“At the dinner table, if you can’t think of anything to say, sit quietly. Don’t throw rolls, or chew on your napkin.”
We seem to be in a rainy season of sorts. The street was wet when I woke up, and rain is predicted for today. I do think I just saw a bit of light behind the clouds, but that may be an illusion, the result of wistful thinking.
I am no longer Queen Sloth. Oh! the horror of it all. Yesterday I cleared out a large cabinet, washed all the bowls and pans I found and vacuumed the bottom of the cabinet. I then put the clean dishes in plastic bags and rearranged the cabinet when I put everything back. At least the effort was worthwhile. I found treasures. There is a fruit serving bowl with matching plates, Easter dishes, Mexican dishes and Day of the Dead serving pieces. I found my Marie Antoinette salt and pepper set, my favorite find. Her head comes off and holds the pepper, her torso the salt.
When I was growing up, we used plastic, unbreakable dinner plates and serving pieces my mother had bought at the supermarket every week. They had a decoration, what looked like sheaves of wheat. I remember if a plate fell it wobbled and made a noise on the kitchen linoleum. Once in a while one would crack but never break. We used those dishes for years.
Our glasses were a mishmash. The only matching glasses were aluminum in bright colors. A blue pitcher completed the set. We had several small glasses perfect for servings of pudding. They had held shrimp in tomato sauce, the key ingredient to a shrimp dip my mother always served at parties. We had the usual grape jelly glasses with cartoon figures. Roadrunner was my favorite. The best glasses were stored on the top shelf to keep them safe from slippery fingers.
When we were older and living on our own, we’d often visit. My mother would set a traditional table in the dining room for Sunday dinners and holidays. She had matching sets of plates, even a Christmas set. There was always a tablecloth, not plastic, and matching napkins. The silverware was placed beside the dishes, and we each even had a knife. I loved the look of those tables. In my memory, they are special times, festive times, family times.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
October 17, 2023 at 4:43 pm
Hi Kat,
Today is yet another beautiful clear sky with a low of 43° and a high of 75°.
My handy couple came by today and they installed my new 65 inch TV. They will send me an estimate to repair some new exterior damage to the siding on the rear side of the house and bill me for putting the new TV into the wall bracket. The entire front side is brick.
In the summer of 1955, my family traveled to Los Angeles to visit Disneyland. It was the inaugural year for the park. We also bought a set of ceramic, oven proof, dishes that my mother and my father used until my father’s death in 2002. The only pieces left were the salt and pepper shaker which I gave them to my sister. She wanted them as a reminder of our parents.
I never understood the concept of having more than one set of dishes, glassware, and silverware. My wife has her grandmother’s, “Good China”, residing in a cardboard box stored somewhere in our house. We never use nor display any of it but have moved it three times since her grandmother passed away. I can’t even recall what it looks like. We turned our formal dining room into an exercise, and junk room. We eat all our meals in the breakfast room. If it’s good enough for our use daily, it’s good enough for the relatives and any other guests should they ever show up. 🙂
We’ve never had a formal dining room set of furniture. Nor would I want a fancy glass fronted cabinet to display that stuff. In the end my wife’s grandmother’s China will occupy a respectable place in a landfill somewhere.
October 17, 2023 at 10:21 pm
Hi Bob,
That sounds like the perfect weather.
We had our typical fall day with a temperature in the mid 60’s. It will be the same until the weekend.
I use all different plates from different sets when I have guests for dinner. The plates I choose depend on the cuisine I serve. When I was looking for a house, I wanted a dining room. If I’m alone, I just eat at the table in the den, but if I have company, we eat in the dining room. I love decorating my table. I even decorate the dining room for every holiday. It is a special room to me as was my mother’s dining room.
I have a dining room table which was built for me from a Shaker book of plans which I gave it to a carpenter who built it. I have unmatched chairs around it. I like the look. I use whatever is in the open hutch.