I
like old things. A few years back we ripped out the 1960s double sink in our bathroom, put in an antique chest as a vanity, and gave our contemporary bathroom a little charm from yesteryear. (See, the cats seem to like it.)Two of the accessories on my bathroom vanity are antique soap dishes. Yes, two. Hubby likes milled soap and I like glycerin soap. (Although I like his soap, too. I switch back and forth.) His soap dish was bought at a flea market in Maine. It's got pink roses. Mine was bought at a yard sale in Pultneyville, NY.
Oddly enough, when I bought both of them (years apart) they each came with "sister" soap dishes. Three of each. Since I was a vendor in an antiques arcade, I sold the other four, and these different soap dishes have lived quite happily on the vanity.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday was the day the cleaning ladies came. And they just happened to have two new recruits who were learning the ropes. Guess who broke one of my soap dishes?Ya know, there are terrible things happening in this world on a daily basis. The aftermath of the earthquake in Japan, war in how many countries. Little kids with no medical care. A broken soap dish is not a big deal, but for some reason it put me in a funk. The soap dish wasn't even valuable. I only paid a dollar for it. But I loved it!
Later, I told my mother about it and she said. "You can have one of my soap dishes." As it happened, years ago I had bought her a brown transferware onion patterned soap dish. You see, my mother has blue onion dinnerware. (Guess what? So do I! I searched for years for a dish pattern I liked and finally Mr. L said--well, what would you REALLY like, and I said, "My mother's dishes." Duh! I got my own set!)
I'm still a little sad about my broken soap dish (today is garbage day--goodbye china chards), but in a few weeks the new one will feel like it's been there for ages. And it does go rather nicely with the rest of the decor.
By the way, the cleaning lady felt terrible and apologized profusely. What an awful thing to happen on her very first cleaning job. I hope the rest of her day went better.
So, what silly thing in your house would you miss if it broke?
I try hard not to treasure "stuff", but oh, I do at times! I had a crystal bell that had been a gift to me from my "secret pal" at church. I'm sure it wasn't expensive and it certainly wasn't an heirloom.
ReplyDeleteIt had a lovely little wooden stand and the prettiest tinkling sound. It was a pleasure to look at and a pleasure to hear. But when a couple of roughhousing tweens accidentally bumped into the bookcase, the bell tumbled and broke.
I, who generally carry no grudges, was mad for a week. I actually cried. SO stupid. It was just a piece of glass. I finally got over it and forgave the poor children (and asked their forgiveness for being such a bugger), but I still have the wooden stand in my craft stuff.
My son and I were going through stuff and moving things when he found an old plastic back scratched...from Boblo Island (a long forgotten theme park on an island between Detroit, MI & Canada). He whacked it on the floor...why, I will never know, and it broke. I bursted into tears. This crappy old plastic backscratcher had been my grandmas from our first trip to Boblo Island when I was a little kid. Even now...just thoughts of it bring tears...I know it was just a piece of plastic junk...but it was my grandmas. She passed away about 4 years before I had my son (who is now 11). I later appologized and explained it was old and junk and it was ok not to worry about it. LOL He is now really cautious when digging through boxes though...LOL Poor kid.
ReplyDeleteI have a ceramic duck with a chef's hat and apron on that my little sister who had downs syndrome made for me years ago. It's been my good luck charm since she sent it to me and proudly sits in my kitchen on top of the cabinents supervising my days. I also inherited my mom's set of china that daddy gave her when I was a child. Those 2 and the hand prints my girls made for me when they were little are the treasures I would miss most
ReplyDeleteI experienced a similar fate with a beautiful Delft jar from the Netherlands. My cleaning lady at the time was so upset she called her husband to come over and piece it back together, which was very sweet. Now the only time ceramics break in my house is when Lewey the Bengal kitty decides that pruning is required-last night was a huge Ceramic lamp-that was painful.
ReplyDeleteI have a little Pied Piper teamug brought back from England for me when I was about five... I'd be upset to see that broken.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on the opposite side, I'm so excited my teapot broke recently! It was a nice one my Mom bought me - big, expensive, new - but I never did 'cozy' up to it. I picked it up one day to pour tea and the whole pot just fell off the handle, thunk! Now I get to buy an old one, oh frabjous day!!
My great-grandmother's silver spoon. No one can use that spoon but me.
ReplyDeleteThere's a little Baleek pitcher (about 3" high) my dad gave to my mom when he got back from WWII. He'd bought it either in Ireland or England (he had been stationed in both). I don't think it's particularly valuable (money-wise), but I would be extremely upset if that were ever broken. I have very few things from either of my parents (they're both gone now) & that was important to both. Losing that would mean losing another piece of them.
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