Pink Saturday - a pretty table

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you!

These days it's just the two of us, with our son at college, and during the week we're so busy we just grab a meal however we can - some take-out, or leftovers, or a can of soup heated up, eaten in front of the TV.

But when it's spring, it's nice to take some time on the weekend to have a nice meal and a pretty table.

When we cleared out Mom's house, we weren't just clearing out stuff from our own immediate family. As Dad's relatives passed away, their belongings were delivered to my parents, just like they had been handed off to them from people who went before. We've decided to sell most of it, but some things are too precious to let go of, like my great-aunt's antique china and glass.

I had a professional shipper pack and send things to me, and it finally arrived. I took the weekend to unpack it, which gave me the chance to get some padded cases to store it in.

The experience of unpacking boxes of carefully wrapped treasures brought back memories, because some of this stuff was shipped to us when I was nine years old. I remember unpacking it with my Mom in our dining room, from tall barrels sent up from Texas. Mom trusted me to help, even though it was delicate stuff, and old.


What I decided to keep and ship to myself was a set of Limoges china, made by Theodore Haviland. The pattern is "Wild Rose" and depicts sprays of single pale-pink roses, like the species roses that grow wild here in the Santa Monica Mountains. There are ten settings each of dinner plates, salad plates, teacups and saucers, and three platters, two covered dishes, a gravy boat and a sugar bowl - that still had crusted sugar in it.


I also kept some etched crystal goblets and tumblers, with their own delicate flowers. I don't know who made them or how old they are, because there are no marks to research.

It's all very delicate and very old-fashioned in style. It's a little foolish of me to keep it - it doesn't suit my lifestyle or my decor. When will I ever use it? Doesn't it just take up cabinet space?


Well, that's what Mom said about it, too. But, like her, I just can't let it go. We've shed so many things from the past already, it just seemed important to keep one thing intact.

It seemed sad to just take these pretty dishes with their frilly edges and pink flowers out of the boxes and then pack it away from the light again. So we decided to set a pretty table, just for the two of us.

We bought a pretty pot of tulips and some fresh vegetables, and panfried a ham steak with some homemade plum pickles. And we had a nice celebration. There's something about eating at a pretty table makes the food taste better, doesn't it?

I can tell that future Thanksgivings are going to be very pretty occasions at our house!

NOTE: I am working all day Saturday, so I'll visit your Pink Saturday posts on Sunday. If you want to know what I'm doing, visit my Sneak Preview post - and then visit this website.