Tuesday, February 20, 2018

My last multi-day post -- I promise!

February 18, 2018
The Teacups


I started collecting these teacups shortly after I got married. (Royal Albert, Rose Chintz series). I had three out of six (pink not shown – Kate took it), when I started to feel uneasy – like collecting is just a fancy word for hoarding. I’m not sure why I have any stand-alone teacups. My great, great grandmother’s china set has plenty of them.



February 19, 2018
The Set
My grandfather was an only child, and so inherited these from his mother, who inherited them from hers. Then they skipped a generation and came to me. My grandmother insisted that when I was a kid, I asked her to leave them to me when she died. I hate to admit it, but it sounds like something I might have said.


February 20, 2018
Orchids

My plant taxonomy professor would become more than a little animated when it came time to discuss the complex pollination mechanism exhibited by members of the the plant family Orchidaceae. Only the pollination mechanism of the humble milkweed caused a similar reaction. Excessive? Perhaps, but it paled when compared to my entomology professor gushing over the tender maternal instinct of earwigs.






6 comments:

  1. I'll never look at earwigs in quite the same way again.

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  2. And . . . every week I have tea with my friend Christine who is 88 and from England. She always serves it in matched sets of cups and sauces similar to yours. I'd like to have her here for tea, but I'll have to go shopping first.

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  3. I love the teacups. I have inherited some, and always intend to serve a mousse in them ... but haven't done so yet.

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    Replies
    1. Clarification: as we don't have fancy teas, I thought the only way to use them was as a container for something else.

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  4. I left a bunch of delicate teacups for the estate sale folks to sell when they emptied my childhood home. I'd planned on taking them, but realized I really didn't need (or even want) them.

    And my botany teacher in college was likewise excitable.

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  5. I find it so admirable when teachers can maintain their enthusiasm over vast swathes of time. Maybe that's what makes for a good teacher.

    And I admire your forthrightness as a child. I probably would just have stolen them

    ReplyDelete

Catching up day 3

May 21, 2018 My grandparents were the first people I knew to own a microwave oven. Theirs was brown*, had a tiny wind...