Thursday, October 29, 2009

Pitchers and Steins for Show and Tell Friday

I've collected dishes of one sort or another since I was a little girl.  Pitchers have always appealed to me, so I thought I would share some of them for today's Friday Show and Tell over at My Romantic Home.

I can never remember how much of the story I've told before, so here's a little intro. I was born in Kansas, moved to Colorado when I was 3 and then moved to post WWII Germany with my family when I was 4. So lots of my memories and Show and Tell stories have to do with those almost 10 years I lived in a culture that I loved from day one. Antiques, collecting, architecture and just plain "old stuff" have always appealed to me.

Back to the pitchers and steins......this is a sampling from my collection that goes way back.



Upon arriving mid-winter after a perilous 13 day crossing of the Atlantic in a converted hospital ship, we were billeted in a hotel in Bad Schwalbach.  I have great memories of the few months we lived there, racing up and down the staircases, down the wide halls, and visiting the kitchen to see what there was going to be to eat.  You could count on only one thing that would show up for a meal ...... cabbage.  There were very few vegetables to be had in those days after the war, but cabbage was abundant.  The hotel always retained the lingering aroma of cooked cabbage.  It took me years and years as an adult to get past the smell and enjoy cabbage in its many iterations.  The little pitcher was a gift from a favorite waiter in the hotel dining room.




We next moved to temporary apartment housing within the compound of Frankfurt Am Main, as anti-American/occupation sentiment was running high. By that fall things had settled down and we were moved into a lovely two story house in the small town of Schwetzingen, just outside of Heidelberg.

I attended a grade school provided for the dependents of the military stationed in Heidelberg.  Although my father was a civilian attached to the Army, I was still considered an Army Brat and enjoyed all the adventures we had together.  Field trips were pretty regular events and one of my favorites was the ferry ride up the Neckar River, through the locks, with a stop in Neckargemund which was about 5 miles upriver and took about 90 minutes each way. The destination was the little pottery factory.

This little pitcher/vase is one of my treasures that I purchased at about age 7 from the factory.  I don't remember how much it cost, probably a week's allowance of about 25 cents. Wouldn't it be nice if the exchange rate for those years would work today.  The US dollar was worth 4 marks and 20 pfennigs.(This was decades prior to the introduction of the Euro in 2002.) The dollar went a long way even for a kid.  The tall pitcher with the blue flowers at the back inf the first image is from the same pottery and belonged to my mother.



The Heidelberg stein pretty much says it all for my years living there, "I lost my heart in Heidelberg."  The castle is pictured on the front, with the story of Perkeo and the great wine barrel depicted on either side.  It's a great historically embellished fairy tale, but that will have to wait until another day.







18 comments:

  1. How very, very interesting. I hope you write more about being in Germany after the war. I love to read about history from one's person experiences.
    Great pitchers and steins!
    Karen
    Ladybug Creek

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  2. Hi Candy!

    urcollection is awesome but, your shared memories with us is my favorite! What an adventure. I enjoyed your post very much!

    Have a wonderful day!

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  3. Amazing!!! I really like the beer steins! And the shared memories with us is super.

    My Show n Tell is a slide show this week.

    Happy weekend, happy Halloween if you observe it...no matter, just BE SAFE!

    CLICK HERE for my Show n Tell

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  4. What a great collection of pitchers and steins. I love the old photo and learning a little bit about your history!

    Enjoy your weekend!
    Leann

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  5. What a great collection and with so many memories. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  6. Great story , thanks for sharing that with us. The small picher reminds me of one i have of my grandmothers .. I will have to look for it show it one day. Very small and very heavy for it's size.

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  7. What lovely memories and treasures! The pitcher is gorgeous.cindy

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  8. Such an interesting story you have, and the pitcher collection is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Thank you all for coming over to see a part of my collection of pitchers and steins. I'll be sharing additional memories of my childhood in future posts, so please come back to visit again.

    Auf wiedersehen, good-bye in German, but if translated literally reads upon-again-seeing.

    Hope to see all of you again soon.

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  10. interesting post and great collection of pitchers..

    have a great weekend!

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  11. I loved reading your stories---the cabbage one made me smile. I was wondering if you have any pitchers from the pottery place in Ok.---Frankoma, I believe it is called.

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  12. I love your pitchers and I love your story. I could read on for days and days. My grandmother was from South Germany and when she would get mad her German (temper and language) would come out. I wished that as I child I would have let her teach me German. But I always told her I didn't want to learn because it sounded funny. I do regret that now. But I love your pitchers and your steins and I am going to follow you so I can read more of your stories! Thank you so much for sharing! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! -April

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  13. Thanks again for your kind words, the memories are sweet and I thank you for visiting.

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  14. Very nice collection! I love first one from the hotel!!

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  15. Thanks for stopping by Cindy, I'll see you again on Friday for Show and Tell.

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Thank you for your lovely comments.

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