The Minnesota fall has been warm and wonderful. There have been many days to go outside to play, or work, or a little of both…(balance!)
So I went outside one, fine day to clean off our deck. I picked up a shiny, orange glass dish sitting on the table and took a trip down memory lane as I remembered where it came from.
Back in junior high, maybe – I’m not sure how old I was, I bought this orange dish for my parents to give them on their anniversary (I must have borrowed money from my dad to do so – ha!) but I can clearly see this dish displayed on shelves in the J. C. Penney store at the Apache Plaza Mall, near my childhood home in NE Minneapolis (the mall no longer exists.) It was sitting on a clear, glass shelf with other beautiful glass pieces. I sometimes marvel at the things I remember (and the things I have a hard time recalling!)
Years ago when my mom moved into an apartment and downsized she asked me if I wanted the dish back, so I took it. I couldn’t believe she saved it all those years. But what I thought was interesting is that even back then, when I was so much younger, I was attracted to colored-glass. Little did I know I’d collect colored-glass vases and dishes in antique stores as an adult.
I especially like green glass but all colors attract me. I find fun things to do with them…use them in place settings to serve ice cream or dessert, put single stems in the vases to decorate a place setting… it’s even a joy to wash them and see them shine.
As I collected other items off the deck to bring in for the winter I took inventory of a blue, glass ball hanging off the pergola (also from my mother), along with a red glass flower hanging for decoration, a glass hummingbird feeder, and a white glass globe with a candle inside on another table.
In April 2014, when I first started blogging, I had a post about colored-glass on a different site. I copied an excerpt from that post and copied it below…
“…While exploring the town, our stroll down Main Street took us into an antique shop where I found a bright, orange, glass basket that would go well with a new picture in our dining room. When I went to the counter to purchase it, the clerk asked, “Do you like color?” Well, yes, I do! It was an unexpected but interesting question. I do enjoy color…in everything: flowers, in nature, in décor, in clothing, in all of creation. And I enjoy scouting antique stores for colored glass and I occasionally find a piece to bring home for my colored-glass collection.
I’ve been thinking of that question a lot these days as I notice Spring bringing new life and color all around me.”
I think porcelain and pottery are beautiful too, but give me a colored-glass piece any day.
I love this story about how your love of glass traces to that gift purchased for your parents many decades ago. Your mom clearly treasured this and knew it would mean something to you some day.
I share a similar story in that I purchased a set of gold drinking glasses at the local hardware store for my mom for Mother’s Day as a child. She used them as special occasion glasses. I now have them, among the most treasured in my collection of vintage drinking glasses. I use my vintage glasses every single day as my everyday glasses.
It’s fun to hear your story of the drinking glasses. I’m happy you use them daily. I, too, believe in using the antiques that I acquire. Part of the fun is knowing we are “re-using” something, right?