Some Gifts and Blessings and a Warning

I love white stoneware.  My stepmother knew this, and gave me the beautiful soup tureen and pitcher before she passed away in November.  The sweet creamer and salt and pepper shakers came to me more recently, and therein lies the warning.

We were visiting my dad on Friday and when we walked through the kitchen, a disturbing sight stopped me in my tracks.  One entire cabinet in the kitchen was gone, leaving only the bare wall (really bare, with unpainted wall and screw holes showing). 

I asked Dad, "What's this?" and he told me that the kitchen cabinet had fallen off the wall.  He said that he had thought there was a car accident out on the road, the crash was so loud.  All of the dishes were broken except a pitiful few that were on the countertop: four small dinner plates, three salad plates, one cup, the salt and pepper shaker and creamer.

The cabinet held dishes, quite a few of them, but it also held some of Jo Ann's collection of cookbooks.  Dad said that the cookbooks completely filled a fairly large box; I think that there was an entire shelf of them.  The bits and pieces of the dishes filled another box.

Lest you think that this was shabby construction, let me explain that my dad was a building contractor and built this house almost 35 years ago.  No other cabinets have fallen.  It was just that the tipping point was reached.   You may want to check your own kitchen cabinets for overloading.  I have, and acknowledge that I'm just about at that point.  I'm going to redistribute some things.

I asked Dad if I could have the salt and pepper shakers and the creamer and he said I could.  I brought them home and noticed that the salt shaker has a small chip in its base.  Not bad, for such a small item taking such a big fall.  They all have a place of honor now in my house and a story that can be told about how they got here.