When we had friends for dinner, I made a chicken dish with a
sauce and served it in my new-found Hadley creamer. I told the story of the
Hadley brand as I served salad from the big Farmer & Wife salad bowl. Well,
six months or more later, that friend texted me and said that she thought the
pattern I was collecting was at a resale shop in the next town. She was out
scouting for herself and found loads! I went that weekend, and someone must
have donated a lifelong collection! It was a thrill. I bought a giant platter,
a covered vegetable, a teapot, and a creamer & sugar. Happy days. And bravo to Stacie for recognizing the
pattern.
Okay, now this is where you will not believe it. I posted
this photo below on Facebook, showing that I was finally framing some of my
favorite garden photos in some new inexpensive IKEA frames. And I got a comment
from my high school English teacher-turned-friend, Pam. “Does that bowl on your
table mean you collect Hadley?” What? I was so taken with my project I did not
even realize that the bowl snuck into the photograph. I emailed Pam privately
and told her about my growing collection that had started back in my mom’s
college days. Pam said that loved Hadley china and was so thrilled that I did
too. She said that she has a large collection that she has had fun adding to over
the last 40 years. She also wondered if I would l would like to take some of
her pieces as my own. She was downsizing and was sure that her children would
not want as many pieces as she had. Gulp. Oh my, yes. What an honor.
Look how much my collection grew with her generous gift! I now have 2 dinner plates so Dan and I can have dinner together. Her vinegar & oil decanters are perfect with my salad bowl. I now have covered soup bowls for French Onion soup or individual baked vegetable casseroles. I have a honey pot and syrup pitcher too. And some darling holiday mugs and luncheon plates for cocoa and cookies. I really cannot believe it. I feel like an honorary daughter and it makes me misty.
Pam and I have been friends since I was in high school (cough cough). We started off on the right foot because her husband, Tom, had been my Social Studies teacher when I was in Junior High! I loved his class so I remember talking to her about how I knew him. Then when I was her student in high school, in addition to teaching English and Creative Writing, Pam also ran the district's Gifted & Talented Program.
Pam knew that I spent a lot of my free time doing counted cross stitch and she encouraged me to apply to the Board of the Gifted and Talented Program for high school credit in needlework. The ability for the board to approve/issue high school credit for extra curricular activities had been primarily focused on ballerinas and students in ROTC, when Pam thought to challenge that with another viable creative pastime.
When I was accepted, we helped the Board figure out what amount of time doing cross stitch should quality for 1 hour of high school credit. If memory serves, I did 134 hours of cross-stitch in one semester of high school. It is staggering now that I think about it, but I accepted the challenge, and it was fun. It was my senior year, and I would often spend that “gifted and talented” time slot doing cross stitch and having tea in Pam’s room. Tea and needlework. I’ve been me for a long time.
Thank you, Pam, for your generous gift. I promise to take good care of your Hadley and serve delicious meals on it forever and ever. My heart swells with my collection and feels like it may burst.
#hadley #hadleychina #collecting #housewares #collectingdishes #blueandwhite #bluedishes #friendship #storytelling #beautyofeverydaylife #gifts
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