This Little Plate

When I was little, I had a grandmother I admired. Grands N was a very godly person, and she was very humble and caring. She read the Bible as a novel and I got great satisfaction when picking it up and randomly starting to read - and she would pick up mid-sentence and recite what I was reading - only she was washing dishes, cleaning or cooking... not reading. I guess my love for old objects started with her - I cherished her and granddad and everything they owned. We were taught to respect and enjoy what we had.

Years later, when grands was starting to weed out her worldly possessions, she often asked if we
'wanted this' and I always held my hand out. I loved everything grands had and I think because I was always so careful and caring about her things, she gave a lot of the precious belongings to me. I ended up with all the genealogy and some precious memories - as well as some of her beloved 'stuff'.

I guess this started a trend. When anyone decided they wanted to give things away, they asked me if I wanted it. Being the deeply sentimental person I am, I took most of what was offered - until I realized I needed a place for us and our 'stuff'. However, it took me years to realize that, and I have inherited many treasures from ooodles of family members.

This plate was one thing I inherited over the years. Remember when ceramics were the thing to do? Our grandmother Davis (the other grandmother) was into ceramics and one weekend we went out to western Oklahoma to her place. Dad was there (gasp!) and all the adults sat around the old oak claw foot table working with ceramics. Grandma had a sponge and was playing with the paints. Dad and grandma decided since it was fall, they would use fall colors. After they made fall colored sponge dots on the plate, dad asked us kids to go out and get a few 'perfect' leaves. When we came in, he took the leaves and sponged the dark brown around the edges, then painted the veins in the middle of them. They painted the glaze over them and grandma fired them that night and the next day we had these great fall platters. Mom put this one up and seldom bothered with it. At some point I must have had my hand out (or I helped myself to it - not sure which) as I was the proud owner of the platter.

Every weekend when we are home, we grill or boil. We always reach for our favorite platters to serve - this being one of them. Every time I see it, I see one of the few times my parents and grandmother sat around a table laughing and enjoying each others company. It brings back warm fuzzies - and there are not so many of them with my parents together. That day was indeed a special day; mom and dad laughing together and grandma Davis laughing instead of cussing my dad. Yep, warm fuzzies here. Love the fall plate and all it reminds me of :-)

Next time we grill at our house, maybe you will feel the warm fuzzies with me.