Let me explain… My family has been collecting Quimper dishes
for three generations, maybe four. And for those four generations, every dinner
plate, platter, soup tureen, salad plate, cake plate, oyster plate, mustard
jar, salt cellar, tea set…every single solitary piece has crossed our path.
This is definitely the Smith family collection. Smith is my mother’s maiden
name as well as my aunt and my grandmother’s married name… The Quimper Collectors.
So, imagine this, you collect a certain pattern with gusto for your whole life,
so you must’ve had conversations about this pattern to hundreds of people
including salespeople (“I would like to order a 5 Piece place setting for 12 of
Quimper, please.”), antique dealers (“What is the price of this antique Quimper
butter dish?”), your family (“Can I borrow the Quimper fish platter?”), housekeepers
(“Please only hand wash the Quimper.”), and to your children (“You can have my
Quimper after I die, so take care of it.”) You must’ve said the word “Quimper”
thousands and thousands and thousands of times over the generations. But in my
family, we found out last year, yes, just last year that we had been
pronouncing the word “Quimper” incorrectly the entire time! The entire time! For at least 100 years!
You would think someone would have checked the pronunciation. But, no. So yes,
we are stupid. The correct pronunciation is similar to “cam pair.” It does not,
as the O’Connell’s say it, rhyme with “wimper.”
Things like this happen to our family all the time. This is
why my family has such a good sense of humor. However, I have to admit, the
source of our laughter usually stems from my mother. I could start an entire
blog titled, “Stuff my mother says.” It has been an endless source of entertainment
for my sister and me. Do not be mistaken, we are not laughing with my mother, it is definitely at my mother. However, after we explain
to my mother just exactly what she had said or done, she laughs hysterically
and then eats a candy bar or chocolate croissant. Please remind me later to
tell you about the time my mother got stuck in the train doors at Versailles.
But for today, I thought I would tell you what my mother said yesterday
according to my sister. My sister told me that she and my mother were having a conversation
about canning vegetables. My sister said she did not like to can vegetables
from her garden because the canning sterilization process is so difficult. My
mother said very seriously and emphatically, “Yes, do you know that green beans
have killed more people than any other vegetable?” Obviously, she was referring
to botulism… But in her own special way. My family spent the remainder of the
day teasing my mother about dangerous violent green beans.
Collectors can get rather particular about their Quimper and its history and markings. If
you’re into that kind of stuff, you might like this article HERE.
So that’s it for the dishes obsession blogs. Tomorrow I
thought we could end the series by looking at my favorite table settings to
bring this full circle. Thank you for all of your nice comments. Or, as my
mother would say thank you in French, “Mercy.”
A toute!
