Of Plates, & Pots & Frying Pans.

 Don't you find family resemblances weird?  Here's the Little Man & the MOTH.  All the Little Man needs is the set of whiskers & he'd be a dead spit for his Grand~dad!

We stopped in on our way to do some kitchen shopping.  As the MOTH promised we are replacing absolutely everything in the kitchen. I have some brand new stoneware pans, stainless steel pots, large cutting boards, cutlery that matches & we ordered the dinnerware I wanted on~line.  Hopefully that will arrive sometime this week.

I have stuck with the same design that I have had forever with the dinnerware.  Firstly I really like the old blue willow pattern design.  Blue & white is my very favourite.  Even so I love it because it is the same pattern my Aunty Shirley used to have.  Everything about her & the Old House at Wellington Point holds good memories for me, so every time I use this dinner set I think of her & good things.

I used to get up quite early always @ Trafalgar House because that was  the coolest part of the day & as the sun hit the garden & it began to steam the aromas were heady. My cousin, 10 years older than I but still the closest to me in age, would make herself a latte before getting ready for work.  Of course I had to have one too.  I adored my cousin & we would sit in the sunshine on the front verandah sipping quietly as the shadows made way for sunshine & the air steamed in the growing heat of the day.

Next was oatmeal done the old fashioned Scottish way, slowly, overnight, & ladled into the breakfast bowls with plenty of brown sugar & cream. We would eat at the long table on the enclosed side verandah that doubled as my aunt's art studio & which always smelled of turps & thinners despite the louvers being wide open.  By then the room was filled with sunshine & the warm air starting to get hot. There were always a variety of paintings in various stages of unfinish to gaze at, & because my aunt always used knives to paint, her paintings were textured.

My aunt's life was not particularly happy in many ways.  She made a poor marriage.  They were ill suited to each other & & my uncle's bedroom horrified me.  His walls were stacked to the ceiling with old magazines & newspapers ~ feet thick!~ & he was a smoker in bed.  My mother declared it a fire hazard. However My aunt was creative & her gardens were wonderful oasis of originality & unusual plants @ a time when that was rare.

When I dream of her house it is with unnerving reality. I loved it more than the modern house I actually grew up in ~ perhaps because I was always happy there.

Meanwhile the rain & cold have meant lit fires & very happy cats!  The terror with which they greeted the appearance of this black monstrosity in their living room has been replace by sheer adoration & if we fail to light it before the cold sets in we are greeted with querulous queries as to why we are being so lax!  Yes, they can make themselves very plain!