I noticed that the word of the day is “serviette.” I know this word, but I generally don’t use it.
My mother and my aunt were big on linens. When my aunt closed her house, preparing to move to an assisted living facility, she had loads of linens to share with us. She no longer needed so many and wanted to pass on to the family things that my grandparents and she had loved and used over the years. I have antimacassars, doilies, serviettes, dish cloths, pillow cases and I think there may even be some sheets.
As a general rule, most of my generation lives a much more casual lifestyle. We don’t use napkins that need to be ironed every day, and I rarely use the wash and wear napkins. We’re much more likely to grab a paper napkin. But, I can’t bring myself to throw or give these things away.
This Easter I let myself be persuaded that we should not use the china and linens. It actually made things easier on everyone. No one had to be chained to the kitchen sink to wash the china, and I didn’t have to press napkins for everyone. But it sure seems a shame to own all these lovely things and not use them.
I think Mother’s Day would be the perfect day to use the serviettes. Can’t you see a table set with beautiful antique linens, china and crystal? I was planning to make grilled cheese, but perhaps I can put together a simple but elegant meal to do justice to the setting! *G*
Arrrgh!!!
It's just my state of mind!
Buffy–I would surely have misspelled “serviette”, although I’ve known the word for at least 60 years. Even though, austensibly, one meandering line of my family goes back through Charlemagne, no one in my family ever, ever mentioned having any French blood and they would have taken the use of serviette as an attempt at snobbery. *laughing*
It hasn’t been that many generations since napkins would not have been washed each day let alone ironed. I think that commoners like most of the people in my family tree used few napkins, at all. Elder Brother and Expert Seamstress do not put napkins on the table; but, they are so fastidious that they don’t need them. I use paper toweling when at their table!
I wish I could tell you that the heartache left by a mother’s absence eases over time. It does not. We just learn to cope with it better. You and your sisters have my heart-felt sympathy.