My Silverware

I am inspired  by member Julie McLaughlin’s post on the Facebook Group called "The Very Boring Group" featuring Scotch-Brite sponges that reminded me of the silverware collection I own and where it came from.

It was a beautiful day here in Florida and things are winding down after an incredibly boring day of watching my resident woodpecker bang his head against a decaying tree while while at the same time trying to figure out the thought process of the Split Leaf Philodendron in my front planter. I came to the conclusion that behind its leaves is a process that needs to be filmed with a time lapse camera because you are never going to see anything happen by mere observation.

I thought  that my stainless steel silverware (also called utensils) service needed some attention so I opted out of my usual “Law and Order” Whatever Marathon one afternoon. I haven’t sorted my silverware in about twelve years. I am the envy of anyone who is short on silverware and especially anyone with a mere service for eight.  I began collecting silverware piece by piece when I was eighteen years old by saving Betty Crocker coupons which allowed some savings if you collected enough coupons. One could purchase a single dinner fork or spoon in one of the exclusive to The Betty Crocker Coupon Catalogue patterns and either pay $3.42  plus 0 coupons for a dinner fork or use any number of coupons combined with cash for the better deal of  10 coupons plus $.50. I had almost a complete set of six when left my parent’s house to be on my own at age twenty three. The pattern I chose to collect was called “Chatelaine” and when my mother and my Aunt Jane passed on, I inherited their stainless. They both also collected the same pattern. So now, I am onto more meaningful tedium and thought. 

                                                                                                    

I decided to count everything to see if I or one of my guests had thrown a piece in the trash while clearing plates.  Not that I would miss any one piece, mind you, but it would be handy info to have.

I can tell who left me what by taking a close look at the silverware. My mothers and Aunt's pieces are all scratched up and mine are shiny and bright.  The difference in the shiny silverware and the dull silverware is because both my Mother and my Aunt used the green and yellow Scotch Brite sponges to hand wash their dishes every night since neither of them ever owned a dishwasher. I was the first one in my family to have one.  Scattered throughout the drawer are very shiny utensils that are mine and the dull pieces that were left to me. The shiny finish on their pieces was ruined by the infamous Scotch-Brite Sponges.

When I have my family over for dinner, you won’t see any plastic utensils and no one has to share a fork. For dessert everyone gets a clean spoon or fork and no one has to wash dirty dinner spoons for a bowl of ice cream after dinner.

 

The same thing happened with my both my Mother’s and my Mother-in-law’s sterling silverware. They too had the same beautiful pattern. It is "Prelude" by International. Each had service for eight and I am fortunate to have them both. They make a table so beautiful and I don’t even mind polishing them when needed.  I have them stored inside a silver chest with a  tarnish resistant flannel type of fabric that keeps them tarnish free. Back when my Mother-in-law was still living, I thought it might be a nice idea for Christmas to have all of her sterling polished for her. After inquiring about this luxury service, I was informed it would cost $4.50 each piece. Let’s see...$4.50 x 8  five piece place settings plus all of the extra pieces?   This would ring in over $200.00 at the very least.  I opted for a spray can

of Haggarty’s Polish and a polishing cloth. Just like my stainless, I can also tell which pieces belonged to my Mother and which ones belonged to my Mother-in-law. My Mother-in-law used hers every day and my Mother only used hers on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I see them all set at the table, I can spot whose was who's. This silverware is very of special to me.

It took me quite awhile, but I vacuumed the variety of crumbs, poppy seeds and unidentifiable dried food that had fallen into the silverware drawer left to decompose. I wouldn’t say it was disgusting it just looked icky  I counted all of the silverware and returned them to the drawer dividers separating place pieces and serving pieces and placing them in two separate drawers. Thing are quite orderly now.

Here is what I found:

8 serrated steak knives

10 cocktail forks

20 salad/dessert forks

30 teaspoons

22 dinner knives

8 soup spoons

15 iced tea spoons

12 serrated grapefruit spoons

1 carving knife

1 carving fork

1 large salad serving spoon

1 large salad serving fork

1 pie serving knife

3 gravy ladles

20 dinner forks

22 tablespoons

3 butter knives

4 butter spreaders

2 infant spoons

1 infant fork

2 youth spoons

2 youth knives

2 youth knives

3 jelly spoons

2 sugar spoons

4 ice cream spoons

1 large casserole spoon

3 cold meat forks

1 pie server

9 serving spoons

2 slotted serving spoons

16 SPORKS

The only thing about all of this is that I prefer to use a SPORK. They are also called ‘Buffet Forks’, ‘Cake and Ice Cream Forks’ or ‘Foons’ and when I try to get others to get with the SPORK program, they respond with, “I don’t want one of those stupid things”….. SPORKS make perfect sense to me.  I think I will get back to my sewing now..