Dishes, Plates and bowles

BOILING STONES
(Things a man can do in the kitchen)
© July 27, 2009
By: George O. Martin, Jr.

Dishes, Plates, and Bowles

I suppose we might have gotten carried away, some what, but I really don’t think nine sets of dishes are too many. And, the last set we purchased at auction was so different, and so cheap, I just couldn’t resist bidding and bringing it home. It wasn’t a surprise, either. The lady was with me. In fact she did the bidding, with the help of my elbow, and we walked away with a set of Red Willow in excellent condition that we paid less than bargain price for. I felt good.
Red Willow chinaware is something of an oddity in this area. I suppose that is what caught my eye. I had seen lots of the blue willow pattern. That stuff is all over the place. It is pretty, functional, and so available that it just doesn’t interest me; even though I bought a set for my daughter. But that picture of the pagoda and flying birds and oriental motif in red transfer ware was just irresistible. So she and my elbow bid. We got it.
What I mean about the carried away part is the fact that this purchase gave us nine sets of china; and the ability, if we used it all, to set a table for a small regiment of well mannered Marines. They would have to be well mannered because we can only sit 12 around our dinning room table unless we really crowd people in using planks between two chairs.
It all started 18 years ago with a very functional and almost indestructible set of Corelle. We were only three people at the time and poor. So it was a stretch for me when the lady insisted on the pattern that cost $29.99, instead of the equally durable but less splendid set priced at $19.99. Paying that extra $10 was just the first on many concessions my practicality made to her sense of decoration. It wasn’t long until I got used to it.
It also wasn’t long until another set of dishes arrived. We were at an auction and the lady’s father was with us, and the same thing struck him as struck me with the Red Willow, it was just too good a deal to pass up; and the man bought as set of dishes he didn’t need for the unbelievably low price of $25. He gave them to us. He knew we really didn’t have a nice set of china even though what we had was the expensive Corelle. We were grateful.
That set did us well for a good long time. In fact we still have it and bring it to table now and again. But it was soon displaced with another bargain. In fact two bargains about the same time. One was an auction in a tiny town not far away where there was so much stuff that it took twelve trailers to hold it all, and that didn’t count all the things that were lined up in rows along the ground. By the time the bidding had cleared 9 of the trailers no one had any money left, except for us. And, wouldn’t you know it, there on that tenth trailer was a wonderful set of dishes, with all the serving piece, too, I might add. We took it home.
The other bargain came about in one of the big box stores; the one where they have shelves of clearance items at the end of certain rows. On one of those shelves were boxes of dishes for a ridiculously low price, so ridiculous that we immediately bought two boxes. We now had a set of gleaming white dishes with a bright red trim on the rim. Gosh, they were pretty. Unfortunately they were not much sturdier that the clay pigeons used at a skeet shoot; and by now we had three kids and with their help; well you can guess what happened. We no longer have any vestiges of that bargain experience.
The next purchases were done somewhat separately. I found a set of china that came out of the same era I did and I bought it. It was elegant and over fifty years old, and reminded me of my boyhood home.
About the same time the lady found something that fit the fancy of her time, and she bought that set. I couldn’t say much. She had complimented me on my choice, so I fussed over how I liked hers. We now had six sets of dishes; enough to serve 48 people or more. I never really counted.
Of course there was the accumulation of green Depression glass that amounted to a setting. The red depression seemed to build up to a set about the same time; so, counting all that we soon had eight sets of dishes. That’s when we spotted the Red Willow and elbowed our way into owning it.
While I was putting it away; rather while I was taking it to the place where I thought I was going to put it away I discovered something.
You guessed it. Another set of dishes I had forgotten all about. It was beautiful, too; so pretty in fact that we had it out for our anniversary dinner last week. As we romantically sipped our wine in the candlelight after eating off of those new found, old plates, we talked of how fortunate we had been to have eaten together so well for 18 years.