I can’t believe I am going to tell this!

However, I’ve heard confession is good for the soul. So, today I confess.

I have this weakness for dishes! There, I admitted it!

Now understand I am confessing to only one of my weaknesses.

Some of you already know, I put dinner plates as borders to my flower beds. What? You use old mis-matched dinner plates as a border on your flower beds?

I was once asked, if I had to go out in the garden and bring in plates to wash, if I had guests. I assured them, I have plenty more in the house.

I even remember the first dishes I owned. I was working in a dime store in Dallas, Texas for the summer. It was between my junior and senior year in high school.

There was these lively sherbet dishes! They were 10 cents each.

So, I bought eight of theses darlings, took them home and put them in my Hope Chest.

Only last year, I finally let them go and now they are used and admired by my only granddaughter there in Colorado.

My second set of dinnerware was those blue Currier and Ives. Those too, are used daily at my granddaughter’s home.

They have been in the family close to 60 years. She, also, has the old deviled egg plate that has been washed so much, the gold trim is about worn away.

My son now has what we called the ‘bean bowl.’ It was my grandmother’s and I’ve eaten many beans from that bowl.

The only thing I have of my grandmother Martha’s is a tiny little square dish for a pat of butter. I am told, in those long ago times, a little dish like this was at every place setting.

When my husband and I lived on a small acreage – we called Aimless Acres, ‘cause we don’t aim to do nothing’,’ - one day we crossed over Red River and went on a tour of Sam Rayburn’s historic two story dwelling in Bonham, Texas. Remember Mr. Sam? He was speaker of the House for 17 years.

He had lovely matched dinner ware on display in the dining room.

However, his ever’day dishes were displayed in the kitchen. It was a mishmash of colors and designs and sizes.

It so reminded me of my grandmother’s dishes. So, I went through this mismatched phase for a while. Yeah, I did.

I collected green Depression glass and now my daughter has that, along with my mother’s china and a few other heirlooms.

I passed on to her the coffee mugs of my husband, my dad and my granddads.

I have six real teaspoons I brought back from a trip to England.

I have a number of teacups displayed here in my kitchen at the retirement village, along with teapots that were gifts from my children, my sister and a cousin and others.

You get the idea. I now use daily the Desert Rose dishes that were so popular in the US, many years ago. They were made here in the USA – raised roses hand painted.

I have spent a fair amount of my pension as I have collected them for, lo, these many years.

What I have used to be called lumbago and before that it was called rheumatism.

Now it’s called arthritis.

And I’ve got it everywhere except in my eyelashes!

Ain’t it the truth??