It's like Christmas around here tonight. I've been opening all my big boxes marked Delicate, and Fragile, and Aieeee Teacups. I'd forgotten how many beautiful things I've collected over the years, and how many I've been given. I decided to open the Aieeee Teacups box first because I wanted to drink tea in a particular cup. Naturally, I haven't found it yet but I've had such a wonderful time looking for it. I've got something like 30 cups and saucers unwrapped, plus five teapots with creamers and sugarers to match. The teacups mostly came to me from my mother, who had a penchant for English bone china with ghastly floral designs, but I've bought some myself: a blue and white beauty from Bermuda, and a set of four gold, black, and dove grey cups from Limoges acquired on my first trip to France. I also have a gorgeous Japanese tea set in persimmon, cream and black trim. I think it's pre-war, but I ought to check that. At any rate, it looks very handsome, if slightly upmarket, on the shelves next to the pale pink English tea set and the celadon green of the unbearably cute Japanese dinosaur tea set.
I also went through three boxes marked Fragile which turned out to contain junk, cool junk, and really cool junk. A heavy glass cat from Janice Murray. The angry cow milk pitcher. My Jesus herb container with his hand raised in benediction. An enormous clay toucan from Mexico, very wobbly on its base. Two iron dancing frog candlesticks. A gorgeous Inari vase. A pale cream ceramic Kuan Yin which I used to play with when I was a little girl (I didn't know it was valuable, and my parents didn't know I was playing with it). Tons of great stuff. Where did it all come from? I can't even remember when I got this delicate aubergine and silver leaf-shaped server. The cinnamon plate with freeform Celtic designs in black came from a small pottery near Chester, England, I do recall that. Oh, it's a walk down memory lane, all right, except there's more shadow than light now as I unwrap and stroll.
That's all right. It's thrilling to rediscover things packed away for more than a year. The cats think all this crumpling of paper is for their benefit. John has made and served hot apple pie, and I'm sipping mango tea in between washing the dozens of saucers. There's a fire in the fireplace, and a big orange pumpkin presiding over the activities from the window. Dixie's curled up on her dog bed. Any minute now I'm going to burst into song.
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
