Pumpkin Teapot Redux

It's official.  I am a blogging delinquent.  I readily admit it.  That's supposed to be half the battle, isn't it?  Well, I'm 'fessing up.  Yup.  I'm not proud of it, but sometimes life just intervenes and demands that one pay attention elsewhere.  So that's what I've been doing.  I'm sorry to have neglected my duties here in blog-land.  I promise I will try to do better.

While I've been off the blog airwaves, I've been a busy girl.  I've spent the past six weeks (yes, more than a month) engaging in an array of activities.  All the while it has been autumn, which, as I might have mentioned previously, is my favorite time...and it's my time.  One of the things I did was celebrate another year's passage.  I don't feel a whole lot older than I did six weeks ago, but the calendar doesn't lie.  It wasn't a "big deal" birthday - no zeros in this one - so I spent it enjoying a lovely dinner at the home of a friend who kindly invited several other dear friends of mine whom I've known for 20-30 years.  I took it as an opportunity to celebrate our friendship more than I cared about acknowledgement of my birthday, and I think that's how I'll look to celebrate the occasion in the years ahead. 

There were no gifts (thank goodness - I have more than enough "stuff" and deaccessioning the excess has been my modus operandi lately), but one very dear friend brought along two bottles of Veuve Clicquot champagne, which was an instant treat.  If you haven't had to good fortune to taste it, I highly recommend it.  I think it's just about the smoothest champagne I've ever had...totally, utterly lovely.

One of the things I've enjoyed about this particular autumn is decorating my country home.  Now, mind you, I'm not talking the kind of decorating that you'll see on the other blogs, with lovely tablescapes, and mantles and accessories that reflect the autumn colors - I've got some of that - but, more importantly, for me, this year, is bringing out my accumulated autumnal decorative items that I've acquired over a lifetime of house and homekeeping = the Halloween pumpkin candle holders, the little wooden Thanksgiving turkeys, the orange and red leaves, the leaf plates, etc.

A few years ago, in a fit of frustration I suspect, one of my cats had too close an encounter with a special autumn keepsake that my late mom gave me for my birthday some years earlier.  It was a sweet, ceramic pumpkin figural teapot and I treasured it, because my mom was not a big "stuff" person, but she knew I liked things to celebrate the seasons, so she found it, chose it, and gave it to me as a surprise.  She was like that.  One day, I hear a crash/smash and the next thing I knew, I was picking up broken pieces of ceramic teapot that had fallen off a shelf and onto the hard, cold stone of the slate dining room floor. 

My fond memories of my mom's sweet gift were shattered along with the teapot, but it was a risk I took in putting it out within reach of an errant, furry paw, so, this year, I decided to try to track down a replacement on eBay.  It didn't take very long before I found the exact replica of my teapot online in a fixed price (not auction) listing, so I could "buy it now."  I thought about it for a while, saved the listing to my watch list, and one day, as my birthday (and Halloween just prior) drew closer, I threw caution to the winds and bought it.

Even though it's not the actual teapot my mom purchased and gave me, it's my teapot's identical twin, so that's close enough.  I still love it, perhaps even more because my mom chose it.  Now I have it again in my home to remind me once a year of all the things I love about fall...and my mom.

Cheers...and thanks, mom.