Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Savta Dotty's Treasure House (2)

Welcome to Savta Dotty's Treasure House again! It is chock full of things you have never seen before, and probably never even heard of! Wow!

For example, a Melamine Bunny Napkin Ring, circa 1942.

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Long before plastic, long before paper napkins, the Dotty family used to have cloth napkins at all meals. However, laundry was done by the stay-at-home-mom (SAHM), and hung out to dry on a washline. Then it got ironed! (Not underwear or towels, but just about everything else.) So, to reduce labor and expense (no need to waste electricity, water and laundry soap, y'know), the cloth napkins were re-used until the Laundry Inspector (SAHM) determined they were soiled enough to wash. No one was expected to use someone else's slightly dirty napkin, so we were each assigned our personal napkin ring, made of melamine. The other members of the Dotty family were Big People, and got round rings of different colors (yellow, green, blue, and peach), but Safta Dotty was a Little Person way back then and so she got a Bunny.

How many people do you know who still have their Melamine bunny napkin rings, of any color?

That's why the Salmon-Pink Melamine Bunny napkin ring is one of Savta Dotty's Treasures.

Ya'll come back real soon to see more Treasures!

4 comments:

elswhere said...

That is so sweet...you must have been so cute with your little bunny napkin ring!

Udge said...

Rosebud!

SavtaDotty said...

Udge: Rosebud indeed. I should have brought my Flexible Flyer sled to Israel to make my Treasure House complete!

Only: Wooden napkin rings are so much classier than melamine! But we were Queens people back then, so melamine was appropriate to our station in life.

I want to storm the editorial offices of The New Yorker and make them read "Who's Your Daddy?" [Don't worry, Els, I know there's a better way.]

sirbarrett said...

little rabbit in the woods, all curled up by the cabin stood, and the hunter was walking by, knocking at my door. "help me! help me!" the rabbit said "or the hunter will shoot me dead" "come, little rabbit come inside, safe here you will be!"