Dishes

I had a very strange but calming dream last night. My daughter and I were at a hotel which had a very nice restaurant attached to it. It was like an art museum. When we walked into the restaurant, everyone was really friendly. I ran into someone I knew. He had been hired to cook there for one night. We kissed. The menu was some sort of fish, I think. All I recall now is the "friendly atmosphere" with everyone helping each other.

Not sure where this dream arrived from. I talked to my oldest son last night. He was at the skating rink with my grandchildren and his girlfriend. Also spoke to Megan, my 13 year old grandaughter for the first time in a long time. She was happy. She told me about her boyfriend who is black. Her father doesn't like him. I am so looking forward to seeing them Thanksgiving.

After talking to my mom this morning, I started thinking about my great aunt Sallie again. She lived in Wilmington, NC. When I was little, growing up in Morganton, NC, every summer and sometimes at Christmas, we would visit my grandparents. My father's mother lived in Wilmington, whereas my mother's mother and father lived in Leland, about 8 miles from Wilmington. My sister and my brother would stay with our mother in Leland. My father would stay in Wilmington. Anyway, my great aunt Sallie, my mom's father's sister (half Cherokee) lived in a house in Wilmington. My mom would go and visit her for lunch. My mom would always take me with her (my sister didn't like going). Aunt Sallie fascinated me. She was old, walked with a cane, yet seemed very mysterious. Was always dressed fancy. The lunch she would prepare for us I do not remember other than tea and something I did not like. That is probably why I don't recall what the actual meal was. Just spoke with my mother who told me aunt Sallie would make us fried chicken. She also told me she would always make a fire in her fireplace. Also, told me that aunt Sallie's last name was "McCord". My mom said her husband was a barber and they called him "Mack". My mom could not recall his real name. She even said she didn't think she ever knew his real name. He died shortly after they were married. I do remember her house very vividly. It was quaint filled with many fineries. What I enjoyed the most, after lunch, aunt Sallie would put an album on her old phonograph. It was one of those really, really old ones, which you had to "wind up".

When aunt Sallie died, my mom's sister's (aunt Sissy) children, the two sisters (not the brother) went and took everything they wanted out of aunt Sallie's house. I remember the family fighting over it.

Anyway, the dishes posted here is what aunt Sallie gave me before she died. Just like I remember aunt Sallie as being, the dishes are very, very old, yet, shined up, very fancy. I am missing one cup and one saucer. My ex broke the saucer before we were married, and broke the cup after we were married. The "angel" in the photograph was a gift from my ex-mother-in-law who died a few years ago. She gave it to me for Christmas the year after my brother died.