Heirloombulbgirl

Tag: family

  • A Garden on the Inside

    Years ago, I fell in love with antique china. I’m not one to brag, but I have a borderline obsession and hoarding instinct when it becomes to beautiful vintage dishes. I felt justified in my collection of dishes when they survived our catastrophic flood. I realized why heirloom dishes were so special and given as wedding gifts. They endured. They told stories. The dishes on display spoke many moments of dinners around candlelight with cherished family and friends. Of course dishes would survive. Dishes have the soul of memories.

    My husband (who attempts to be a realist in the relationship), once asked about my random assortment of dishes.

    “Do you really need so many? We can’t possibly use all these plates and bowls.” (As if antique dishes are only to be eaten upon).

    ”Oh contraire, mon frere! Antique dishes are like a garden on the inside.”

    It was that statement that opened his eyes to my love of these gorgeous 100 year old plates. I could’ve beaten him over the head with some cast iron, but explaining about an inside garden was much more logical. And I’m so logical.
    So the collection of dishes stayed.

    Yesterday, I was gifted the beautiful floral china by some students. I had been watching the dishes at an estate sale for weeks, but simply couldn’t afford them. Fun fact, I had sent Chelsea (a violinist) a picture of a single teacup that I had found. The estate sale was from a 100 year old woman, who had also loved beautiful sets of dishes. Ironically, the sale had the complete 12 piece set of my little teacup! Not one piece broken. This week, a few students surprised me with the set of dishes at Chamber Orchestra Rehearsal. After gently unpacking the dishes, I noticed two small teacups with very old lipstick marks. Moments of special times had between friends. Most definitely, my favorite part of the set.

    Many great memories are held within antique dishes. My Great-Grandmother had Blue Willow China at our cabin in Wyoming. Honestly, who has bone china from England at their cabin? As a child, I found this utterly divine and completely fascinating. When I got older, my dear Aunt Mary gave a few of the girl cousins some pieces of the cracked and chipped pieces that were no longer used. Treasures. It is so special to think of the countless relatives that have dined upon these dishes since the 1940’s.

    Even my husband, who is a self-claimed non-sentimentalist, loves his Mema’s pattern of Dessert Rose. Mema never used her china because the dishes were too precious. At family gatherings, we only used paper plates for efficiency …but not anymore. After I inherited her collection of Dessert Rose, I use her dishes anytime we have special moments with his family.

    I’m also drawn to unique patterns, that add a little zest and color to the inside garden.

    Finally, my Danish china Royal Copenhagen. I’m always on the lookout at thrift stores due to the expensive nature of this set. The tea cups were my Christensen side. Danish through and through. The teacup to the side was hand painted by my Great, Great Grandmother Simmons for my Great Grandmother Ethel. It was a wedding gift. How completely precious. Only one teacup remains. The memory lasts forever.

    The inherent beauty of antique and heirloom dishes fills our home with many memories. The collection of heirloom dishes is one of my favorite parts of being stuck inside, unable to get my hands in the dirt. It is truly nice to have a garden on the inside.

    Happy Gardening, my friends!

  • Simple Pleasures

    Not much to see here… Just one of the greatest composers of the 20th century feeding pigeons in a park.

    When I think of Antonin Dvorak, pigeons rarely come to mind. I recently performed his masterpiece, the “American Quintet”. This quintet contained so much color and rich musical ideas, almost as if Dvorak was describing his experiences through musical words, directly to his listener. His expressions of life were rich, haunting and profound. There was no shallow thought in Dvorak.
    I wish I could say the same…

    I have found the distractions in our fast-paced, social media driven, frenzied world gets in my way on a daily basis. Instead of sitting and feeding the pigeons, taking time to simply ponder and think, I look at the dumb phone for notifications. I have been rattled endlessly with an overstimulating amount of nonsensical useless bits of information. Deep down, I don’t really care about keeping up with the Jones, but yet there I was..checking my day to day stats on my Instagram reels. Honestly, who cares if someone I don’t even know likes my little reel on my baby Oxblood Lilies I started from seed? Where’s the depth? Where’s the time to just sit and ponder? Where are the pigeons?

    So I deleted Instagram and Facebook off my phone.

    No more checking. No more reels. No more stats. No more trying to impress all the unknown readers or viewers. No more time suckers and no more brain rot.

    Just quiet.

    It’s amazing the difference I already feel. I actually have moments in my day to ponder and reflect. Heck, I might even put some piles of music away in the studio (let’s not get crazy!) I feel a sense of calm that I haven’t felt in a while. Let’s face it, trying to “keep calm and carry on” is virtually impossible when every second of every day is completely accounted for. How mentally exhausting! So for me, someone who desperately needs the simple pleasures in life, I started the elimination process with the first main distraction culprit. The dumb phone.

    My next goal is to get a watch. Again, let’s not go crazy. I am, after all, a product of my artist-Father who never checked the time a day in his life. Baby steps….

    Anyhow, love to you all. If you need me, I will be finding the time for the simple pleasures in life. I’m going to buy more bird seed today, hoping to woo some pigeons back to the Agape Haus Music Studio.

    Happy Gardening, my friends!