Usually on Sunday mornings I drink my coffee out of a cup and saucer instead of a mug, in spite of the pleasure at this time of year of warming my hands around a mug. Thanks to my grandmothers I have a variety of fine china to choose from, and I try to select a pattern that matches my bathrobe and my mood. This one matches both my beige robe and my purplish-maroon one. I didn't manage to get my sleeve in the shot, but imagine terry cloth exactly the color of the little purple flowers.
During the years I worked for my boss's grooming shop, Sunday was the only certain day off I had--we were closed, so I knew I would have that day off, whether I was working five days or six, or four. I've made a ritual of using the fancy cups when I don't have to hurry off to do things, as a reminder to let go of all that and just rest.
Ahhh! That sounds like the perfect way to have a cup of coffee. My mom had beautiful blue willow plates, cups and saucers. I always remember them as they had an especially personal and aesthetic value for me. My mom passed away 14 years ago and the house that my brother took over burned down, blue willow dinnerware and many other antiques. That was one of the things that I wished we still had to remember her by. I also remembered the book called "Blue Willow" which I read when I was a child. That made me relate to the dinnerware also.
ReplyDeleteI remember that book, but it was never a favorite of mine. It is why I knew what my grandmother's every day china was called. (Some of it is stamped "Made in occupied Japan" and it came from Woolworth's.) I still have a few pieces of it, including some cups and saucers. I use one of those on days when I have to be especially energetic, because my grandmother was a woman of great energy (and determination, too) who walked every day that she wasn't sick in bed, and who was cleaning the upstairs windows on the outside only a few months before she died at 82. My role model for aging!
ReplyDelete(Posted too soon.) My family loss from a house burning down is the coin silver spoons from before Kentucky was a state. That happened before I was born, and there aren't even any pictures of them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea, using the good china... ours just sits there most of the time, and now we have ScottieDog's mother's china too, just sitting there.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Sunday is a work day where I have to be hauling myself out of bed and racing out the door. ScottieDog makes me a travel mug of coffee to take with me. I'd have to pamper myself with good china on a Saturday morning instead, I guess.
BTW "Blue Willow" is ringing a bell, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was about....
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely ritual!
ReplyDeleteI have my morning coffee in a gigantic 20 oz mug (though it's half nonfat milk). To go back to elegant old-fashioned style china I'd have to make a LOT of trips back to the pot.
However, for those with more moderate habits it sounds like an excellent idea!
What a great idea! I am too clumsy to even think of using delicate china, unless I wanted to get rid of a bunch of it... sigh.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, this job (that I quit last year to stay home with my father) is the first one I've had that had a regular day off. When I worked at the boarding kennel, obviously we had to work weekends, and my schedule was never the same two weeks in a row. I'd just look at my days off when my boss put the schedule up and decide which one would be Errand Day, and which would be Rest Day.
ReplyDeleteBlue Willow: I remember the cover perfectly, but nothing at all about the plot.
Crabby, lots of trips to the pot would be Exercise. Right?
Bag Lady, before I got all these cups and saucers I had one or two mugs that were special Day Off mugs.
I love that! Such a beautiful idea. I'm going to have to search for my grandmas china... its a nice way to honor them.
ReplyDelete- Sagan