I have told the tale of the patterns. I posted the story of
giving away my precious instrument. I have hinted about downsizing and the fact
that my daughter would never believe I would ever get rid of the gazillion
dishes I have had since 1974.
Well, it finally happened. I took pictures for evidence.
I have had these dishes that could serve 24 people at a sit
down dinner with a five course meal for decades. I decided to give the whole
lot to the resale shop that supports a battered women’s shelter. It would stock
at least six houses, if not more. Besides dinner plates, salad plates, soup
bowls, steak plates, serving pieces and canisters - the set has custard cups,
coffee cups, matching glasses and glass coffee cups, fruit bowls, chocolate pots
and Swish chocolate mugs, soup tureens… awe heck, I would have to take
inventory to get it all correct.
My niece, Krystal, needed some alterations done to a number
of articles of clothing. I bartered sewing for packing. We worked all day. She
ended up with clothing she could wear again, and I ended up with a car loaded
with boxes of dishes.
Of course, in the packing process, the younger dog of the
house, Maggie, supervised the whole time. She went from following Krys back and
forth to planting herself on the floor right in the way. Maggie’s nick name is
Supervisor Number Nine…..I have this little rhyme I say when she is nosing into
my business. Supervisor Number Nine, supervising all the time! She is a mess.
It doesn’t matter what you are doing, she follows every step of the way. When I
was packing to move from mother’s house back to Baytown , I worked from what folks in the
south say as “can till can’t.” Maggie moved every step with me in that packing
process. When I dropped to the floor to sleep on my mat, Mag fell down right
beside me with a huge sigh each night. You’d think she had packed and
loaded the car herself.
Posted are just a few of the dishes in the cabinet before
they left the building with Elvis. I have purchased a set of Waverly dishes
painted with a black and white toile pattern of a French countryside. True to
me they look vintage, but they are dishwasher and microwave safe. Since the set
only has 4 plates, saucers, bowls and cups, the family will have to be happy
with paper plates when they come to visit. It was past time for me to do this. Like I said, I don't want my daughter to send curses up to heaven when she has to deal with my stuff.
However, I will admit that I drove back and forth to work
for over a week with the boxes in the car. I finally bit the bullet and drove
to the resale shop. They couldn’t believe what they saw. They told me they are
used to getting little sets, or mismatched bits and pieces. The guys helping unload couldn't believe how heavy they were.
Again, instead of having a heart aching for items I
treasured, I felt uplifted. Downsizing has been tough. It has been hard work.
And it has been rewarding. I won’t even know the people who will benefit from
this. Just knowing something from my life will serve a purpose is enough for me.
Some of the dishes may even fall into the hands of some college
girl who dresses in what she calls that funky stuff from the seventies! Now her
kitchen can look retro.
Geeze, I am retro.
Bummer
Bummer
How many canisters can you count? You'd be wrong cuz there were more in boxes.
