First sightings and riddles

 Yesterday I saw the first baby rabbit of the year. Not sure if he should run or not 

So he side-eyed me a while before he ran.

And here's the first ladybug of the year, taking care of the rapidly growing hibiscus 

See how the newly moved pale green coleus is responding to outdoor light 

You can see the darker green with red streaks in the new growth.  The other flower seeds are breaking through nicely, and I'm hopeful for a flower garden this year again.

Meanwhile back indoors, I did find the name of my Corelle pattern 

I didn't realize my current plates are so old, since I got them at a thrift store.  Knowing the pattern name took me down a lovely path of finding there's probably no teapot, mainly dishes. But I found some other makes of tiny teasets, some kid size, some miniature. One pink with white dots! Oh, the temptations..

So I decided not to shop, but create a mismatch shabby chic tea tray. 

Yellow tin tray from Freecycle, teapot from Asian store, milk pitcher gift of a friend, cup you've met, batik tray cloth, round beatup Tunisian teapot holder. It's a set! Well each piece has a history, so that counts. The cup is right for my hand, nice handle design.

For people still wondering about the riddle, read on. If not, scroll past.

"Brothers and sisters have I none 

But that man's father is my father's son."

So the speaker establishes he has no brothers nor sisters. The sisters bit is just a false clue, disregard. 

Now go to the end where he says my father's son. That can only be the speaker himself. No other sons in the family. 

Then see the reference to that man's father -- he  himself is his father's son. So he must be "that man"'s father. So "that man" is his son.

Now make a cup of tea and rest your riddler!

Happy day everyone, today I'm crocheting to Rumpole, just found some audio uploads with Leo Mckern, who played Rumpole, narrating. 

Reading the rest of  Grantchester on my Kindle, and the Angela Thirkell Old Bank House. A jigsaw puzzle might happen. And a Grantchester DVD matinee. Rainy sunny chilly today.

Mt Clemens Pottery Co and other homegrown arts

Those dishes I referred to over Thanksgiving, I finally did some research. They're from the Petal line of Mt Clemens Pottery, probably from the 1930s.  

The pottery was founded in 1915 by local businessmen to boost the Mt  Clemens, Michigan, economy. Did well for quite a while, bought out McCoy Pottery eventually. It finally closed in the 1980s, after a series of buyouts, takeovers, and legal struggles overcame it.

These are vintage, not antique,  inexpensive for collectors, and, I like to use them all the time. 

The other smaller dishes, are Paden City Pottery. This was another investment venture, three farms in West Virginia bought in the early 20th century to create a new city, named Paden City, where the first business was the pottery, founded in 1914.

It ran until 1963, after producing art pottery, very popular at that time, as well as dinnerware.

And there's my favorite Shawnee Corn design bowls, very good humored. I served the corn and peas in them.

Shawnee pottery, in Zanesville Ohio, also home of McCoy pottery, was founded in 1937, a relative latecomer among Midwestern potteries. I can attest to how sturdy these bowls are, having survived nearly fifty years in my hands.

The early twentieth century saw a lot of growth in pottery and other ceramics, ranging from the wonderful Newcomb Pottery, of Newcomb College, now part of Tulane University. providing art related training  to women, 

This piece is in the Metropolitan Museum

and Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati, producing art pottery now commanding five figures at auction.

Enough raw info for you to do a bit of detective work if you're in the mood. The Arabic numbers are not dates, they refer to catalog design numbers.

My little collection of Rookwood pieces. You can detect their age from the number of flames on the stamp, among other features, such as shape, glaze and surface design. 

The turquoise and cream piece is probably influenced by the design of Shirayamadani, a famous Rookwood creator and master potter. Not his work, but it has features he would like. It's a wonderful glaze combo, high gloss like water on top, matte and velvety to the touch on the pedestal.

The green vase is art nouveau style, with a wonderful soft glaze, and the yellow one has raised relief figures and a higher glaze in a soft color, which you want to keep looking at. 

Theseus are minor pieces, beautiful, not museum quality. Rookwood lasted from 1880 to 1967, and was revived in 2004. My pieces date back to 1914 and thereabouts.

These brief notes are just about a few Midwestern and southern potteries.  But NJ, Trenton, my neighboring city, has a whole social history of its own,  pottery, immigration, skulduggery, economics,  natural resources all connected. For another time.

I used to teach antique recognition  in adult school back in the day, so that my students could have the pleasure of learning to recognize good stuff when they saw it at fleamarkets and garage sales, like detectives.  Anyone can buy at auction after someone else has has the fun of finding and identifying. But it's much more fun to be them! 

I also had collectors in other regions of the country where the pickings are much slimmer, who would happily buy from me. They knew my identification would stand up, and would buy based on my written description and guarantee. This was before digital cameras, very horse and buggy. Another time I'll tell you some stories about my life in the antique world.

Meanwhile my evening is going to crime