I can rarely say about Amazon deliveries.

Also included in the mug box was a little pamphlet about Thun, the mug manufacturer. I found it refreshing to have an item made by a company with enough pride in its products to actually claim ownership. Instead of “made in China” on the bottom of the cup, this beauty was imprinted with “Thun.”

So of course I had to do some research. And of course I learned new information.

Thun pottery, founded in Bolzano, Italy, in 1950 by Countess Lene Thun, is known for its whimsical hand-painted figurines and housewares, according to online sources. It is not to be confused with Swiss Thuner Majolica, ceramics produced in the Thun region of Switzerland during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

I guess I’m trying to say we have to find pleasure any way we can these days. We have to take the time to see the small things; to acknowledge and appreciate mundane items and events because they help us stay grounded and allow us to be distracted, even if just for a brief moment, from the hell unraveling around us.

So I’m going to enjoy my morning coffee in my new mug as I continue my countdown to the winter Olympiad.

And I’ll save my rant about the ridiculous duty charge added to my order from Italy, caused by the tariffs imposed by You Know Who, for another day!