d is for dishes

It actually took me far too long to figure out what "d" word I could use as a source of inspiration. I was racking my brain for days. Dogs? Definitely not. Diners? Nope. That's my dad's thing.

And then it came to me as Mandi and I were cleaning up after dinner one night. As I loaded the dishwasher, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before. DISHES! I can certainly classify them as an obsession, so why not an inspiration as well? They are, after all, one of the first things that I run to when thrift shopping or tag saling. I peruse the mismatched piles, finding myself drawn to anything with a brownish tone or crackled glaze. And while searching, I often think of the growing collection of rarely used, yet beautifully eclectic plates that already sits back at home, waiting patiently for the next find to be added to the stack. My desire to use them is strong, and yet, the time I have for hosting artsy dinner parties has been diminishing rapidly. I dream of afternoon luncheons with the girls or impromptu potluck meals with large groups of friends. Time does not allow for anything extravagant right now. But, the day for such things will come, I suppose. Until then, I must find moments to put them to good use, by embracing them as simple pleasures (using a fancy dish on a night when dinner consists of nothing more than a humble grilled cheese sandwich). Sometimes it's just important to seek ways of bringing a little something wonderful into even (and especially) the most mediocre of days.

And even when dishes fail to make the cut into my dinnerware collection (or they fall victim to a clumsy dish washer), they never fail to hold potential. You see, dishes can be transformed. They make fabulous mosaics. While I am still a novice at the craft, I find the whole concept very appealing. So much so, in fact, that my pile of "mosaic plates" has almost grown taller than my stack of dinner dishes. Mosaics turn broken dishes into works of art, into ceramic puzzles that hold bits of memories...that favorite dish that you accidently broke, the rare, blue sea glass you discovered during your last trip to the beach, the patterned flower pot that someone discarded with the rest of their junk on garbage day. They can all come together in a completely new and wonderful form....taking the old and making something even better.

So, "d" truly is for dishes..... And to think that I almost forgot about them.