Saturday, August 13, 2011

Ode to a Bowl

I eat oatmeal  for breakfast each morning.  I'm just sentient enough to dump a cup of water in a bowl, add a half cup of oatmeal,  set the bowl in the microwave, punch buttons, and then stand back so I don't get a brain tumor from the radiation.  A not-good morning  is when all the deep cereal bowls are in the dishwasher, and I have to use a shallow one, and the oatmeal bubbles up and over the rim, creating a mess in the microwave that's a bitch to clean if it hardens and unpleasant if it hasn't because your sponge gets slimy.

Enter Agnes.  She is a friend from my quilt mini-group and she is a Major Fiestaware Afficionada.  She has many colors of Fiestaware, that distinctive heavy (some would say "clunky") china first produced in the 1930's.  It went out of fashion, and then it came back into fashion, and you can buy it in many colors and mix them up because it's open stock.  Glory be!  She mentioned that she'd bought yet more of it recently, a lightbulb went on, and I went to the website (http://www.megachina.com/) to see if I could get cheap and cheerful deep bowls.

Yes, I could!  And for only $9.99 each!  I  ordered some immediately, and they arrived yesterday.  I chose a color called "Marigold.  They are sunny bowls.  The oatmeal does not overflow in the microwave.  They are sturdy and no-nonsense.  I want more.

Agnes has a remarkable story.  For years, she had an office job with a lot of  responsibility.  She didn't like it, but she had health insurance for herself and her husband, and it was a steady job.  That job ended.  She was almost sixty. What to do?  Why, take a job with a piano service business. Start in the office and move into the actual shop and learn to be a piano technician, about which she knew nothing. That was six months ago.  Now she knows a lot about Steinway pianos, knows their innards, and  uses DRILLS and other scary tools to work on them.  Read her blog, http://www.bldg14.blogspot.com/    Notice that she includes really nice pictures.   I hope to follow suit soon.
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