When
I was a teen-ager in the 1960s, several manufacturers of “silverware” offered free
spoons in the pattern of your choice through ads in women’s magazines. The ad showed the various patterns available, which
were also listed on a coupon. You simply clipped the coupon, filled in your
name and address, checked which spoon you wanted (one per coupon), enclosed a
dollar (or was it 50 cents?), and sent it off. Soon the spoon of your choice
would come in the mail. I systematically ordered these spoons until I had 36, all
different.
Eventually
I had a spoon rack to display 18 spoons. But I kept collecting the spoons, and when
I had 18 more, we couldn’t find a rack of the same style. The second rack also
held 18 spoons but was not as sturdy as the first.
The
spoon racks hung in the dining room of our first home, and when we moved to the
“big house,” they hung in our kitchen eating area. But when we moved to the
farmhouse, I stored them in a cupboard.
“Maybe
I should get rid of them now,” I said to daughter Hallie, but she suggested I
hang them. Mike was agreeable, but we could see that the second, flimsier rack
was going to be difficult to hang.
On
a whim, I decided to search Etsy and eBay to see what might be available in spoon
racks, and to my delight, I found an exact match for my first rack, a vintage
item from the 1960s. I ordered from an eBay seller, and it was delivered in a
timely manner and now hangs on the dining room wall.
Speaking
of forgetfulness, I left the camera at the town house – one of the pitfalls of
this lifestyle. I know – my iPhone is also a “more than decent” camera, but I prefer
the “real deal” camera. Nevertheless, the photo here was taken with my phone.
I
was just outside a minute ago, checking the raised beds and visiting with the
strawberries. When I looked up, a white-tail doe stood in the field just beyond
the poplar tree. We communed for a long moment. “If I weren’t here, would you
eat the plants that I work so hard to cultivate,” I silently asked. She
answered with a brief wag of her tail, which I took to mean that she would, though
she bears me no personal ill will. Soon she raised that pretty white tail and
pranced off across the field. KW
4 comments:
That's great! I think they look very nice on the wall. I'm in Boise and on a walk this morning I spotted an animal that was so still, I actually thought, "Did Boise stage a taxidermy deer in their park?" It was a mama and she had two little ones nearby who were not so cautious as to be perfectly still.
Undoubtedly the mama was trying to teach by example, and the kids just weren't paying attention. Just like kids not to pay attention!
Previously, I felt it was too bad to cover the wallpaper, but I think the spoon racks enhance rather than detract. The spoons will have to be washed from time to time, but that's simple enough. They are all stainless steel except for one.
I like the spoon racks. I didn't realized they had 36 different patterns! I sent my money and coupons in for the "My Rose" pattern and it was our silverware until Ann got an apartment when she was in college. Then Matt and Amy had it when they first married. We got pretty good use out of it!
So, you chose teaspoons in just one pattern? Yes, you could do that. Well, I have 36 spoons, and I don't know that they are all from he same company.
Interestingly, I think there was a teaspoon promotion in the '30s or '40s. Aunt Bertha mentions collecting teaspoons in her correspondence. I could research that sometime.
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