ReUnited...

I have a meager collection of mix and match small vintage ironstone pitchers and creamers, that I started about 15 or so years ago. Like all my collections, they are congregations of "old things" that I value, not for their monetary value or rarity, but because they are sentimental and visually pleasing. The wonderful concept of "collections" is that a single element may not have much impact, but when you bring several pieces together, the "group" takes on new life.

 

I love to use the pitchers and creamers for small blooms and ivy starts, and to just line up in my china cupboard and enjoy their simplicity. I have a few orphan sugar bowls, but for some reason sugar bowls are harder to come by; maybe because they are used multiple times a day. 

                       

My mom had this pattern (Myott Olde Chelsea Staffordshire) but when she downsized back in 2005 I received several of the serving pieces, a large water pitcher, coffee pot, and this little pitcher. It was a really hard time for our family, because my younger brother had passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack and because he lived with mom, she wanted to be in another house as quickly as she could get there. My mom, sis, and I were pretty much devastated and we packed up her things hurriedly in a daze, not really knowing or remembering exactly what we were doing. Mom gave away and sold many of her possessions so we could get her quickly resettled. 

Many things remained in boxes in a storage unit and in my sister's attic. Eventually we had garage sales and things were dispersed to friends and family. I added my pieces of her china to my china cabinet and wondered where the little matching sugar bowl might have gotten to. I'm not sure where the china settings are, or who received them. I can't imagine them going in a garage sale, but I'm not really sure. They could have been sold or given away... as she had some generic copycat pieces too. Point is, that was a hectic heartbreaking time and we were all moving and working in some kind of grief borne blur.

I mentioned that a few weeks ago we were in the process of moving my Mother-in-Law into an assisted living home. As it turned out, she had had a small stroke, but it was enough that she needed to be in a more attentive facility, so she's in a "Memory Care" residence which is actually very nice and a better fit for her. I wasn't able to help much with the transition, but went by on a Sunday afternoon to her old apartment where she lived in a Senior Living complex to help get things sorted, boxed, and ready to give to a local charity. She had already made the move, so we were just going through the things that were left that she wouldn't be using any longer in her new place. 

To my surprise in her tiny apartment kitchen, there sat this little ironstone sugar bowl that appeared to be the mate to my creamer. Now, she had lived there for about 9 years, and I'd never noticed it before. I'm not even sure that it IS the actual sugar bowl that was the original "mate" to my creamer, but it was a match. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. How on earth did that little sugar bowl get there? ... gift or garage sale?... I don't know the route that it took, but I will tell you, I grabbed up that little sweetheart and carefully wrapped it up and brought it home.

I kept some handwritten recipes and cookbooks and a few other items. But the main thing we inherited was her little black 9 year old kitty, Tinkerbelle. She's one of the sweetest little girls ever, but she's a little nervous and timid over the move. We have her in the lower level where she isn't being bothered by the other 2 kitties who can be a not-so-warm and accepting "welcoming committee".  I'll have some photos of her soon when she's up to smiling for the camera.

Sometimes there are unexpected small blessings in the harder things...

p.s. you can tell I'm on pain medication due to my head and neck problem,
because I entitled this ReUntied at first.
sorry... I don't do well on heavy duty drugs. haha.

xoxo,

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