February 2, 2012

Spoons





When I was growing up, we used one set of table ware…mother’s sterling. Oh, there were other odds and ends in the giant Chinese box. Coin silver spoons and serving pieces come to mind, but the main contents of the chest were Gorham pieces with mother’s initial.

When I got married the first time, mother bought me a set of sterling….only after she argued with me about the style. My choice was too old fashioned, she told me. As soon as I was out of her sight, I bought a set of heavy stainless with ebony tips. Oh, the sixties. Those tips didn’t hold up well to my haphazard dishwashing system. Then came an old fashioned looking set of stainless with three pronged forks and pistol grips on the knives.

Last night, I was sitting back in my overstuffed living room chair enjoying a cupa. I was stirring the honeyed tea with an ornate, about 1910ish teaspoon. I still use my last bought set of stainless having picked up extra pieces at sales, but I have a whole clump of one off spoons I use to amuse myself with over coffee and tea.

I have a thirties Deco spoon with my coffee this morning. Perhaps this evening, I will pick another whole era to stir my honey into my tea. They bring a smile to my face…especially the one that someone put through a garbage disposal. They are my own today no one elses and I cherish every one.

Do you have small things like this that bring a smile to your face every day?

12 comments:

  1. I have an old tray my grandmother gave me. Love it! Will post a photo today!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a clever idea. Made me think of the stack of mismatched plates in my mother's cabinet. I suppose that won't count. Mother got her first set of matched dishes when I was about 20. She got them through a grocery store plan of some kind. She also used them only on special occasions. She used that unmatched stack of plates til the day she died. Now I wish I'd kept them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. About six months ago I posted choose your sterling, on a similar subject, but with completely different background. Or maybe our mothers weren't that different.

    I use the stainless every day, but I do like pulling out that old sugar shell on occasion. It reminds me of my gramma.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have my Mom's monogrammed silver that I used until the number of grandkids I have endangered the set somewhat (being prone to scraping the plates with flatware into the garbage). I also have a beautiful little sugar bowl with an old silver baby spoon in it, garage sale goodies both of them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have my mother's silver(?) in a velvet lined box...never used it, sits in an old oak dresser of hers. I do have a couple of favorite bowls...one that I love for chili, and a couple of favorite glasses. Oh wait, I just remembered, I have one sample fork that I keep for myself only! LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Does a brown ceramic salt cellar with a silver baby spoon count? Both came from my mother-in-law.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I also have my mother-in=laws monogrammed silver-plate. Going to my daughters home when she finishes her new kitchen.

    ReplyDelete
  8. When I was to be married my future mother-in-law told there would be no gift because her clothes for the wedding were costing too much. Snippy girl that I was, I thought this horrible and selfish and spent some quality time deeply resenting future MIL. A few days before the wedding she brought me a dusty shoe box with some tarnished silver she had found in an old trunk in her attic. Again, I was dismayed that she was giving me old junk. Oh I was such a brat. After we had been married awhile I decided to get out the junk and polish it. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Eventually I did some research. Valuable, valuable, valuable. Forty four years later, grandma's silver is the treasured heirloom everyone wants.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interesting!!! I have some mismatched Steuben goblets that I love!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh yes, I do indeed. My thing is mugs.

    I did get a set of stainless flatware from Crate and Barrel that I love. Unfortunately, they discontinued the pattern. Darn!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Many things like that! Now am I to believe you think your mother was sorta right all those years ago? I got rid of my silver years ago--too hard to keep it nice and the dishwasher wasn't good with it. Now my fingers are arthritic and appreciate those huge handles that are easy to hold onto!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dear Alice: No mother wasn't right. I lent all her sterling to a good friend who has big gatherings, and I sent mine off to one daughter. Mother never liked my mid sixties stuff, but I agree with you that my hands like it today. :)

    ReplyDelete

postcards

Celebration of Life