Friday, June 12, 2009

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

33 comments:

  1. I like that Halloween mug and had a similar one as a kid. Plates. Interesting post idea.

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  2. Fascinating to visit your plate post. Greetings from Wales, UK. I came via the Weaver of Grass and then via Elizabeth at About New York. Love the chameleon, too!

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  3. Hi Barrie, I love the flower plate and the Mickey Mouse plate, and I was fascinated by the background on the hey diddle, diddle nursery rhyme. I had never heard that story before.

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  4. Oh, I think you are creative in many, many ways! Love the using different plates idea - will dig out those melamine childhood ones!
    And thanks for the story behind the nursery rhyme - that kind of thing fascinates me.

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  5. What a fun idea. I'd never thought of mixing dishes up, but really, it would set a more colorful table wouldn't it? Dinner conversation galore!

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  6. Thank you for saying nice things about me......I love that !!!

    A woman after my own heart re your plates.
    Loved your wild collection and the fun of it all.
    So boring to have matching plates.
    Your mug is a delight.

    I am odd about my Christmas stuff. I can only use it between Dec 5th and January 6th.

    word verification: untag

    how mean. I quite enjoy tagging

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  7. I'm with child #4. I love that flower plate.

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  8. How creative! Love your mug (;

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  9. Thank you, Stef! I fixed the nursery rhyme. Maybe I'm not as good a multi-tasker as I thought!!

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  10. Now I want to know what everyone else has in their china closet. Also I want to steal the flower plate, never invite me over for dinner if you treasure it.

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  11. I love your eclectic collection of plates. It's so fun when restaurants vary the plate according to the dish too!

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  12. i have a bad habit of "borrowing" plates from restaurants. and bowls. or any cute container really. :)

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  13. That flower plate is awesome. Makes me want to go garage sale-ing to start my own little collection.
    Very creative!

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  14. I love interesting,beautiful plates. Love the pink flower one.

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  15. We are potters and make plates! We have a variety of shapes, colors and styles at home. Diversity is nature's way, I think. And how would a symphony sound if all the notes were the same?
    Great post :-)

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  16. Hi Barrie! Fun to see your plates! :)

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  17. You made me think about my own dinnerware. I actually own 3 full sets of dishes and also collect flowered tea cups and plates by Hammersley so I have a lot of plates!!! Love how you mix and match, I go to a cafe that does the same thing. It's always fun to see what mug and plate you get! Cute post!

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  18. That Elizabeth sure is good at introducing bloggers to each other. Nice to meet you!

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  19. Nice plates, amazing white platter from your mother in law, Barrie!!
    Thank you for dropping by today.
    Constance

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  20. these plates are lovely. yay on the no matching. ; )

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  21. lovely selection of plates, I particularly like the first one!

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  22. Hello Barrie,

    Thanks for dropping in. I can see you set a fun table. I wouldn't mind mixing and matching as long as there was some sort of theme! Just my tidy mind, I guess!

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  23. cool stuff, barrie :)

    i have no interesting plates per se, but since my son used to break them regularly, i figured pyrex pie plates would do nicely, are the perfect size, too... a bit bizarre, but he's not broken one since :O lol

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  24. Thank you for your comment. That crafty Elizabeth is definitely on to a very good theme.

    Cheers!

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  25. I am a great lover of plates. We have many sets and mix and match then. Fun topic.

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  26. Excellent contribution to the "plate" theme! I love that everybody has a different plate...I like to mix it up at my dining table too - usually in pairs of plates.

    Thanks so much for following me and I will be doing the same.

    Kat

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  27. Very nice plates you have. Very interesting about the rhyme. Thanks for sharing with us.

    Paz

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  28. i cannot believe you have 4 bubs! i bow down to you! great plates! =D

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  29. I'm into mixing, too. First it was by accident and now it's by design. Loved the history lesson!

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  30. I must confess that eating a pb sandwich on my son's raymond briggs' snowman plate always tastes better :) wendy

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  31. How fun, Wendy! I have a nice set of Winnie the Pooh ware. Maybe the next time I eat mac & cheese.... :)

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  32. Speaking of mac & cheese, here I am!

    If I did that with my dishes, my mother would harp on me until the end of time. Cool idea though.

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Comments are always welcome!