Collectables catch attention, dust but add warmth

By Peggy Walker, R.D.

The other morning I was lingering over my second cup of coffee at the kitchen table, which I tend to do when mornings are cooler and darker.  I was putting off getting up and getting dressed for a little while longer, but I also was contemplating my wall pocket collection.  Should it go or should it stay?
I’m not quite sure how or why I ever started finding and buying these dust catchers.  I’ve collected several things over the years, but usually I reach a saturation point and get my fill of whatever it was that I was thought I needed, so my collection ends.   Baskets for example.  How I once loved baskets and had so many.  I always would find one at the Batesville Art Mart, bought them as vacation souvenirs, used them for serving pieces and displaying on tops of cabinets.  Then it was over.  So 80s.
But these wall pockets.  Some mornings I think they look just fine, but on other days I leave home thinking I’ll take them down when I get back.  And they have been up and down several times.  I guess because the holes are in the wall, it’s easy to put them back up.  Right now they are up.
I just read in the new Southern Living magazine that a room should look curated, not cluttered.  I don’t think my look is curated so it is probably bordering on cluttered.  But I like a little clutter when temperatures drop and the days get shorter.  There’s just something about a warm and filled home to hunker down in when the season changes.  Like a welcome hug from an old friend, or many old friends…
So my wall pocket friends are still up.  Someone once called them those “half things”.  My favorite is one my mother had in her attic.  It looks like the Morton salt girl with her umbrella and birds.  In fact birds seem to be a favorite theme with wall pocket makers.  I have one from Japan with a pretty green parakeet perched on a white washed tree limb.  My second favorite is one that I found in Tunica in a downtown antique store.  It’s a cuckoo clock with a blue bird on top.
Theyrel all ceramic.  A couple of them I bid on and won on eBay.  My mother found another for me that’s a white pitcher trimmed with gold leaf.  She has always had such a good eye for things.  I have one that’s not really a wall pocket but described as a “coffee filter holder” in my favorite Polish pottery (another collection).  But it fits in, especially next to one that was given to me by a homemaker club, I think one of the members made it in a ceramics studio. It’s larger than my old ones and looks like fruits and veggies done in a solid creamy white glaze. It’s pretty and more of a “wall vase,” I guess.  Then there’s the pale green salt keep that must have once had a lid.
They’re hung in two vertical collections, one on each side of the bay window.  The pieces on the left side are topped by another piece of Polish pottery, a cat shaped butter mould which DW says is cheating because it’s not a wall pocket.  Now I’ll tell him that’s to make my display look more curated…
They’re all confined to the breakfast area.  And there’s another hole that’s reserved for two holiday wall pockets.  On November 1, a turkey wall pocket will fill that hole, and later a Santa face wall pocket will take its place.  That one was a lucky $5 find.
I do have a few more, tucked away somewhere, that didn’t make the cut.  I should find them, there’s a chill in the air….
Recipe of the Week
Grandmother’s Gingerbread
Warm and cozy for October days
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup shortening
2 eggs
¼ cup molasses
1 ¼ cups sifter all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup hot water

Combine brown sugar, shortening, eggs and molasses in large bowl. Blend well. Combine dry ingredients; gradually blend into molasses mixture. Blend in hot water; pour batter into greased and floured 9x9x2 inch baking pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 25 – 30 minutes. Serve warm with Citrus Fluff: In small saucepan beat 1 egg; add ½ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.  Cook and stir over low heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. Cool thoroughly.  Fold in 1 cup whipping cream, whipped. Chill. Spoon onto squares of warm gingerbread.