I didn’t realize for a long time that I collect crocks. I would see a piece of crockery I liked and
bought it - or was given it - and over many years I finally noticed that I had
more than just a few.
One of my most useful crocks I posted last
October. That’s the one with my
gardening hand-tools in it, with the blue enamel make-shift lid.
This 3 gallon straight-sided crock is not very old. It’s just the right size, though, for a pair
of pelargoniums - Dr Livingston, Skeleton Rose.
(Or vice-versa. I never can
remember which name comes first). The
smell is wonderful when I rub the leaves; they are bearing small pale lavender
and purple flowers. The crock sits on a
handmade cabinet next to my Chair. I
bought the plants last fall from an Oklahoma Food Co-op producer, Skyridge Farm. Monica always sends me really nice plants -
healthy and full. These two were about a
foot tall when they came; they tower over 3 feet now.
The drawstring bags that are on the table I’ve crocheted for
game pieces: dice for Farkle, Chinese Checker marbles, wooden checkers to go with
the handmade Traditional Checker-Chess board, and the brown bag has small rocks
for Mancala.
The black crock used to be a cookie jar, from the writing on
the bottom. It no longer has a lid and I
use it for a doorstop.
The 5 gallon sits by my door and holds fabric, or tote bags,
or whatever I need to store in that place.
The two gallon is an old crock. In it I keep grocery sacks for my trash.
This little half-brown crock is from England and holds tea
- whatever I’m drinking at the time.
I’ve changed, from the loose tea I’ve been drinking these last 7 years, back to Twinings and found this wonderful Black Currant tea. I love black currant anything and the tea is
good.
I’m not much for flavored teas, except Earl Grey and this
one. I have been purchasing two kinds of
loose tea from one of the Oklahoma Food Co-operative producers, but the
business changed hands and the quality of their tea plummeted. I’ve been trying whatever I can find at the
grocery store, for now, just in case there was something really good on the
shelf that I had been missing all these
years. Twinings always holds up to a
high standard. Harney & Sons suits
me, too, but is more difficult to locate here in the City.
This crock is an old one and was given to me. It has become a pot for lavender and for rose
petals from my own bushes - - or now the kids’ bushes. The pot next to it was hand-made by someone
who lived in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I
bought it at a market there and use it for my dried, used-tea-leaves and
crushed egg shells.
Not much in my room is just for decoration. If it’s not used regularly or looked at
often, I don’t see any point in keeping it around. The little crock is very old. I use it for my collection of nails - some of
which are hand-made square-cut nails.
Those came from my husband’s uncle’s house. He was a house carpenter.