The Little Green Pitcher (a memory of Mom)
It was back in the early fifties when I remember first noticing it. It could have been around long before that, but that was my first memories of it. It sat on a small shelf on the wall in the kitchen near the gas stove. And it shared shelf space with a wooden match box holder, a little tin thing that left the striker on the box exposed so that you could light those matches with the white phosphorous tips. There were no pilot lights on the gas stoves at that time, or at least on our stove, so matches nearby were always needed. Very important if you wanted to make coffee in the little 2 cup drip pot that always found a home on top of one of the burners on the stove. And besides the wooden matches holder a small shot glass filled with toothpicks also resided. So, the little green pitcher always had some company as it rested on the shelf with it's two companions. I don't really know where Mom got it...a gift maybe?, or a purchase at a local 5 and dime store maybe?, and ours was Woolworth's in downtown Freeport, NY. I'm sure it had little monetary value, the label on the bottom simply said "Made In Czechoslovakia." But there it sat, and rare, if ever, was it used for the purpose of it's design, and never did it see a flower or two from Dad's garden. And other than maybe a special occasion when friends or relatives stopped by it might have been used to put milk in it for the coffee that was often served to guests. But, I have no direct recollection of that, for me it just always sat on that little shelf in the kitchen with the wooden matches holder and the shot glass filled with toothpicks. So now, some 70 plus years later I still have it, and I still have those memories of the little green pitcher that once sat in the house I grew up in. Now, however, it sits on a different shelf, and Catherine fills it with flowers from our gardens, but in my heart, and in my memories, it will always be sitting on that little kitchen shelf on the wall shared with it's two companions.
The Little Green Pitcher (a memory of Mom)
It was back in the early fifties when I remember first noticing it. It could have been around long before that, but that was my first memories of it. It sat on a small shelf on the wall in the kitchen near the gas stove. And it shared shelf space with a wooden match box holder, a little tin thing that left the striker on the box exposed so that you could light those matches with the white phosphorous tips. There were no pilot lights on the gas stoves at that time, or at least on our stove, so matches nearby were always needed. Very important if you wanted to make coffee in the little 2 cup drip pot that always found a home on top of one of the burners on the stove. And besides the wooden matches holder a small shot glass filled with toothpicks also resided. So, the little green pitcher always had some company as it rested on the shelf with it's two companions. I don't really know where Mom got it...a gift maybe?, or a purchase at a local 5 and dime store maybe?, and ours was Woolworth's in downtown Freeport, NY. I'm sure it had little monetary value, the label on the bottom simply said "Made In Czechoslovakia." But there it sat, and rare, if ever, was it used for the purpose of it's design, and never did it see a flower or two from Dad's garden. And other than maybe a special occasion when friends or relatives stopped by it might have been used to put milk in it for the coffee that was often served to guests. But, I have no direct recollection of that, for me it just always sat on that little shelf in the kitchen with the wooden matches holder and the shot glass filled with toothpicks. So now, some 70 plus years later I still have it, and I still have those memories of the little green pitcher that once sat in the house I grew up in. Now, however, it sits on a different shelf, and Catherine fills it with flowers from our gardens, but in my heart, and in my memories, it will always be sitting on that little kitchen shelf on the wall shared with it's two companions.