Why is "The Old Dark Blue the "Old Dark Blue" In Old New England - Part Three - "Furtive"

Why is "The Old Dark Blue"

The "Old Dark Blue"

In Old New England

Part Three

"Furtive"

            Picking up and summarizing the critical points from Part Two... in order to ‘go back’ and ‘expand’ on them as I said was needed... I repeat:

            I established four ‘sugar bowl points’:  ‘Found it (the sugar bowl) in there’ (old estate). ‘It is a sugar bowl.’ ‘It is broken’.  And:  It is the ‘only piece (of the Old Dark Blue) in there’.

            Then I said these points were hard to notice (furtive) and took me “YEARS” to have that happen; notice the furtive of ... The Old Dark Blue... “sugar”.  But I have.

            Then I went on to suggest that some ‘know’ this better than I and, by example, I said that the older veteran women in church/hospital thrift shops are an example of this.

            And that... all of this becomes a ‘taste’ issue too; the ‘good taste’ ‘bad taste’ of  Old New England.  Too.

            And more... alluded to in Part Two such as other old china... ‘is phony’ and those thrift shop ladies know that... and

            All of this learning curve took ME decades... to get to a write this down... and return to my beginnings to do that and that... beginning being...

I found an old dark blue busted sugar bowl....

            “In there”.

            Okay... so I found one and for forty years I keep on finding them and still do right now these days TOO but... ah... “I know better now”.  This is a “telling” thing (Part Two) and it is a ...furtive thing.

            “Girls?”

            I go into an old New England village in ...Maine.  “Camden” let I call it.  Why would I go there.  Because Camden has old New England good taste all over the place there and shows it (flaunts it?) and has the thrift stores AND the thrift store ladies who

            “KNOW”

            Old New England village

            Old New England HOME

            OLD NEW ENGLAND HOUSE so...

            Old New England ‘stuff’ and

            Old New England “GOOD” so

            The

            Old Dark Blue.

            BECAUSE THEY HAVE ...LIVED THIS; all of it including their ...great, great, greater-great grandmother’s broken Old Dark Blue sugar bowl.  Too.

            “PROVE IT” you say?

            Sure:  THIS DAY the thrift store does not have an ‘the old dark blue’ busted sugar bowl... but does have a ‘good enough’.  THIS DAY they have for sale a circa 1825 “Spatterware” sugar with brilliant sponge decorated red and blue strips...  It is too... old oven browned (usage; they put the lid lost bowl in the woodstove oven), cracked, a few chips, lid perished, an old estate sticker on its bottom and...

            MY HAND REACHES OUT INSTANTLY for it to be ‘all mine’ only to be crushed by the

            SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR ($75.00) price tag (that includes an identification of what the ‘thing’ is (as IF YOUR TASTE is ‘so bad’ that you NEED help with that.)

            OKAY so it is obviously the ‘best’ thing in the thrift store and they know it and it sits in there on a shelf surrounded by

            CRAP

            JUNK

            “YUCK”

            AND....:

            Equally bad HUMANS shopping ...TOO.

            They know; the thrift shop ladies know.  (They know I know too but that’s a different story).  They know they have an “OLD NEW ENGLAND Home FOUND... ‘in there... sugar bowl... that is broken and IT IS

            THE ONLY ‘PIECE’

            “IN THERE” (the old Camden house from whence it came AND the thrift shop).

            Meanwhile you walked by all of this and looked at (more) shoes.  The ladies know that and expect that because ‘you have bad taste’ “anyway”. (reminder; thrift shops specialize in selling bad taste objects.  THAT IS WHY THE bad taste objects ‘went there’ to begin with; to ‘get rid of’... “donate” away... bad taste).

            Most important to I.. here... is for you to get an inkling of this FURTIVE example of what I am writing about AND denote that these ladies know ‘about ALL of this’.  And so do others with... knowing (good) taste.  These ‘they’ quietly tolerate the ‘unwashed in shoes’ unless, of course, they ‘know’ a ‘you know’ that happens by

            Like I.

            Then they might (one or two of the thrift shop ladies might) poke ‘a little fun’.  You’d never catch them at their critical appraisal of the ... “your taste”.  Your not that good

            At this.

            But the shoes fit... literally and figuratively.  RIGHT

            REMEMBER:  THEY GREW UP ‘in this’ ‘that way’.  So did I.

            I want to append the Spatterware quickly.  Spatterware is NOT an “The Old Dark Blue” grade Old New England ‘old china’.  To the “US” of Old New England it is “Middle Atlantic... Pennsylvania... CLASSIC ‘old dark blue’ grade EQUAL ‘old china’.  It is just not pervasively furtively “FOUND” in the old New England home the “WAY” the old dark blue “IS”.  So... there nothing wrong with it (good taste) except ... not... it is... The Old Dark Blue.

            It is a busted sugar bowl.  It is ‘the only one in there’.  It is an “I found” (rescued) and it is ‘knowing good taste’.  It is ‘just not’ a The OLD Dark Blue

            SUGAR BOWL.

            The form; it is a (single broken) form of ‘old china’ ‘in there’ “FOUND”.  I need to impart on this ‘that”.

            I found and find the damn sugar bowls all the time.  WHY?  There is a reason.  The reason is... is that... these... the old dark blue busted sugar bowl... was... of its day (1800-1825) often times the “ONLY” ‘piece of china’ “IN THERE” (the 1820 household).  WHAT?  Why?

            They did not have china in the house ‘at first’ because there was NO CHINA to HAVE.  The old dark blue... is, in fact, one of the “FIRST” pieces of china to be found in an ...old New England home.  NO CHINA BEFORE... and a horror show of crummy china ever after.  But at first... it was the first... china ‘in there’.  And it was ‘a sugar bowl’ too.

            “What?  WHY?”

            The old dark blue came from England on a boat.  When it got off the boat it was, as intended, an affordable ‘first’ ‘middleclass’ “china” to be a ‘here’ (in New England) ‘for sale’.  HOW DID THEY DO THAT (sale)?  Peddlers loaded carts with... what?  SUGAR BOWLS.  IF... you-the-farmer’s wife... in settler New England... never had china before... you’s ah not gonna buy a fifty piece place setting set.  NO.  AND you don’t have the money to do that either.  No you don’t.  SOOO... the crafty peddler brought you what he had that you didn’t have and would “LIKE” and WANT and was easy to haul a lot of and was ‘affordable’ but also just dazzled the farm girl’s eye with “THAT BLUE”...  Got it... don’t you.  NOT HARD to understand how.... the old sugar bowl ‘got there’ and is the ‘first’ piece of old china ‘in there’ and... everybody knew it (the sugar bowl) and HAS ALWAYS KNOWN THAT EVER SINCE with me being sure to emphatically emphasize the mother to daughter to grand daughter PASSAGE of the ... ever more chipped, cracked and broken “THAT IS GREAT GRANDMOTHER’S SUGAR BOWL”

            NOW WE UNDERSTAND

            “Girls”?

            So... that is why I ... rescued... a ‘sugar bowl’ when I crawled through the dog’s door (Part One).  That is why I rescued a ‘sugar bowl’ in my ‘first estate’.  That is why I rescued them for forty years including right now and rescuing them right now in thrift shops.  That is why...

            I now have to look at the actual object and ‘how and why’ the it is made... to wrap this Old New England thing further in its furtive... halo... of  “The Old Dark Blue”.  But first a moment more with the ‘clutching these’ aspect of the single survival / rescue/ preservation of these “these” (old broken single specimen ‘found’ old dark blue sugar bowls).

            One now may envision that “yes she kept it next to her bed it was there after she died”... and et al... ?  Better be:  It is the hard truth of why they are always ‘still in there’.  They were clutched and protected ‘in there’... pretty much until the ‘died off’ (Part One) and I’

            And those

Of ‘The Old Dark Blue’... ‘rescue’.  It is intentional that these old broken sugar bowls are ‘in there’.  They are from the settlement of Old New England and...

            THE PASSAGE OF THAT “down” TO TODAY.

            Yes:  The good taste of that.  And the ‘in the bones’ of that good taste.  What is it then that brings this old broken sugar bowl the strength to do this job; to be the highborn of old New England ‘old china’?  There are two further furtive points:  Actual usage history in the home AT the period (1820) and... the ‘made in England’ “how was it made”... further furtive... points.  I will mention here too... that after I pass the secrets of ‘the using’ and ‘the making’ of the china... that... this old china... was too... ‘collected’ (looked out for) by ...1850.  By 1880... the old dark blue was “serious” Old New England (furtive) good taste.

            It was ‘good taste’ and had a halo.  But it was... and is... always “Great, Great, Grandmother’s”

            Sugar bowl

            Too.

January Pot Roast Fidget

January Pot Roast Fidget

            “NOW JUST a damn WHAT:  Your talking about my DINNER.”

            Of course it don’t

            Matter

            To THEM.

            They’s FIXATED... ON IT.

            Seems... it started as a kitchen murmur; “Recipe”.  Murmur.  Yep:  From that New York Times.  They have this POT ROAST recipe that’s been THE recipe

            “ON THERE SIGHT”

            For a year.  Or whatever.  And it got itself into kitchen murmur in my house.

            In Maine.

            “THE HELL WITH THAT” I say:  This New York Times Mississippi Roast

            Cooked in Ranch salad dressing and Peperoncini.

            You read right.

            So that (the dressing et al) comes from the old suburban USA defense cookery crock pot roast of ...dumping a package of dried onion soup mix “ON TO” a pot roast in a crock pot to ...ah...

            “NOT IN MY HOUSE” and “GO BACK TO WHERE YOU COME FROM:

            LEAVE the state of Maine”.

            That didn’t stop this kitchen murmur this time;  they make it:  The Mississippi Roast.

            So we get a five pound chuck roast and had no problem keeping standards up doing that for the meat man “KNOW” “THAT” part.  And we got the jar of Peperoncini.  And we didn’t get a bottle of ranch dressing; we never even went DOWN the salad dressing isle.  We usually don’t go down that isle anyway.  So no one MISSED anything. 

            We put the roast in the (crock) pot.  Tossed a ‘quite a few’ of them Peperoncini on top and the... ah... SPOT... the top... of the roast set in the crock pot with the ranch dressing ‘mixture’ as directed.  It IS a “spot” on the top of the roast... YOU KNOW how much “one teaspoon of butter milk” is?  It is a.... “SPOT”.

            Anyway... this is at four-forty-five in the morning.  And (this assemblage) goes fast.  Then that roast, with the peppers and the spot, “COOKS” for twelve hours.

            Then it’s double spoon lifted out of the crock pot.  And placed on a platter.  And ‘seen if’ “IT” “PULLS APART”.  That’s the real good job to get with this ‘making this’.  Especially when no one happens to be looking.  SOMEONE’S got ta TEST IT (the meat).  Right?  AND:  Decant (de-grease) the ‘juice’ into a side bowl to ‘ladle’.  Them whole peppers (in the juice)  is cooked now and I can’t says as I’ve ever had (eaten) one of ‘em COOKED before so I eat a few of them and they are just about what you’d “THINK” being sort of ...hot mushed out.... bleached out.  But I liked ‘em okay.  And ate ‘em all over the course of the roast’s consumption (two full meals and two middling fair lunches) with noodles and (frozen) peas.  The Mississippi Roast was good but I was careful to not ‘gush’ and be sure to simply... “snake” the ‘it pulls apart’ roast... along steady... as a Maine man know how to do... around the Maine farm kitchen.

            RIGHT?

            IT (the Mississippi Roast) ain’t BAD.  Ain’t SPECIAL GOOD.  OR special WHAT EVER.  The chuck... and the juices it lets go... dominates.  I could ‘taste’ them peppers.  I don’t know what happened to the ‘spot’ of ranch dressing.  Didn’t seem to me that spot part would hold up under the cooking anyway and...

            SO...

            I was, I suppose, VERY PLEASED that this ranch dressing spot

            DID NOT

            RUIN

            The roast...

            Which is all gone now.

Why is "The Old Dark Blue" the "Old Dark Blue" in "Old New England" - Part Two - "The Other Stuff is Phony."

Why is "The Old Dark Blue"

The "Old Dark Blue"

In "Old New England".

Part Two

"The OTHER Stuff is Phony."

            As I stated (Part One)... it was a decade before I found my own “Old Dark Blue”.  This was a perfectly “right” find...:  Absolutely perfectly right with all the trimmings of all that it is... to be... the absolute perfect portrayal of the... “all about anyway” of ‘The Old Dark Blue’.  Yes... it was a ‘that fine’

            A find.

            This was found within my ‘first estate’.  Contents.  NOT JUST ANY OLD estate contents of the antiquarian’s mind’s eye.  No...:  It was ‘old school’; when estates were... ah... different.

            “Back then”.

            Then... ‘back then’ an ‘estate contents’ was applied to ...BE... (mean)... an old New England house in an old New England village that was the historic family home of the owners who were one of the original settlers of the village and always ‘live there’ (in the home) for as long as the... village had ever been there including this home being ‘one of the first houses built’, et al.   And... that family finally ‘died out’ (Part One).  And that that house also looks ‘old’, ‘abandoned’, ‘haunted’, ‘overgrown’, ‘full’ (of stuff)... AND located in the middle of the village so “EVERYONE” “ALWAYS” went by and sees it “ALL THE TIME”

            Too.

            That kind of ‘estate contents’.

            I am not going to go on and on about this factor/feature.  These old houses used to be all over old New England.  THEY WERE OLD NEW ENGLAND.  They are gone now:  “CLEANED OUT”.  I did that:  “CLEAN” them “OUT”.

            I am writing about ‘the old dark blue’... in the ‘old New England home’.  That is just one small part of these old estate contents.  It is a very “telling” part.  VERY TELLING.  Most everyone knows nothing about that... at all.  It takes even the best student of these old New England homes a long time to discern that the old dark blue is TELLING that person about it (the old dark blue) being

            TELLING.

            And for most of that ‘telling’... it is an... ‘after the fact’ discernment.  Too.  THAT aspect is not well known or understood too... so... already I have to serve notice that all of this ‘the old dark blue’ in ‘old New England’... has a ‘sand slips through the fingers’ FEATURE too.

            The only way out of these combining... merging... enigmas... in my field tested opinion... is to have “done enough” of all “this” (old New England estate contents... hands on ...management...) that... SOME of this serves as some sort of short personal enlightenment that “there is something going on here” and one of the telling tellers is ‘the old dark blue’

            “In there”.

            Got it?  I don’t think so.  It took me decades and... I am still at it and... I am only now writing this “it” down.  From my personal vantage.

            Okay so ten years goes by from my dog door creep and I’m eighteen doing my first full bore “I BOUGHT IT” old New England estate clean out and I’m “IN THERE” “CLEANING IT OUT” for the three weeks working all day long these old estate clean outs “TOOK” to “DO”.

            Yeah, yeah, yeah: ‘grab and go’... I know.

            No... there is too much truly old ‘stuff’ in the ‘in there’ to do that (grab and go).  No.  One is forced to a very slow pace of ... cleaning EACH and every single THING ‘in there’ OUT.  SO... one day I “FIND” an Old Dark Blue ...sugar bowl... just as old and as busted up as that old sugar bowl I went through the dog door for... for my grandmother... ten years before (Part One).  It was all busted up but did have its original lid... with that being all chipped up too... “but there”.  It was a sugar bowl....:  I found an old dark blue busted sugar bowl....

            “In there”.

            That is point one.  Point two is ‘it’s a sugar bowl’.  Point three is ‘it is broken’; a fragment relic ‘in there’; a long ago no longer used or usable...  Point four... is... that this sugar bowl is the only... is the only... ‘piece’ of The Old Dark Blue... I find... in there (within the estate contents).  JUST THIS ONE BROKEN SUGAR BOWL.  No other ‘Old Dark Blue’.  “YEAH SO WHAT”.

            That’s the way I was about it.  Except, of course, that I... ah... LIKED (‘smitten with’ Part One) the Old Dark Blue busted sugar bowl... even though it had “ONLY” an English landscape scene of “GILEAD HOUSE”... and was ‘so busted’.  Yeah... I ...LIKED ...IT.  So... did not sell it for, like, the two bucks it was worth.  NO I ACTULLY ‘kept it around’... so to ‘keep around’.  And... I even, amongst others... went to hunt down my grandmother’s old dog door sugar bowl... and “LOOKED” (studied) that.  TOO.

            “Amongst  others” (above) included... TWO local old men antiques dealers who came around and I already knew ‘LIKED’ “The Old Dark Blue” so ... “LOOKED” (studied) the sugar bowl “ALL OVER”.  TOO.  And

            Stuff like that.

            I liked it.  I kept it.  Around; the THIS Old Dark Blue Sugar Bowl.  With the “English” “Scene” “on it”.

            Going back into the this estate contents and the this old sugar bowl being the ‘only dark blue in there’; this may be... tweaked.  There was ‘a lot’ of ‘old china’ in the estate contents.  MOST ALL OF “IT” dated from the popular ‘romantic’ ‘aesthetic’ 1835-1865-1880 English transferware eras... pumping along the design timeline to garner Victorian ‘china’ (Ironstone and European ‘hand painted porcelain’)... and pumping on to... “worse”, newer “cereal box” grade china to ... tacky... World War One... ish... “CHINA” dinner “SETS”... et al... with ONE OTHER TIME ZONE... included too... but

            THAT was THE... “OLDER” “CHINA”;  the broken fragment china ‘survivors’ from... and used by... this family “in the eighteenth century”.  “You missed that stuff?”  The unknowing clean outers always do... “miss that” unless the ‘they’ ‘know’ ‘early’.  I do... and did then... know.  So... for  example, I found an English polychrome Delft plate (c. 1760) (tin glazed earthenware hand paint decorated... but) long ago broken in half and brass ‘staple’ repaired... a long time ago TOO... and a second one... ‘staple repaired’ too.  AND a thing or two more of “THAT EARLY” “OLD CHINA”.

            What does that this mean?  It means that ...within the estate... when the estate was active... SOMEONE ‘in there’ “KNEW” and “CARED” about that family’s surviving “EARLY CHINA” and... ‘collected’ if only to “preserve” that “IT”.  The short answer?

            The sugar bowl... I found... ‘in there’

            Was a “THAT TOO”.  But... ah... I was a little... new to ‘this’... then.  And so are you now?

            Yes.  Perhaps though... the subliminal message is seeking you?  The Old (broken) (single inclusion) Dark Blue (sugar bowl) is messaging.  Sort of faintly somehow... in Old New England?  YOUR Old New England... of the inner old New England you... you feel:  “THINK” you “FEEL”? through an old broken sugar bowl.

            What?

            Why?

            Why is what-why and what and a why

            About all of this ‘any of this’ anyway?

            Why?  Because... the OTHER stuff is phony and the ‘this’ is not phony.  It; The Old Dark Blue busted sugar bowls “IN THERE” (the Old New England Homes) tell a (the) real story of Old New England.  I already told you this is ‘telling’.  That story IS Old New England.  To this day.  It is a ‘now’ story too... and the old broken sugar bowls are here, in abundance... to prove it.  NOW...

            In abundance.  I just said that there are Old New England estate found relic condition The Old Dark Blue broken sugar bowls... in abundance now.  I... have been ‘finding them’; retrieving survivors from their castaway preservation within the old New England homes for... fifty years.  Yep... Me... THAT; a ‘rescue’.  All the time.  For decades.  I have plenty around right now.  I like them.  And their ‘around’.  It keeps my head clear... of all “the OTHER stuff is phony”.  They remind me... always... of ‘what is this all about

            Anyway.

            So NOW that we have discerned the ‘relic’ of The Old Dark Blue in The Old New England... including finding ‘one of these’ at local thrift stores for a dollar ...unless that same thrift store threw it out because they “too broken” and... “don’t know”.  Oddly... those old girls at the church thrifts DO KNOW and DO CARE and do “price high” for JUST THE REASONS I’ve written down; they DO KNOW what this is all about

            Anyway.

            So I am going to have to expand on the ‘back there’ of the ‘do know’.

            This is about sophistication of taste.  Good taste... bad taste... old New England taste.

            If anyone has this right... and are not phony... it is the old girls at the ...Old New England ...thrift stores.

Why Is "The Old Dark Blue" The "Old Dark Blue" in Old New England - Part One - "All About Anyway"

Why Is "The Old Dark Blue"

The

"Old Dark Blue"

in

Old New England

Part One

"All About Anyway"

            If you have read the title of this note (blog post) then... you know more of... and about... this topic than the vast... “rest of them” including the ‘in New England’.  And... from reading the title... you now know ‘something’ about old New England “china” too.  It is a ‘JUST a LITTLE’... ‘know something’.

            But that’s enough for a ‘your start’.

            I know all about it (‘The Old Dark Blue’ in ‘The Old New England’).  I had an early start so let me start you back there and... come along from back there... and then too... you may come along.  Again: the subject is “The Old Dark Blue” in “The Old New England”.  Don’t worry:  Some people already know EXACTLY what I am writing about.

            When I was six... or five... but probably not four... I would walk up to the end of a street... that was “up past” The Common... in my (Maine, New England) village.  I walked with my Grandmother... every day, at early evening... all year round including the winter season.  It was not a ‘long’ walk or a ‘hard’ walk.  We, together, would just walk... “up and back”.  That was it.  Sometimes we’d talk.  Sometimes we wouldn’t.  We didn’t have any dog on a leash or something like that.  I suppose I was the ‘dog’ on the ‘leash’.  I’m not sure because I never ran off; the ‘a leash’ never ‘got tight’.

            After about two or three years of this walk; one day... ‘starting back’ at the end of the street where we always ‘turned around’... we were walking back

            Past a house that was then (late fall) “closed up” and “IS BEING SOLD”.  Too.  The former happened to all houses that were ‘summer places’ of the owners (the house’s “PEOPLE”).  The latter is what happened to these houses after the ‘people’ (owners) “died off”.  So what was happening at this house right then was “NOT” unusual; the house was ‘closed up’ and ‘being sold’.  So we would ‘walk by” that house during all this ...too.  My grandmother would call all of this a “we walked by the **** place”.

            “Oh.  They’re selling that you know.”

            “Yes.  I wonder what will happen to it.”  My grandmother would say.

            Well... she knew damn well what was going to happen “to the place” but never told me any of that.  She knew “the **** place” was going to be ‘cleaned out’ and SHE would be the one doing that cleaning out if SHE had anything to... well... very few ever ‘beat her’ on this; cleaning out... old houses.  But she never told me that.  Either.  I just walked up and down the sidewalk beside the street with her.  Then... the one late fall afternoon... when this place was closed up and being sold... and we were walking by... my grandmother left our usual sidewalk trail and skirted (literally in her skirt) across the front yard of the ‘closed up’ and ‘being sold’ ‘place’ to the ...front screened-in porch surrounding the front door.  She peered through the screening for a few minutes adjusting her view ever toward the left side where ‘the door to the porch’ was (on the left side).  I didn’t care what she was doing and saw nothing of interest to me at all... but ...trailed along behind her.  She was looking IN the screened-in porch but I was too small to do that.  Too.

            When we reached the front end at the left, where the porch went ‘back to the house’ and ‘had the door’... my Grandmother... peeked along that screen work too until she came to the screen door... that was latched from the inside; ‘closed’.  She peeked... then peered... ‘in’ there too.  Then she looked down at me... loyally standing next to her.  I looked up at her.  Her right foot went forward and kicked the lower right rectangle of the screen door and... there was there... a screen section that was very loose... while the other sections of the door were not loose... because this section was used ‘by their dog’ to ‘go in and out’ from the porch to pursue and ‘bark at’ people walking by on the sidewalk... ‘during the summer’.  We both knew this because we, too, endured these ‘go in and out’ “all summer” “bark at” of the ‘their dog’.

            My grandmother, after looking at me and kicking the loose screen, turned her view back upon the inside of the screened porch.  She said to me... jabbing her finger at the upper screen to emphasize that she spoke about INSIDE the porch... “GO (crawl through the dog’s screen door hole) in there and fetch me that pot in there; that BLUE one.” Then she turned and walked off back to and ‘down’ the sidewalk along the street.

            I could see the blue pot she ‘wanted me to get’.  It was ‘in there’ (the porch)... on a table.  Dirty.  A dirty blue pot on a dirty old table with some dead and dirty old ‘plants in pots’ too.  I could see it.  NO PROBLEM.  So I went in the dog’s door and ‘fetched it’ like I was told too.  And came back out the dog’s door.  And followed rapidly after my grandmother who was ‘pretty far down’ the street ‘already’.  I scampered after her... clutching the blue pot.  As I caught up to her... I actually... and I remember this concisely... looked at the blue pot:  I remember this clearly... looking at it... as I scampered.  It... was the old blue pot that my Grandmother told me to ‘fetch’ for her.  I did that and am now remembering looking at it and, superficially, wondering ‘what is it?’.  Well... I know now what it was (is). This was the first time that I ‘know’ I ‘saw’ and ‘handled’... “The Old Dark Blue”.  My grandmother was no idiot when it came to ‘fetching’.

            Exactly what the ‘blue pot’ was (is)... IS... A...

            Sugar bowl bottom missing its top (lid).  An Old Dark Blue... sugar bowl bottom... with old chips at all edges, broken and ‘old glued’ handles, old wandering spider web darkened ‘hairline’ ‘cracks’ and actual holes letting light in and leaking a contents out...:  An Old Dark Blue American Historical Staffordshire (earthenware) (“soft paste”) transferware “china” sugar bowl with a decorative historic scene showing “General” Lafayette visiting Benjamin Franklin’s “tomb” and reclining there amid the foliage and self reflections of his... for his... old friend.  In 1824.  This is a well known (“common”) (American Historical) “SCENE” to “collectors”

            “OF THIS” (The Old Dark Blue).

            I do not remember caring a hoot about the ‘that’ of ‘WHAT” “IT” “IS”.  But... I handed “IT” off to my grandmother and

            NEVER, ever, have ‘forgotten’ “IT”.

            My Grandmother gave “IT” a courtesy look while gripping this old blue pot with one hand.  Then... the pot disappeared from my sight for, well... maybe as long as a decade.   Yes:  Ten years.  Oh... it was ‘around’ in my Grandmother’s “STUFF” but I did not... handle and examine... “IT”

            For ten years.  Probably.  Did she know ‘what it is’?

            SHE absolutely KNEW exactly... when she saw it through the screen at the porch.  She had, I know now, “spied it” well before I went in the dog door.  All that... was just a need to “act”.  What she did... and asked me to do... is ...calmly... referred to as ‘a rescue’.  It is a “done” when that is the best way to... rescue... an antique from ‘being lost or destroyed.  If that is new to you... I advise that after a half century of ‘doing them’ it becomes ‘a nothing’ and a ‘right thing to do’ with ‘everyone’ (antiquarians) knowing about “HAVING” to “DO THIS”.

            Yes... that’s a way of looking at old china... isn’t it.  And yes it is a ‘deeper than that’ ... as the reader may be sensing... TOO.  That’s why I’m writing this down for you:  IT IS a ‘deeper’; this Old Dark Blue... Staffordshire... china... in Old New England.

            I... when I creeped out the dog’s door... had become... smitten... forever “WITH” The Old Dark Blue.  I did not know this for ‘at least’ ten years.  But when I found out I had “NO PROBLEM” being that; an Old Dark Blue Smitten.  My grandmother was a ‘long ago before you were born’ smitten.  She told me that... probably twenty-five years after the dog’s door creep.  My mother was smitten too.

            With the Old Dark Blue.

            What I have said (through my years at this) to the... any party’s inquiry... is that, simply, if one starts out with the old dark blue the way I did (creeping through a dog’s door)... you never forget ‘IT’ at all... ever... every time you see it anywhere ever no matter what and

            One tends to be around other people who know all about this too.  All about WHAT?

            All about ‘broken’ ‘old’ ‘china’ from the New England Federal settlement era; especially the Old... Dark... Blue

;            And its heritage in Old New England.  Heritage?  That is, for example, how my grandmother gripped the old sugar bowl bottom with her one hand when she... took it away from me.  And any behavior like that silent gripping.  She never told me any of this.  I had to find out for myself.  And I did.  IF... THEN... you want the ‘you will too’... you will too... have to do it... that way.  You will also... once you start on the ...Old Dark Blue... in Old New England... gather fellow travelers about you... soon enough.  

            I did not “start” or ‘know’ anything about this for ten years after my ‘first piece’ of Old Dark Blue.  And that was not even ‘my piece’.  It was my grandmother’s:  SHE FOUND IT.  It was over ten years before I “FOUND” my “FIRST PIECE”.  And started to learn and understand what this (the old dark blue heritage) is

            All about

            Anyway.