Plates

Elizabeth of About New York asked me if I'd participate in a blog round-up about plates.

Plates? I thought to myself. What is that woman on about?

Then I thought about how Elizabeth has more creativity in her baby finger than I do in my entire body. And I decided that plates were no doubt a brilliant idea for a blog round-up. I just wasn't with the program yet. After all, Elizabeth once convinced me to join a round-up about doors. And that turned out to be uber interesting.

So, here goes... PLATES!

A few years ago, I decided eclectic was the way to go. And I stopped matching my plates. At first, my children were a little shocked. But, they've gradually warmed up to the idea.

So, if you have dinner at our house, your plate will be different from the plate of the person on your left and different again from the person on your right. It certainly makes for a colorful table!

Without further ado, let me introduce you to some of our plates.

This is a very pretty peach-colored flower plate. Child #4 loves it.

This Christmas plate was a gift from a friend and arrived loaded down with Christmas cookies. I use this plate year round.

This melamine Mickey Mouse plate is left over from days when my kids were younger.

My mother-in-law bought me this platter. She found it at a garage sale in Oklahoma. A little sentimentality and recycling all rolled into one.

Not a plate! But while you're getting to know me through my dinnerware, I offer up my favorite mug. It's a Halloween mug, a little chipped and what I drink tea from every morning. In fact, I may be sipping from it as you read this post!

And I leave you with a nursery rhyme about a plate:

Hey diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

This 1765 nursery rhyme may be about more than amusing children. It might be about life in Queen Elizabeth I's court with the cat representing the Queen and the dog representing Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Some believe the plate is the Queen's serving lady, while the spoon is the royal taster. When these two fell in love and ran off together, the Queen had them found and locked up in the Tower of London.

Ahh...so Blogger Elizabeth really was onto something. Plates can be more than the sum of their foods. (At the moment, this sounds clever to me. But will it still tomorrow morning?)

Now, I'm off to Elizabeth's blog, About New York, to see what she and the other participants have come up with for this round-up about plates.

sources: kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/diddle.htm
http://childrens-verse.suite101.com/article.cfm/hey_diddle_diddle