Recycling and Happiness

These envelopes hold the holiday thank you notes and were created by an inventive young artist. Reusing the paper liquor store bags, she craftily constructed each envelope to accommodate the odd-sized thank you notes, and played the patterned side against the plain one.

The paper bags are made of the sturdiest paper imaginable. I happen to have quite a few. The inspiration for this recycling project came from a certain Uncle Vance (not mine but someone else's) who regularly collages birthday and holiday greetings using the bags as a base. He reuses the cards sent to him and, with a little cutting and pasting, creates an entirely unique card. Think of the cards you receive and how few really resonate - Uncle Vance's are always remarkable.

My own dear mother shares the same general 'age' as Uncle Vance and she has been known to clip the image from Christmas cards and reuse them as gift cards. Brilliant and thrifty.

Those of us in l'age moyen might consider this quirky and creative, they simply think of it as thrifty. Any excuse will do. For me, I have another reason to drink wine in 2009.

A Grand Passion

I begin the year (a little late, granted) as I ended the last in hot pursuit of my beloved cornflower blue Corning Ware. The range of coffee and tea pots above have been collected over the last few years mostly from Value Village. I use all of them, well, I have yet to use the percolator - that pleasure is to come.

In addition to this series, I have casseroles and some very sweet stove top pans. I even have a pie plate with the cornflower smack dab in the middle of the plate. A nice surprise when I slice the pie.

Apart from the pleasure of finding each piece and tracking the slight design changes to the cornflower that accommodate their many different surfaces, I use them all for cooking and keeping food in the fridge. I can't even consider Le Creuset because I suspect the cornflowers would detect my disloyalty and wilt.

When did this grand passion start? When I was just a lass (that would be the '60s)I had an entire dish set of cornflower Corning Ware dishes, pots, pans, coffee pots, tea pots. So here in l'age moyen, I have reignited my passion but this time with the real thing.

As I recall the singular difference from the real thing were the black pan handles that clipped on and off. I played and played with this set and vividly recall the movers carefully wrapping each plate (tin) in packing paper before placing it in a box.

During a recent move I decided to let the movers pack the fragile kitchen stuff, including my Corning Ware. The mover scoffed at this. "I've seen that stuff drop down stairs without breaking". He missed the point. I couldn't risk a singled scratch on even one surface.

I welcome all pieces so please take pity on me and my passion and send them forth - to me!