Stories to keep us grounded.

Lisa Weiss

08 Oct 2025 — 4 min read

Hello from Lisa at The Object Diaries Project. This week, I'm sharing a few recent stories about physical objects that are keeping me grounded: Duke, a rescued Golden Retriever, comforts himself by collecting teapots and other household items; young people are snapping up CDs and hailing taxis; and Tiny Chef makes a moving announcement.

Enjoy!

A golden retriever who collects

Duke, an 11-year-old golden retriever, is Instagram-famous for hoarding household items, including teapots, colanders, toilet paper, and electronics. I read about Duke's antics in this piece in the Washington Post. Duke is a rescue dog, and his current adopter, Cathy Hoyt, was warned about his tendency to steal objects from counters and cabinets and guard them. Apparently, Duke found it comforting to snuggle with laptops and books, and Cathy found the behavior charming. She told her friends about Duke's hoarding, and, with their encouragement, started an Instagram page to share the quirky joy. You can visit Duke's Instagram page here.

Image Description: Duke, an 11-year-old golden retriever, has a colander. (Cathy Hoyt)

“He took my entire computer bag with the computer in it and carried it to the sofa and laid down with it.”

-Cathy Hoyt, in the Washington Post

Twenty-somethings are buying CD players and hailing taxis again!

If you've been following the luddite trends like I have, you may be heartened to learn that a new wave of teens and twenty-somethings are snapping up CDs, CD players, and point-and-shoot digital cameras. They're even hailing taxis in urban areas instead of using rideshares. I read about the digital camera trend in the Wall Street Journal.

I have a subscription through Apple News, so if you can't access the article, here's a bit more of what I loved: Tumasi Agyapong, a 26-year-old in Chicago, said she began collecting point-and-shoot digital cameras around two years ago, driven by nostalgia and an appreciation for image quality. “It really just comes out of wanting a detox from my phone being my everything,” Tumasi said.

Here, here, Tumasi, to a shared appreciation for living in three dimensions!

Tiny Chef, from his image gallery, a green felted character with two beady eyes, wearing a chef's hat, with containers of salt, baking powder, and flour in the foreground atop a wooden surface.

Have you seen Tiny Chef?

Nearly six million people follow the charming green felt puppet chef on Instagram. If Tiny Chef hasn't found his way onto your screens yet, I highly recommend watching this PBS piece, which features his origin story.

Tiny Chef, created by Rachel Larsen, Ozlem "Ozi" Akturk, and Adam Reid, came from the idea of making tiny replicas of food. The concept soon grew into what it is now: "An herbivore named Tiny Chef creates the world's tiniest dishes for the world's tiniest cooking show." Can you imagine trying to pitch an idea like this to and getting the green light? Well, Tiny Chef grew organically and became an outrageous success. It garnered those millions of followers and earned a Nickelodeon show.

Sadly, as is often the case, the TV show didn't last forever. In this adorably poignant video on Instagram, Tiny Chef receives a call cancelling his show. This video captures that messy, emotional moment. But thanks to Tiny Chef's charm and indomitable spirit, fans are rallying together to revive the show in a new form. His journey is certainly worth following, and I'm not a fan of Instagram.

If you find yourself drawn to tiny things, the scientific research explains it. Cute things engage our senses and can even make us more compassionate.

Thanks to Michelle Massman for sharing Tiny Chef's story with me.

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